2005

2004

• October 23, Strong earthquakes in Central Niigata Prefecture kill more than 40 persons with 3000 persons injured. See 2004 Chuetsu Earthquake
• August 9, A obsolete steam pipe at Mihama Nuclear Plant blows up, killing four workers.
• July 22, Agency of Police discloses that 34,427 persons committed suicides in 2003.
• July 21, Premier Junichiro Koizumi meets Presient Roh Moo-hyun at Jeju Island in South Korea.
• July 11, Election for Upper House. LDP suffers a small setback.
• July 8, Naha District Court in Okinawa sentences US Marine Major Michael Brown to a suspended one-year prison term on charge of attempted rape against a Filipina.

• July 1, Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in Kii Mountain Range enlisted as a world heritage site.

• June 1, A twelve-years-old girl kills her classmate at a Sasebo elementary school.

• May 22, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visits Pyongyang to bring back 5 Japanese youths who were born during their parents' hostages in North Korea.

• May 10, Crown Prince Naruhito denounces palace officials at a press conference, suggesting that Crown Princess Masako is physically and mentally sick.

• May 10, Winny developper Isamu Kaneko, assistant instructer at Tokyo University, arrested on charge of helping violation of the copyright law.

• April 7, Three Japanese civilians taken hostage in Iraq. (Released later.)

• Mar. 24, Chinese activists, landing on the disputed Senkaku Islands ( Tiao Yu Tai in Chinese), arrested and deported at once.

• Jan. 19, The advance troops enter Iraq, marking the first dispatch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces into a combat area.

External links

• Japan Times
• Japan Today
• Daily Yomiuri
• Mainichi Daily News