JAPAN: Top 10 Japan news stories of 2009

The Japan Times: Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009

The Japan Times' editors picked these events as the top domestic news stories of 2009 based on their significance and impact:

1) Power shift: The Democratic Party of Japan wins a landslide victory in the Aug. 30 election, breaking the Liberal Democratic Party's almost uninterrupted five decades in power.

2) New flu: A new swine flu strain hits Japan, sparking widespread public fears and prompting millions of people to regularly wear surgical masks in daily life.

3) Lay judges: The lay-judge system debuts Aug. 3, ushering in a new age of citizen participation in the criminal trial system.

4) JAL: Japan Airlines Corp., the nation's flagship airline, goes into a financial tailspin, seeking government assistance in order to survive.

5) Freedom: Convicted killer Toshikazu Sugaya, sentenced to life in prison, is released June 4 and is set to be exonerated in a retrial based on a DNA test that effectively cleared him of involvement in a girl's 1990 murder in Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture.

6) Apprehended: Tatsuya Ichihashi, wanted in connection with the 2007 murder of British English-language teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker, is arrested in Osaka on Nov. 10 after 2 1/2 years on the run.

7) Drugs: Noriko Sakai, a singer-actress popular in Japan and Asia, is arrested Aug. 8 and later convicted of possessing and using amphetamines, becoming main fodder for the gossip media this year.

8) Economy: The jobless rate hits record highs amid the global economic slump, and the yen's surge in November to 84 to the dollar plagues exporters.

9) Secrets: Alleged, and officially denied, secret diplomatic pacts with the U.S. are key media topics, particularly an accord believed signed in 1969 that allows the U.S. to bring nuclear weapons into Okinawa in an emergency. A copy of this pact turned up Dec. 22.

10) Child custody: Attempts by estranged international couples to retrieve or otherwise take custody of their offspring draw renewed attention when American Christopher Savoie is arrested by Japanese police for allegedly trying to abduct his two children and take them to the U.S. Consulate in Fukuoka on Sept. 28.

(C) All rights reserved