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Japan vending machines accept charitable donations

by huffingtonpost.com

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Japan vending machines are offering Diet Cokes with a side of good deeds. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. and Japanese Red Cross installed donation boxes into about 100 vending machines last month around Chiba, Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures, according to the Wall Street Journal. Instead of getting change back, a button allows a customer to donate it to the Japanese Red Cross earthquake and tsunami relief fund. One hundred percent of the money collected will go toward relief efforts, according to Japantrends.com. Throughout Japan, vending machines number about one for every 23 people,making it the country with the highest number of vending machines per capita, reports Japantrends.com. 

Territorial dispute heats up between Japan, S. Korea

by Washington Post

A territorial dispute between Japan and South Korea is intensifying, as Japan's foreign ministry told its staffers to boycott Korean Air Lines Co. for a month following the airline's unusual flight over a contested territory in June. The boycott is a largely symbolic move with little commercial or economic sting. Still, the instructions issued Thursday by Japan's foreign minister, Takeaki Matsumoto, show the sensitivity in both countries over the issue of who controls two tiny islands, and how the long-simmering spat seems to have taken on increasing emotional resonance in recent months. (Washington Post)