TOHOKU Two solid gold and silver kokeshi dolls have been auctioned off by the cash-strapped Kuroishi Municipal Government, despite reluctance from local residents, with the successful bidder forking out about 200 million yen. [MAINICHI]

TOHOKU A 5.9 magnitude earhquake hit Fukushima Prefecture in northeastern Japan on Monday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

TOHOKU The Aomori Prefectural Government is considering filing a criminal complaint against the unidentified vandals who chopped off hundreds of vines at the World Heritage site in the Shirakami mountain range. [MAINICHI]

TOHOKU The false-labeling practices of a poultry processor in Odate, Akita Prefecture did not stop with smoked meat and eggs. The company also used ordinary chicken meat in four other products carrying the famed “Hinai-jidori” poultry label, and reused unsold meat after rewriting expiration dates, sources said. [ASAHI]

TOHOKU Due to the scarcity of public theaters in Sendai, three actors plan to revive a small theater that has not been used for 20 years. [YOMIURI]

TOHOKU The debt-ridden municipal government in Kuroishi, Aomori Prefecture is set to sell off pure gold and silver kokeshi dolls it purchased in the 1980s and use the proceeds to help repay its debts, city officials said. [MAINICHI]

TOHOKU A 28-year-old deckhand who fell off a tanker into the sea off the coast of Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, on Tuesday night, managed to survive his ordeal by using an empty PET bottle as a float, before being rescued the following morning. [YOMIURI]

TOHOKU The Sendai District Court found the government not liable Friday for the infection of six people with hepatitis C through tainted blood products — the first such decision out of five similar lawsuits nationwide — ruling that the risk of infection had not been fully clarified at the time the plaintiffs contracted the disease. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

TOHOKU Four bodies were found after an apparent family suicide at a home in Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture, early Wednesday. [YOMIURI]

TOHOKU A 53-year-old woman was arrested in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture on Sunday, suspected for having killed her 83-year-old mother. The suspect has admitted to the accusations.

TOHOKU Mysterious “corn circles” of incredible complexity that appear overnight, or a baseball park as in the 1989 film “Field of Dreams” — who knows what you might come across in your local rural idyll these days. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

TOHOKU An internal investigation conducted by Tohoku University Hospital has found that two administrative sections involved in construction contract affairs intentionally avoided public biddings on renovation work at the hospital and signed private contracts with a contractor in an attempt to raise revenues by speeding up the project. [YOMIURI]

TOHOKU A moderate earthquake jolted Aomori Prefecture on Wednesday afternoon, the Meteorological Agency said. [MSN MAINICHI]

TOHOKU A medical equipment sales company won a bid to supply three pieces of costly equipment to a hospital at Tohoku University in 2006 at exactly the price given in a cost estimate by the university, it has been learned. [YOMIURI]

TOHOKU Fujiro Sendo, outgoing Yamagata University president and expert in immunology, is not planning to gently slip into retirement, but instead will go to Paraguay as a volunteer to fight infectious diseases. [YOMIURI]

TOHOKU The Tsugaru Tetsudo railway operated a special train earlier this month with pot-belly stoves in carriages to barbeque food and provide a sauna effect. [MSN MAINICHI]

TOHOKU A 21-year-old university student was killed after his glider crashed in Wakabayashi Ward, Sendai, on Saturday, police said. [YOMIURI]

TOHOKU East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) intends to develop a new bullet train with a top speed of 320 kilometers per hour for its Tohoku Shinkansen Line, company officials have announced. [MSN MAINICHI]

TOHOKU A village mayor in Akita Prefecture has revealed his intention to apply for his village to become a candidate for a disposal site for high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants. [YOMIURI]

TOHOKU Participants at a year-end party for teachers and students of Fukushima Medical University have come under fire for staging a show at the party that depicted medical patients in a derogatory light, it has been learned. [MSN MAINICHI]