Today's News from Tokyo

"An unidentified woman approached a school girl in Aichi, snipped off 15cm of her hair and ran away."

"Lawson opened a test store targeting the elderly, with brown decor, comfy chairs, easy-to-read price tags, wide aisles and blood pressure monitors."

"Kanebo launched a new brand of chewing gum that supposedly makes the body smell like a rose."

"Japan's Takeru Kobayashi, 28, won the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest for the sixth straight year and set a new world record of 53.75 frankfurters in 12 minutes."

Stat of the day: "There are 8.68 million bloggers in Japan."

(Metropolis Magazine 07/06)