1. Japan’s transport safety authority is looking into whether a false alarm caused a United Airlines plane to make an emergency landing last week. The US carrier’s Boeing 737 took off from Narita Airport near Tokyo and was heading for Cebu in the Philippines when the cockpit received a warning indicating a fire in the cargo hold. The plane made an emergency landing at Kansai International Airport in Osaka. Five passengers sustained minor injuries during evacuation.
2. The US will lower tariffs on cars imported from Japan to 15 percent starting on Tuesday. The US Commerce Department released a document on the change on Monday. The new rate was calculated by halving the current 25 percent tariff to 12.5 percent, and adding the existing 2.5 percent levy. The reduced amount matchers the baseline rate that will be applied to most other goods from Japan.
3. A traditional sumo dance dedicated to Shinto gods was performed at Suwa Taisha shrine in Nagano Prefecture, central Japan. Local residents stage the dance every year on September 15 at the shrine’s Kamisha site. On Monday, 11 men in their 20s through 40s sang a traditional sumo song and danced in the courtyard outside the Honmiya worship hall.