Simple English News spoke with the Japan Tourism Agency today. We found out that the agency will be offering free round-trip air tickets to Japan starting in April 2012.

The exact number of free trips has not been decided, although some newspapers have put the number at 10,000.

Applications for the free trips will start at the beginning of next year and can be found on the Japan Tourism Agency’s website.

The free trips will last until March 2013.

Donald Keene, a Japanese scholar for seven decades, has decided to move permanently to Japan, according to a report in the Mainichi Daily News.

The 89-year-old teacher, writer and translator will become a Japanese citizen.

The Columbia University professor fell in love with Japanese literature after reading “The Tale of Genji” in 1940.

The newspaper quotes Keene as saying that learning a foreign language requires time and motivation.

Source: Mainichi Daily News

Until recently, the seventh hole at the Satsuki Golf Course in Sano, Japan was longest golf hole in the world.

It measured 964 yards — twice as long as the longest hole on an ordinary golf course.

A golf course in the American state of Michigan has beaten that record with a hole measuring 1,007 yards.

Source: Esquire

The Japanese yen is the third most traded currency in the world. Only the United States dollar and the euro are traded more frequently.

The yen became Japan’s currency in 1871.

Recently the yen has been trading at record high levels against the dollar.

Mobile phone novels are works of fiction which are written for and read on a cell phone.

The first mobile phone novel is believed to have been written in Japan in 2003. It was entitled “Deep Love”.

Most mobile phone novels are romantic fiction directed at young people.

In many cases, the writers of mobile phone novels are anonymous.

The Japanese are known throughout the world as a hardworking and diligent people.

Workers in Japan usually spend more hours at their jobs and take fewer vacations than those in other countries.

Furthermore, it is not uncommon for Japanese people to be working after they have reached the age of 70.

Photos were kindly provided by the Tokyo Zoological Park.

Riyo Mori, a 20-year-old dancer from Japan, is Miss Universe 2007.

Riyo won the competition on Monday evening in Mexico City.

She said she hopes to open an international dance school in Tokyo in the future.

Riyo is from a small town called Shizuoka, near Mount Fuji.

She speaks excellent English

Stocks in Tokyo have closed at their highest point since May 2, 2000.

The Nikkei index finished at 18,261 points.

The rise in Japanese stocks is connected to large growth in electrical goods, according to some reports.