Headline news for December 18, 2024



Yostar , developer of popular smartphone games such as ' Arknights ' and ' Blue Archive ', has announced a new fantasy RPG called ' Stella Sora '. The protagonist is a mysterious person who has lost his memory and is sleeping in the giant towers 'Tower of Stars' that stand in various places on the Nova continent. He sets out on a journey with members of the guild 'Blank Brigade' in search of clues to his lost memories.




Along with the announcement of StellaSola, a teaser PV, anime PV, and gameplay trailer were also released.

'Stella Sora' teaser PV-YouTube


'Stella Sora' Anime PV-YouTube


'Stella Sora' gameplay trailer-YouTube


By the way, we published the following article on the same day in the same month in the past.

Nintendo and Sony's collaboration game console 'Nintendo PlayStation' to be auctioned - GIGAZINE

It turns out that '100 stars suddenly disappeared', which may be evidence of extraterrestrial life - GIGAZINE

What will happen to people if they continue to eat only meat? - GIGAZINE

The present that a first grade girl wished for from Santa is heartbreaking - GIGAZINE

The farthest object in the solar system, 'Far Out,' is discovered, first observed by Japan's 'Subaru Telescope' - GIGAZINE

A scary drinking party 'System32 Roulette' that randomly selects files from Windows' 'System32' and keeps trying to delete them and restart them - GIGAZINE

After all, how dangerous is the new coronavirus infection and influenza?

A woman's 'unbelievable sight in a man's bathroom' is a hot topic as it's really strange - GIGAZINE

Scientists spend 20 years trying to solve the mystery of 'rain causes mass deaths of river coho salmon' - GIGAZINE

◆ Material (notes and other miscellaneous items)








































◆Science (science, learning, technology)
Black hole halts construction boom for ancient space cities | National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)

Black hole stops construction boom of ancient space cities – Waseda University Research Activities

Confirmation of the mechanism by which lactoferrin acts on plasmacytoid dendritic cells to regulate the immune system | News Release | Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd.

[Research Results] The fundamental relationship between quantum thermodynamics work extraction and composite quantum hypothesis testing elucidated - General Information News - General Information News

'Flesh-eating bacteria' doubles, what's happening in Florida, USA | National Geographic Japan site

Mechanism by which terahertz waves are converted into spin currents has been verified and clarified - Contributing to the development of 'spintronics' that will revolutionize communication and memory technologies - Nagoya University Research Results Information

'I'm trying to smile, but it doesn't look like I'm smiling' Proven effective training of facial muscles for upper middle-aged men - Characteristics of facial expressions of men in their 60s and the effects of facial muscle training - | 2024 (Reiwa 6) | News Release | Mandom Corporation




Private rocket 'Kairos' No. 2 launch fails, unable to enter orbit | Mainichi Shimbun






Larger area than expected? Village remains discovered in Kamakura's Fukazawa district; further investigations could delay redevelopment | Kanaloco by Kanagawa Shimbun

Private small rocket 'Kairos 2' launch failure 'Space One' press conference 'Flight suspension measures taken' Wakayama | NHK | Space

Kairos 2 launch fails, Space One 'aims to try again'... expected flight path deviates significantly: Yomiuri Shimbun




[LIVE] Space One Press Conference 'Kairos 2' Flight Suspension Measures 'Suspended after 3 minutes and 7 seconds' SPACE ONE Co.,LTD. - YouTube


Historical documents of the Iga-Ueno earthquake discovered at a temple in Yamazoe village, investigated by Nara University and others | NHK Nara Prefecture News

Haniwa found in keyhole-shaped tombs: overturning the conventional wisdom that 'there are none in eastern Japan' - Samuraizuka Tomb in Tochigi [Tochigi Prefecture]: Asahi Shimbun Digital

Why are Indians so good at math? Gold medalist high school student reveals the secret: Asahi Shimbun Digital

Junior high school entrance exams: 'Genetics affect children's academic ability' - A breakthrough in the education world's 'taboo' - Interview with Keio University Professor Emeritus Ando Hisayasu | Mainichi Shimbun

◆ Society, politics, and economy (incidents, world news, business)
If it comes out, NHK will be in 'survival crisis' The board of directors has refused to release the minutes: Asahi Shimbun Digital

Iwao Naoaki strongly calls for a complete freeze on Israeli settlement activities | NHK | Israel

Danish Ministry of Justice decides not to extradite former head of anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd to Japan | NHK | Denmark

Osaka Restoration launches metropolitan plan review team, plans to put together blueprint by end of 2025 | Mainichi Shimbun

Governor Satake: 'I'll send you a bear' - Akita Sakigake Shimbun Online Edition

Shingles vaccine to be routinely administered from next fiscal year for 5 years for people aged 65 and over: Asahi Shimbun Digital

Initiatives to introduce autonomous driving on the Hokuriku Shinkansen - Aiming to start autonomous driving in fiscal 2029 -: JR West

Former Nissan Chairman Ghosn to hold press conference at Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan on 23rd, five years since his escape | Reuters

Railways destroyed in war, Okinawa suffers from some of the worst traffic congestion in the country, but dreams of reviving 'cabins': Asahi Shimbun Digital




'The information that the father of a junior high school girl is the police chief is false': The police station in question says that the speculative posts regarding the Kitakyushu fast food restaurant incident are 'not true' | NEWS Post Seven

A total of 3.03 million yen in donations not reported at a LDP branch in Tokyo | NHK | Political funds

'Only Honda can save Nissan' But how will Honda deal with 'Nissan's big baggage'? Understanding the Nissan-Honda merger talks - Car information magazine 'Best Car'

Former head of anti-whaling group 'Sea Shepherd' released after being arrested on international arrest warrant once again criticizes Japanese whaling | NHK | Denmark

'Cheap rice' disappears. Supply and demand are tight, but it still sells at a high price. Prices speak for themselves. - Nihon Keizai Shimbun

Multiple prefectural assembly members testify that they were 'conveyed' private information about the deceased former director | Mainichi Shimbun

Cumulative number of visitors to Japan from January to November reaches highest annual record, surpassing 2019 figures before the coronavirus pandemic | Mainichi Shimbun

One Japanese national detained in Belarus; Japanese Embassy responds appropriately to protect Japanese national | NHK

'Tsubasa Party' leader Kurokawa released on bail, accused of disrupting election campaign | NHK

A car collides with a wild boar on the Shin-Tomei Expressway and bursts into flames. All six people on board escape safely. Traffic restrictions in the area around the scene in Fujieda City, Shizuoka Prefecture [Video available] | TBS NEWS DIG

Commentary: What happened at the scene of the Moscow assassination - BBC News

General killed in explosion in Russian capital... War is not a distant event, reports BBC Russia editor-in-chief - BBC News

House of Representatives Political Ethics Committee Hagiuda explains that he is 'not in a position to be involved in management or accounting' House of Representatives Political Ethics Committee Hirazawa, Seki and others | NHK | House of Representatives

Akie Abe returns to Japan after meeting with President-elect Trump | NHK | President-elect Trump




[Exclusive] 'It hurts! Hahaha!' A creepy smile on a suffering student... 'Forced soy sauce' judo school principal Ishino (32) re-arrested for choking Chiba | FNN Prime Online

'I will stab and kill elementary and junior high school students' - A threatening letter to the local government from a person claiming to be the culprit... 'Kitakyushu, junior high school 3rd year boy and girl murdered' - The culprit is on the run, spreading anxiety among local residents | FNN Prime Online




Hundreds of North Korean soldiers killed or injured on the battlefield - YouTube


Former House of Representatives member Tsukasa Akimoto sentenced to four years in prison in IR corruption case | NHK | Incident

Nomura Securities imposes 30 million yen penalty on futures price manipulation issue | Japan Securities Dealers Association | NHK | Finance




'We can't discuss this any further': Democratic Party for the People leaves LDP-Komeito National Tax Commission after 10 minutes, LDP-Komeito side takes stance of continuing discussions - Sankei News

Prime Minister Ishiba: 'Necessary' to raise the tax rate to 1.78 million yen, amendment passed on the 17th: Jiji.com

LDP-Komeito talks end without agreement, raising 1.03 million yen threshold - Sankei News

This year's supplementary budget passed with majority support from the LDP, Komeito, Ishin, and the People's Party | NHK | Diet

Are all members of the government council on the Basic Energy Plan pro-nuclear power? | Mainichi Shimbun

Half of companies say minimum wage of 1,500 yen is 'impossible'

Hundreds of thousands buried in mass graves across Syria, aid group says - CNN.co.jp

Exclusive interview with Syrian Interim Government's Information Minister Omar: 'No restrictions on freedom of expression' | Mainichi Shimbun

BBC visits Latakia, Assad family's base of support: HTS maintains security, Alawites fearful - BBC News

'I had the conviction to defend my country to the end' - Full text of former Syrian President Assad's statement | Mainichi Shimbun

Russian troops begin large-scale withdrawal from Syria, Western officials say (1/2) - CNN.co.jp

Author arrested for allegedly abandoning body at home, writing about Takefuji founder | Mainichi Shimbun

Major earthquake hits Vanuatu capital, bodies found in city, US embassy building collapses, 12 photos International News: AFPBB News

Lawyer disciplined for 'unlicensed practice' involved in LED invention compensation lawsuit: Asahi Shimbun Digital

NTT entertained Digital Minister Masaaki Taira three times, Fujitsu donated 160 million yen to the LDP and received a 70 billion yen order {Exposing the 900 billion yen vested interest in the Minority Health Insurance Cards} | Weekly Bunshun Online Edition

[Breaking News] Former Kusatsu Town Council Member Admits to False Sexual Assault Allegations | 47NEWS

Kobe subway Sannomiya station: Woman stabbed with knife, transported to hospital; 49-year-old suspect arrested | NHK | Hyogo Prefecture

Elderly woman stabbed at Kobe Sannomiya Station; woman arrested with knife on suspicion of attempted murder | 47NEWS

[Breaking News] Kitakyushu City, 1,000 officials watch over children going to and from school | 47NEWS (Yonnana News)

◆ Lifestyle (life, living, health)
Hyadain's essay published in the teacher's magazine 'Physical Education' is amazing, but so is the person who published it → He completely denied physical education from the beginning - lol - Togetter [Togatter]










Please tell us the moment when you thought, 'Oh, this person's family must be wealthy...' → The answers gathered from everyone are interesting - Togetter [Togatter]

A certain teacher said, 'Students today don't even know about Chushingura,' so I asked my own students, and they certainly didn't know it. → 'It used to be shown a lot in TV dramas, though...' - Togetter

Germans don't cook hot food for dinner even when it's freezing and snowing... They don't heat up soup or toast bread - Togetter

I wish people who put their belongings in coin lockers at live music venues without paying would go away. 'If you can't pay 300 yen, don't come to the concert.' 'Just empty the contents and use it.' - Togetter

A story about a case where bullying did not stop even though the teacher said 'bullying is not good', but stopped completely after a lawyer spoke in a special class - Togetter [Togetter]

Shingles vaccine to be routinely administered from next year, targeting seniors turning 65 and older | Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare | NHK | Medical and Health

The price of the phantom '1-sen ceramic coin' is 700,000 times its face value... After 500,000 coins were discovered, the trading price soared: Yomiuri Shimbun

When I learned about the burning of Mount Hiei, I thought 'Nobunaga is terrible' as a child, but as an adult I thought 'Nobunaga was right to be angry' - Togetter

Why are school supplies only disclosed at the information sessions in late January and February? 'Is this a national secret???' - Togetter

◆IT/Gadgets (Internet, software, hardware, mobile)
When an AI answers a call from an unknown number, 'This is what Google's phone calls say now' - Togetter

Remote desktop 'Brynhildr 3.0.2' released (Remote desktop engineer's blog.)

Rakuten Announces New AI Model Optimized for Japanese | Rakuten Group, Inc.

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications requests major SNS operators to delete posts advertising shady part-time work | NHK | IT/Internet

Technology supporting the writing of technical books - CADDi Tech Blog

How we designed a credit card fraud detection system in 3 days and released it in 3 weeks - Accelerating software development with LLM - LayerX Engineering Blog

Challenges and solutions for handling consistent time in distributed systems - Learning from Spanner, TiDB, and CockroachDB - hacomono TECH BLOG

It has been revealed that one in every 50 babies born in Taiwan is a 'TSMC baby,' and that the birth rate is unusually high only among TSMC employees → This is the answer to measures to combat the declining birthrate... - Togetter

Easily achieve high-precision RAG using Elasticsearch hybrid search - Taste of Tech Topics

Tenchim, who caused a huge uproar by selling a night bra that hides her augmented breasts while claiming to enhance them, is now burdened with 380 million yen in damages after several years. Isn't that a pity? Takeshi Okano gives an explanation from a lawyer's perspective - Togetter

I ordered an ASUS 16-inch laptop and it arrived the next day, so I opened it and activated it - 🍉 Oppressed Shiitake

[Event Report] 'Girls Meet STEM ~ Experience IT Work ~' was held! - ZOZO TECH BLOG

List of graduate schools where you can restudy information science or computer science | Choo

Column: AI race comes to an end as training data runs out | Reuters

Things to consider when achieving high-speed model inference on a GPU - Why is FlashAttention so fast? - M3 Tech Blog




Mixi2 can't continue to be free like this... How do they plan to monetize it in the future? 'Will it be full of ads or will it be a monthly subscription...?' - Togetter

LPI-Japan releases new edition of free Linux learning material 'Linux Standard Textbook' ~ Changed to a structure that is easy to learn on your own, focusing on hands-on exercises ~

A story about how the redundant router did not switch in the production environment despite verification ##Network - Qiita

About the mock server WireMock - asken Tech Blog

I heard that the feature of mixi2 is that it is not a recommendation-type timeline, but rather displays posts from people you follow in chronological order. This is now a feature of mixi2, and it makes me want to cry. - Togetter

Elementary school student creates 'song to stop crying baby' with AI, success rate 80% for younger brother [Kanagawa Prefecture]: Asahi Shimbun Digital

Baby will eat anything #babystopscrying - YouTube


'I can't switch to mixi2 without Togetter and Twilog' Hoping for a hybrid summary site that supports mixi2 → I've tried to summarize the current issues - Togetter [Togatter]







◆Anime, games, manga (subculture)







Multiplayer between world ranks 8 and 9 is now possible, and the relic limit has been increased! ——24.12.18 Developer Q&A - HoYoLAB

Nintendo quickly launches 'patent network' in Palworld lawsuit, three in seven months - Nikkei Newspaper

[Nintama] Why isn't the Ninjutsu Academy targeted by other forces? → Because the 6th graders do something every year as a 'regular event' - Togetter




Mochizuki's drama adaptation requires her to 'not give in to depictions of binge eating,' but due to a certain incident, binge eating and speed-eating dramas have been virtually banned in the TV industry - Togetter

'Game Freak: A creative group rewriting the global standard of entertainment' is back in print! – SHOSEN ONLINE

'Movie Butt Detective Star and Moon' Trailer / Released on Thursday, March 20, 2025 - YouTube


TV anime 'Your Forma' teaser PV / Broadcast starts in April 2025! - YouTube


TV anime 'After leaving the A-rank party, I aim for the depths of the labyrinth with my former students.' Non-credit ED [Broadcast starts on Saturday, January 11, 2025] - YouTube


TV anime 'After leaving the A-rank party, I aim for the depths of the labyrinth with my former students.' Non-credit OP [Broadcast starts on Saturday, January 11, 2025] - YouTube


TV anime 'Isura' Season 2 main PV | Season 2 will be broadcast and distributed from Wednesday, January 8, 2025! - YouTube


TV anime 'Children of the Shiunji Family' PV 1st release | Broadcast starts in April 2025♡ - YouTube


Indiana Jones: The Great Circle - Official Accolade Trailer - On Sale Now - YouTube


FREEDOM WARS Remastered - Opening Movie 'PT Era' - YouTube


'Splatoon 3 Gachiking Decisive Battle' Grand Final-YouTube




























































































































































'As a medical professional, I express my opposition' - Otaku doctor VTuber speaks out about the health risks of e-cigarettes in response to a popular VTuber's e-cigarette issue - Togetter

Apparently, there is an editor in a certain manga editorial department who is extremely picky and 'demands pointless retakes like crazy,' which is causing a series of manga artists to leave the department. 'Misreading the saying 'God is in the details'' - Togetter

[CM] TV anime 'BanG Dream! Ave Mujica' - YouTube


◆Sports, entertainment, music, movies (entertainment)
Why did Barca suddenly lose momentum? Unstable defense is now a tradition, but even if we know it's a problem, we can't fix it | web Sportiva

Masahide Kobayashi couldn't hold on to a four-point lead in the big game that would have meant advancing to the Japan Series, and lost the game. He was saved by his daughter's words, 'You're an idiot, Dad' | web Sportiva

Aoi Tanaka should not transfer in the winter market. He should help the prestigious Leeds to be promoted and reach their long-awaited goal of the Premier League next season. | web Sportiva




Transgender boxer gives up on becoming Japan's first male professional boxer | NHK | #Boxing

◆New products (clothing, food, housing)
[Why not go to KFC for the New Year's holidays?] The 'KFC O-ju' lunch box, which includes the popular 'Shrimp Puri Puri Fry' every year, will be available in limited quantities from Thursday, December 26th to decorate your New Year's dinner table. | Japan Kentucky Fried Chicken Co., Ltd. KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN JAPAN, LTD.

(PDF file) Rich and rich 'Rich Cocoa Choux' and 'Rich Cocoa Eclair' will be available for a limited time from Saturday, January 4, 2025 to Friday, January 31, 2025

in Headline, Posted by logu_ii