The governor of the region at the centre of Japan's nuclear crisis has criticised official handling of the evacuation of the area around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

BBC: Japan earthquake: Anger over Fukushima evacuation plan

Oku-noto no Aenokoto is an agricultural ritual transmitted from generation to generation by the rice farmers of the Noto Peninsula, which projects from Ishikawa prefecture in the centre of Japan s main island, Honshu.

UNESCO: Culture

Toshiyuki Nakagaki of the Bio-Mimetic Control Research Centre, Nagoya, Japan, placed pieces of the slime mould Physarum polycephalum in an agar gel maze comprising four possible routes.

BBC: When slime is not so thick

As deregulation comes belatedly to Japan, the lines to the call-centre can only get busier.

ECONOMIST: Japan��s bell curve

China and Japan have shown an interest in using the centre in the coming months and Ms Clay is confident more will follow.

BBC: London 2012 National Watersports Centre boost hopes

Deregulation has cut the price of long-distance calls in Japan by 75% over the past decade, allowing telemarketing agencies to expand the area covered by each call-centre.

ECONOMIST: Japan��s bell curve