Japanese bathroom giant Lixil Group has agreed to buy Germany's Grohe in a $4.1 billion deal, its second purchase in recent months and one that would turn it into the sector's biggest global player. The Dusseldorf-based maker of bathroom appliances confirmed Thursday that it was being taken over by Lixil in a buyout which also marks Japan Inc's biggest-ever investment in Germany.

The vast train network that criss-crosses subterranean Tokyo can be a confusing and intimidating place for the uninitiated. Dreary, utilitarian stations drone and chime with a stream of announcements, seemingly ignored by the mass of humanity that spills onto platforms or crams improbably into carriages. It may not be pretty, but in a city where millions of commuters travel by train daily, it boasts the precision of a finely-crafted Swiss watch, keeping Tokyo moving -- even if it means pushing hundreds of people into a single carriage at rush hour.

Companies in Japan and overseas are accelerating their development of “wearable technology”— items such as wristwatches and eyeglasses with data processing capabilities. South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to soon announce a new watch-type device and Google Inc., of the United States, has generated considerable buzz over its Google Glass product. And with domestic makers including Sony Corp. hurrying to enter the market, competition over the next generation of computing devices is expected to heat up.

A huge roar went up from hundreds of people who flocked to a Tokyo Park in the early hours of a grey, humid Sunday morning as the Japanese capital was awarded the 2020 summer Olympic Games.Tokyo overcame a worsening crisis at a nuclear plant 230km (140 miles) away as well as a one-time lack of local support to convincingly beat rivals Istanbul and Madrid for the right to stage the Games for the second time.