Axioms can be used to model derived predicates in domain-independent planning models. Formulating models which use axioms can sometimes result in problems with much smaller search spaces than the original model. We propose a method for automatically extracting a particular class of axioms from standard STRIPS PDDL models. More specifically, we identify operators whose effects become irrelevant given some other operator, and generate axioms that capture this relationship. We show that this algorithm can be used to successfully extract axioms from standard IPC benchmark instances, and show that the extracted axioms can be used to significantly improve the performance of satisficing planners.

Depending on who (and where) you ask, SaGa Frontier is either a little-known cult classic JRPG or a best-selling building block of a famous franchise. "We want more gamers, especially those from the West, to play games from the SaGa series, which has a long history in Japan," says Hiroyuki Miura, the producer of SaGa Frontier Remastered. I played SaGa Frontier as an awkward, angsty teen in the late '90s. I spent hours leveling up my characters, then getting mad at myself for failing to save before wiping again. I'd pause to switch over to the family computer, looking up game tips and painstakingly detailed walkthroughs on old-school forums.

Though last Sunday's Tokyo assembly elections garnered the most media attention, another contest came in a close second, even if only two people were involved. Fourteen-year-old Sota Fujii's record-setting winning streak of 29 games of shogi was finally broken on July 2 when he lost a match to 22-year-old Yuki Sasaki. Fujii has turned into a media superstar in the past year because of his youth and exceptional ability in a game that non-enthusiasts may find too cerebral to appreciate. The speed of Fujii's ascension to headline status has been purposely accelerated by the media, which treats him as not just a prodigy, but as the vanguard figure of a pastime in which the media has a stake. Press photos of Fujii's matches show enormous assemblies of reporters, video crews and photographers hovering over the kneeling opponents.

With diversified ways to listen on the rise, radio is attracting renewed attention in Japan. Its popularity was also spurred by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami and the April 2016 temblors in Kumamoto Prefecture, as its role in spreading key information during disasters came into view. Fans can listen to radio shows on personal computers and smartphones and share favorite programs online through social networking services. Some 12 million people a month listen through the Radiko internet radio service that makes programs from various broadcasters available. The service was developed by Fumio Miura, a professor at Kansai University and a fellow at operator Radiko Co. "I want to evolve radio into completely different new media by, for example, utilizing artificial intelligence," Miura said.

Stocks sank deeper into negative territory on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Wednesday, with investor sentiment hurt by an overnight sell-off on Wall Street and the yen's sharp appreciation against the dollar. The 225-issue Nikkei average tumbled 414.50 The key price indicator suffered the biggest closing loss since Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election in November last year. On Tuesday, the Nikkei average shed 65.71 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues closed down 33.22 points, or 2.12 percent, at 1,530.20, after losing 2.43 points the previous day.