A winter festival featuring about 30 ice sculptures has been drawing many tourists to a hot spring resort in Japan's northern prefecture of Hokkaido. (NHK)

Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara lost the women's doubles final at the Australian Open on Sunday, falling short in their quest to become the first all-Japanese pair to win a Grand Slam. (Kyodo)

A pharmaceutical advisory body for Japan's health ministry on Friday expressed no objection to the manufacturing and marketing of an abortion pill, bringing the medication a step closer to becoming the first of its kind to gain approval in the country. (Kyodo)

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday struck a cautious tone about legally recognizing same-sex marriage in line with other Group of Seven countries that have already adopted the practice. (Kyodo)

Archaeological workers in western Japan have unearthed a shield-shaped mirror and a long sword at an ancient burial mound. (NHK)

The Japanese government on Wednesday downgraded its economic outlook for the first time in 11 months, reflecting a fall in exports amid a recent surge in COVID-19 cases in China. (Kyodo)

A former worker at a host club in Tokyo's Kabukicho nightlife district has been arrested on suspicion of coercing a female customer into prostitution so she could pay off her bills, police said Monday. (Kyodo)

The Japanese government on Monday issued an administrative guidance to the Unification Church demanding it comply with the law amid allegations that it has arranged for child adoption between believers' families without authorization. (Kyodo)

Japan's electric scooter users will no longer require a driver's license from July, though minors under 16 will be banned from riding them, the National Police Agency said Thursday, Kyodo reports. (KazInform)

An ex-boyfriend was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of fatally stabbing a woman on a street in the southwestern Japanese city of Fukuoka earlier this week, police said. (Kyodo)

Police in Tokyo have arrested a 31-year-old unemployed woman on suspicion of theft after she allegedly took a 34-year-old female acquaintance’s apartment key from her handbag during dinner and gave it to an accomplice to rob her apartment. (Japan Today)

A female inmate awaiting execution in Japan after being convicted of murdering two men in the western prefecture of Tottori in 2009 died Saturday of asphyxiation after choking on food, the Justice Ministry said Sunday. (Kyodo)

Undefeated Japanese boxer Naoya Inoue announced his decision Friday to relinquish all four bantamweight belts and move up to the super bantamweight division. (Kyodo)

A Japan Coast Guard vessel is monitoring a whale in Osaka Bay, western Japan, for a second straight day. (Kyodo)

Japan-based users of popular language-learning app Duolingo spend the longest time studying a language on the platform, with English being studied the most followed by Korean and Chinese, a recent report by the U.S.-based developer showed. (Kyodo)

Beatles musician John Lennon and his peace activist wife Yoko Ono asked Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in 1969 to permit overseas release of an unedited film on the aftermath of the U.S. atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to prevent a similar "atrocity," the Japanese Foreign Ministry's archives show. (Japan Today)

Police in Osaka have arrested a 28-year-old unemployed man on suspicion of breaking into a 36-year-old woman’s home, stealing her underwear, then setting fire to her house two days later. (Japan Today)

Police in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, have arrested a 50-year-old man who claimed he was stabbed by a stranger on Dec 20, but who actually stabbed himself to make it look like someone tried to kill him. (Japan Today)

Police in Nasushiobara, Tochigi Prefecture, have arrested a 46-year-old woman on suspicion of killing her 13-year-old son. (Japan Today)

Police sent a 40-year-old man to prosecutors on a murder charge Tuesday after three people were found dead with blunt trauma injuries in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo. (Kyodo)

A couple in their 60s and their daughter were found dead at their home in Hanno, Saitama Prefecture, on Sunday morning. Part of the second floor of the house had also been destroyed by a fire. (Japan Today)

Japanese prosecutors have decided to indict the man suspected of shooting former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Kyodo news agency and other Japanese media reported on Saturday. (inquirer.net)

Japan's average temperature in 2022 was its highest ever for the fourth consecutive year, preliminary figures released by the country's weather agency showed Thursday. (Kyodo)

A 52-year-old woman and her one-year-old grandson died after the car she was driving plunged into the sea at a port in Kuji, Iwate Prefecture, on Monday. (Japan Today)

Aichi prefectural police have revealed that a 43-year-old unemployed man, who was being detained in a cell at a police station in Okazaki, died on Dec 4 after refusing to eat any food for three days. (Kyodo)