The J-League first division will feature 20 teams from the 2024 season, an increase from the current 18, as part of a plan to enhance its level and competitiveness, a source familiar with the matter said Wednesday. (Kyodo)

The Japanese government exercised Wednesday its "right to question" the Unification Church for the second time, as it continues investigating the controversial religious group with an eye on a court order to remove the organization's status as a religious corporation with tax benefits. (Kyodo)

A Japanese court on Wednesday sentenced a man who refused to wear a face mask aboard a Peach Aviation flight as a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to two years in prison, suspended for four years, for causing the aircraft to make an unscheduled landing to remove the passenger. (Kyodo)

Ichiro Mizuki, a Japanese singer known for being the "king of anime songs," died of lung cancer last Tuesday at a Tokyo hospital, his talent agency said. He was 74. (Kyodo)

Japanese billionaire entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa said Friday K-pop artist Top and American DJ Steve Aoki will be among the eight crew members who will join him on a private space trip to orbit the Moon in 2023. (Kyodo)

Police on Wednesday arrested five men with links to organized crime over a mass brawl that erupted as a group of around 100 were dining at a restaurant in a Tokyo skyscraper in October. (Kyodo)

Japan on Monday lifted its ban on automated drone flights over residential areas to allow aerial parcel deliveries and help address the country's labor shortages amid an aging population across the country, particularly in rural areas. (Kyodo)

Police searched the head office of a group claiming to be the Japanese arm of U.S. conspiracy cult QAnon in Shizuoka Prefecture on Monday after its members were arrested last week for forcing their way into a local mass coronavirus vaccination site earlier this year. (Kyodo)

Three men have been detained in Britain over their alleged involvement in a 2015 robbery that netted over 100 million yen ($742,000) worth of jewelry from a luxury shop in central Tokyo, an investigative source said Saturday. (Kyodo)

With Christmas only a few weeks away, Santa Claus has come to Japan for the first time in three years. He flew in from Finland on Friday. (NHK)

Police in Chiba city have arrested a 36-year-old high school teacher on suspicion of voyeurism and creating a public nuisance after he admitted placing a miniature camera inside a cubicle in the girls’ toilet at the school. (Japan Today)

A Japanese court on Wednesday awarded 970,000 yen ($7,000) in damages to a woman who left a Tokyo high school after being admonished by its principal to do so in 2019 for violating a school rule that banned dating by its students. (Kyodo)

A well-known Japanese professor was seriously wounded Tuesday in a suspected knife attack on a Tokyo university campus, and the attacker is still at large, police said. (Kyodo)

Three death row prisoners in Japan are taking the government to court as they fight to end the practice of execution by hanging. (BBC)

Lawson Inc. opened Monday its first futuristic convenience store in Tokyo staffed by "avatars" remotely controlled by employees, making it possible for even those with mobility issues to enter the workforce. (Kyodo)

The Tokyo metropolitan government has, for the first time, administered an English speaking test as part of its public high school entry exam amid doubts that the tests will be graded fairly. (Kyodo)

Official data issued by the Japanese government revealed on Friday that the prices of basic commodities of interest to consumers in the capital, Tokyo, rose by 3.6% in November compared to the same period in the previous year, recording the largest increase since 1982 amid the rise in energy and food prices, which have increasingly put pressure on household budgets. (see.news)

Police in Joyo, Kyoto Prefecture, have arrested a 28-year-old man on suspicion of abducting a seven-year-old girl and keeping her confined in his car. (Japan Today)

About 2,000 people took part in a bicycle event in Tokyo on Wednesday, with cyclists allowed to cross the iconic Rainbow Bridge for the first time since it opened in 1993. (Kyodo)

A man was arrested Sunday for allegedly punching his mother in the head the previous day on her 100th birthday, leaving her in critical condition, police said. (Kyodo)

Four men have been arrested over the death of a man in the central Japan prefecture of Aichi after his body was discovered in August in a concrete-filled drum in Aomori Prefecture in the northeast, police said Thursday. (Kyodo)

Police in Okayama City have arrested three men on suspicion of causing a 27-year-old man’s death after they pushed into a river where he drowned. (Japan Today)

Princess Hisako, the widow of former Emperor Akihito's cousin, has tested positive for the coronavirus, the Imperial Household Agency said Wednesday, making her the fifth COVID-19 case within the Japanese imperial family. (Kyodo)

Shigeru Nakamura, a 111-year-old recognized as Japan's oldest man, died Tuesday at a nursing home in Hiroshima Prefecture where he resided, the facility said. (Kyodo)

Princess Nobuko, widow of Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, has been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer and is scheduled to undergo surgery this weekend, the Imperial Household Agency said Tuesday. (Kyodo)