A private-sector English-speaking test will be introduced at the Tokyo metropolitan high school entrance exam for the first time in Japan this month, but the initiative to nurture "speaking skills" faces stiff opposition from some parents and education experts questioning its fairness. (Kyodo)

Miyuu Yamashita won the Ito En Ladies golf tournament Sunday, securing her place as the season points leader and making her the youngest "queen" in Japan LPGA Tour history at 21 years, 103 days. (Kyodo)

Japanese Emperor Naruhito has been found to have an enlarged prostate but there is no cause for concern, the Imperial Household Agency said Thursday. (Kyodo)

Prosecutors on Wednesday brought a fourth indictment against a former Tokyo Olympic executive on charges of receiving bribes totaling around 54 million yen ($370,000) from a major advertisement company and a firm that sold stuffed dolls of the games' mascots. (Kyodo)

Police in Tokyo have arrested a 38-year-old employee of Sagawa Express Co Ltd on suspicion of violating the anti-stalking law after he made harassing phone calls to a woman. (Japan Today)

Local authorities in the central Japanese city of Gifu were on maximum alert Sunday as 460,000 people, more than the city's population, flocked to a festival to catch a glimpse of a superstar dressed as a warlord astride a horse. (Kyodo)

Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force has held an international fleet review for the first time in 20 years, to mark the 70th anniversary of its founding. (NHK)

Shohei Ohtani missed out on consecutive Players Choice Awards on Friday, with New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge claiming the pair of accolades won last year by the Los Angeles Angels two-way star. (Kyodo)

Police in Sapporo have arrested a 29-year-old man over the death of a 23-year-old woman who fell or was pushed out of his car onto the street. The woman was hit by an oncoming vehicle and died later of her injuries. (Japan Today)

The departure of the first ferry from the Fukuoka prefecture, Japan, to Busan, South Korea, marked the resumption of Japan’s international maritime passenger transportation, suspended in 2020 as a preventive measure against Covid-19, local sources reported. (plenglish.com)

A two-year-old boy fell to his death from the 25th floor of an apartment building in Chiba city on Wednesday. (Japan Today)

Hideaki Takizawa, a former member of J-pop idol duo Tackey & Tsubasa who starred in NHK's yearlong historical drama series in 2005, has resigned from Johnny & Associates Inc., one of Japan's most powerful talent agencies, an agency official said Tuesday. (Kyodo)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has started cracking down on cyclists violating traffic laws due to a series of fatal accidents from reckless bicycling. (Japan Today)

Japan will cut household electricity bills by about 20 percent early next year as an inflation-relief step under a broader economic package that will entail nearly 30 trillion yen ($204 billion) in government spending, sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday. (Kyodo)

Police in Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture, have arrested a 27-year-old man on suspicion of parental neglect after he left his four-year-old daughter unattended in a car parking lot at night. (Japan Today)

Japan on Tuesday began coronavirus vaccinations for children aged six months to four years at a hospital in Tokyo, expanding the eligibility criteria for inoculation to almost all age groups. (Kyodo)

The Japanese government will extend a gasoline subsidy to curb rising energy costs until the first half of the next fiscal year, the Kyodo news agency reported on Wednesday (Oct 26). (CNA)

Police in Tokyo have arrested a 26-year-old man on suspicion of assault and attempted robbery after he tried to steal a police officer’s gun in a koban (police box) at Shibuya Station. (Japan Today)

A four-year-old boy fell to his death from an apartment building where he lived in Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward on Saturday. (Japan Today)

Kei Komuro, the husband of Japanese former princess Mako Komuro, has passed his New York state bar examination on his third attempt, a source familiar with the matter said Friday. (Kyodo)

A Tokyo court on Thursday ordered ruling party lawmaker Mio Sugita to pay Shiori Ito, a journalist and symbol of Japan's #MeToo movement, 550,000 yen ($3,700) in damages for clicking "like" on several tweets she said defamed her. (Kyodo)

Police in Hidaka, Saitama Prefecture, have arrested a 37-year-old unemployed man on suspicion of assault and trespassing after he entered the grounds of a junior high school and injured three students with a bamboo sword. (Japan Today)

The yen's rapid and one-sided depreciation is "negative" for the Japanese economy, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said Wednesday after the currency hit a fresh 32-year low versus the U.S. dollar. (Kyodo)

A cross-party group of around 90 Japanese lawmakers on Tuesday visited the war-linked Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo for its fall festival, a move expected to irritate some Asian neighbors who view it as a symbol of Japan's past militarism. (Kyodo)

Keita Nakagawa singled in the winning run in the ninth inning as the Pacific League champion Orix Buffaloes advanced to the Japan Series with a 3-2 walk-off win over the SoftBank Hawks on Saturday. (Kyodo)