Tokyo Disneyland on Saturday celebrated 40 years since first opening its doors to visitors, marking the milestone with colorful celebrations featuring Mickey Mouse and other iconic characters after weathering the COVID-19 pandemic. (Japan Today)

The Japanese government will introduce a new, simplified system for granting highly skilled professional visas to foreign workers next Friday to attract overseas talent, the Immigration Services Agency said Friday. (Kyodo)

Sapporo's chances of hosting the 2030 Winter Olympics are fading amid a drop in public support in Japan, sources close to the matter told Kyodo News on Friday. (Kyodo)

A major annual firework festival in Tokyo will be held this summer for the first time in four years after the display was repeatedly canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions, the event's organizer said Tuesday. (Kyodo)

An 11-year-old male Japanese ballet dancer won the top prize Sunday for his age group at a major international ballet competition for young dancers seeking to become professionals. (Kyodo)

An 18-year-old woman was fatally stabbed in a waiting room on a platform at a train station in Nagoya on Saturday night, police said Sunday, adding that a 29-year-old man suspected of stabbing her apparently killed himself by jumping from the platform into the path of an oncoming train. (Japan Today)

Around half of unmarried people under 30 in Japan have no interest in having children, a recent survey by a pharmaceutical firm showed, with respondents citing economic concerns and the burden of childbirth and parenting as their reasoning. (Kyodo)

Virtual online spaces are providing social recluses, known as "hikikomori" in Japan, a way of staying connected to the world while also allowing them to edge closer to making a full return to society. (Kyodo)

The Japanese government will formulate guidelines regarding the use of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chatbots in schools possibly by next March, officials said Thursday, as concerns grow over their impact on students' writing and thinking skills. (Kyodo)

A missing Japanese army helicopter carrying 10 crew members is likely to have crashed into the water off a southern island after debris resembling aircraft pieces were seen in the area, reported Los Angeles Times. (WION)

Yamanashi Gakuin beat Hotoku Gakuen 7-3 in the final of the 95th high school invitational baseball tournament Saturday at Koshien Stadium behind a complete game from ace Kengo Hayashi, claiming a first-ever national championship for Yamanashi Prefecture. (Kyodo)

Japan will scrap Monday a service allowing passport holders to add pages when they run out of space for visas and immigration stamps, becoming the last member of the Group of 20 to stop such a system. (Kyodo)

New sekiwake Kiribayama came from behind to win the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday, beating overnight leader Daieisho in the final regulation bout and again in a sudden-death tiebreaker. (Kyodo)

Japan's Foreign Ministry on Thursday ordered a popular online personality and former lawmaker, currently residing overseas and known as GaaSyy, to return his passport after police obtained an arrest warrant for him over celebrity defamation threat allegations. (Kyodo)

Japan land prices gained the most in 15 years as a loose monetary policy and the lifting of COVID restrictions fueled demand for offices, condominiums and hotels. (Nikkei)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has begun urging cyclists to wear helmets before a helmet-wearing mandate goes into effect nationwide on April 1. (Japan Today)

Cherry blossoms were in full bloom on Wednesday in central Tokyo, matching 2013, 2020 and 2021 to become the second-earliest day in the year for the seasonal phenomena to occur since records began, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. (Kyodo)

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida began a surprise visit to Ukraine early Tuesday, hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in neighboring Russia for a three-day visit. (euronews)

Fashion model Jessica Michibata and a male friend have been arrested at a hotel in Tokyo on suspicion of possessing the synthetic drug MDMA, police said. (Japan Today)

A 32-year-old man was arrested Saturday for arson after a fire gutted the house where he lived in the central Japan prefecture of Nagano, apparently killing three of his family members, police said. (Kyodo)

Twenty-year-old Sota Fujii became only the second player in the history of the shogi board game to hold six major titles Sunday when he took the Kio crown from Akira Watanabe. (Kyodo)

A teenage girl was arrested on Saturday for allegedly killing a man at a hotel in Toyama Prefecture in central Japan, police said. (Kyodo)

The government in the western Japan prefecture of Kagawa has called on local hotel operators to stop asking foreign residents for identification when they check in, local officials said Thursday. (Kyodo)

The number of women committing suicide in Japan increased for the third straight year in 2022, rising 67 from the previous year to 7,135, government data showed Tuesday, with the upward trend apparently fueled by the coronavirus pandemic. (Kyodo)

Japan's Cabinet approved a bill Tuesday to recognize a sexual violation even in the absence of physical violence or coercion and raise the age of sexual consent from 13 to 16, as part of reforms to the country's Penal Code. (Kyodo)