A long-awaited theme park featuring beloved characters and scenes from Studio Ghibli’s hit animations is set to open Nov. 1 in central Japan’s Aichi Prefecture, treating fans to the wonders and secrets of Ghibli films such as “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Castle in the Sky.” (Kyodo)

An Israeli resident of Japan who was being held at a detention center near Tokyo after being charged in 2020 for smuggling drugs into the country has died, his lawyer said Tuesday. (Kyodo)

The Tokyo metropolitan government on Tuesday began accepting applications from sexual minorities to have their partnerships publicly recognized, ahead of the program's launch on Nov. 1. (Kyodo)

A 53-year-old man was arrested Monday on suspicion of abandoning the body of a female university student at his home in Sapporo, Hokkaido, over the weekend. (Kyodo)

The prefecture of Miyagi in northeastern Japan plans to grant government workers leave to take care of their grandchildren as part of efforts to help child-rearing parents. (Kyodo)

Japan's Megumi Horikawa won the women's 63-kilogram division at the judo world championships on Sunday in Tashkent for her first world title. (Kyodo)

A body found recently in a river in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, has been confirmed as that of a 7-year-old girl who went missing in late September, investigative sources said Thursday. (Kyodo)

Japan's health ministry on Wednesday granted special fast-track approval to U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc.'s updated coronavirus vaccine tailored to protect against the now-prevalent BA.5 subvariant. (Kyodo)

North Korea fired two ballistic missiles early Thursday from near Pyongyang toward the Sea of Japan, the sixth round of launches since late September, after a U.S. aircraft carrier was redeployed to the waters, the Japanese government and the South Korean military said. (Kyodo)

The iPhone 14 launched by Apple Inc. in September was cheaper in Japan than 36 other major countries and regions in the world, a survey showed Wednesday. (Kyodo)

A court has granted a temporary injunction on an immigration agency decision to strip a Japanese language school of its certification over an incident in which a former staff member physically restrained a Vietnamese student last October, the agency said Wednesday. (Kyodo)

A Japanese court on Friday upheld the denial of a long-term residence visa to an American man who married his same-sex Japanese partner in the United States. (Kyodo)

The Japanese Air Self-Defense Force and the German Air Force conducted their first exercise around Japan on Wednesday, as Berlin increases its involvement in Indo-Pacific security. (NHK)

An exhibition will open at Stonehenge on Friday, showing the remarkable similarities between prehistoric cultures in Britain and Japan. (Kyodo)

Police on Monday continued searching for a 7-year-old girl who went missing after she left her home in an eastern Japan city to go to a nearby park four days ago. (Kyodo)

The former head of a nursery school and an employee of the school went on trial on Monday over the death of a 5-year-old boy left on a bus for hours in the summer of 2021. (Japan Today)

A typhoon lashed central Japan on Saturday with torrential rain and fierce winds, killing two and leaving tens of thousands of households without power, the Kyodo news agency reported. (New Straits Times)

Most young women in Japan who are hoping to get married want only one child or none at all, the first time in postwar history that the average number of desired births has fallen below two, according to a survey, adding to concern about the country's rapidly graying population. (Kyodo)

A former member of KAT-TUN, an all-male idol group, went on trial in Chiba Prefecture on Thursday, charged with violating the Stimulants Control Law. (Japan Today)

Police in Akishima, Tokyo, have arrested a 14-year-old boy on suspicion of robbing a convenience store. (Japan Today)

A 49-year-old woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday after a Japanese court found that she had manipulated her friend to starve her 5-year-old son to death. (Kyodo)

Japan will ask foreign guests attending the state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe next week to wear protective face masks to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, the top government spokesman said Thursday. (Kyodo)

A Japanese consortium chosen in the first round of bids to restructure Toshiba Corp has decided to explore other options, Kyodo news reported on Wednesday. (Reuters)

Police in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, said the remains of three people were found in a burned-out car at a park on Wednesday morning. (Japan Today)

SoftBank Corp. said Tuesday it has launched a subscription service that lets customers drive a used car at a fixed monthly rate, as it tries to diversify its business portfolio amid a slow growth in the flagship mobile phone business. (Kyodo)