A teenage boy was stabbed in the thigh on Sunday by unidentified individuals on the streets of Nakano Ward, Tokyo, prompting police to investigate the whereabouts of around four men captured by a surveillance camera.

The operator of a major conveyer belt sushi chain has dropped its damages suit against a teenager who was filmed in a viral video licking a soy sauce bottle at one of its restaurants, according to the company. (Japan Today)

Hinata Miyazawa scored twice as former champions Japan smashed Women's World Cup newcomers Zambia 5-0 in a rampant start to their campaign on Saturday. (observerbd.com)

Despite its low birth rates, Japan is struggling with a shortage of teachers. In Japan, a 'teacher shortage' is a situation in which the number of teachers assigned to schools does not meet local quotas. Vacancies occur because it is not possible to secure teachers, even temporarily assigned teachers. (East Asia Forum)

Japanese companies that conducted stock splits recently have seen their shares outperform the market, showing one reason why investors can’t get enough of those equities. (Bloomberg)

In cricket, the term "wicket" refers to three different but interrelated things. (newsonjapan.com)

Mt Fuji's climbing season started on Saturday as one of its four main hiking trails reopened and a ceremony was held to pray for the safety of climbers at a shrine on Japan's tallest and most iconic mountain. (Japan Today)

Buoyed by a wave of buying from overseas, including the stamp of approval from legendary investor Warren Buffett, Japan’s economic outlook is brightening, deflationary concerns are dissipating, and the stock market is on a climb that could take it above its all-time record highs. It only took 33 years. (foreignpolicy.com)

Observe how communities can influence meme coins. Dogecoin (DOGE) and Pepe Coin (PEPE) are excellent illustrations of how fervent communities can transform meme projects into lucrative cryptocurrency businesses. (newsonjapan.com)

Last week Japan adopted its first ever space security blueprint aimed at better using space for defensive purposes. This builds on the three new security documents released by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration in December 2022, in which it committed to doubling defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP by 2027 and investing in Tomahawk missiles to develop missile counter-strike capabilities. (East Asia Forum)

Sweltering weather prevailed across western and eastern Japan on Friday with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius in many parts. (NHK)

Japan's 10-year government bond yield weakened and 10-year futures rose on Friday after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept its ultra-loose monetary policy unchanged. (Reuters)

An increasing number of Japanese scholars are filling research posts at universities and laboratories in China. In the past, China had mainly welcomed engineers from Japanese companies, but it is now looking to attract academics in astronomy and other basic fields of science. (Nikkei)

Tokyo is darker at night now than in 2019 before COVID-19 ravaged the city's entertainment districts. Nighttime satellite images show the city last year had luminosity only 90% that of 2019, while Paris and London had fully regained their glow. (Nikkei)

Japanese Crown Princess Kiko and Crown Prince Akishino attended King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s coronation at Westminster Abbey in London on Saturday. (footwearnews.com)

FIBA Basketball World Cup co-host Japan must raise its level of play against "difficult" Group E opponents Australia, Germany and Finland, men's national team head coach Tom Hovasse said following Saturday's draw for the tournament. (Kyodo)

Japan's trade deficit roughly quadrupled to a record 21.73 trillion yen in fiscal 2022 ended March, as increased energy costs and a weaker yen led imports to grow far more than exports, the Finance Ministry said Thursday. (Japan Today)

The average price of existing condominiums in Tokyo rose by 4.8% (inflation-adjusted) in 2022 from a year earlier, a sharp slowdown from a year-on-year increase of 10.65% in the prior year. (globalpropertyguide.com)

A body was reportedly seen floating in the waters off Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture where a military helicopter with 10 members aboard went missing a few days ago, the Japan Coast Guard said Saturday. (Japan Times)

Nobutaka Sada, the President of bespoke suit company SADA, has become a viral sensation after successfully climbing Mount Kinabalu, the highest peak in Malaysia, while wearing a full suit and leather shoes. (theonlinecitizen.com)

Japan’s inflation slowed for the first time in more than a year, as government energy subsidies masked the stronger underlying trend ahead of the Bank of Japan’s first leadership change in a decade. (Bloomberg)

The operator of a century-old ryokan inn in southwestern Japan on Tuesday admitted telling staff not to regularly change its hot-spring bathwater, which led to levels of legionella bacteria as much as 3,700 times over standard limits. (Kyodo)

Inbound tourism to Japan has begun to recover since the easing of COVID-19 border controls but a shortage of staff has become an increasing problem for the airline industry, as many who left their jobs during the pandemic have not returned. (Japan Times)

Japan aims to receive a record number of foreign visitors in 2025, a draft of the government's revised plan showed Thursday, with inbound tourism seeing a steady recovery since the country significantly eased border measures last October. (Japan Today)

The number of sexual assault cases in Japan involving violence or threats rose 9.9 percent to 4,708, according to the data released by the National Police Agency. (MSN)