Japan's conveyor-belt sushi chains are accelerating their expansion overseas, with some restaurants growing faster abroad than domestically thanks to easing coronavirus restrictions and higher expectations for market growth. (Nikkei)

Price increases are planned in 2023 at the majority of Japanese companies that produce food and other daily necessities, a Nikkei survey finds, with businesses caught between covering surging costs and keeping customers happy. (Nikkei)

Japan's airports, railway stations and expressways are crowded on Tuesday as people return from their year-end and New Year holidays. (NHK)

In the face of rising concerns about environmental degradation and a global move toward sustainability, two of Japan's top airlines have begun to transform their operations to greener practices. (Nikkei)

With yokozuna Terunofuji's future in doubt, the door is wide open for others to move up the ranks, and other sumo New Year predictions for the year to come. (japan-forward.com)

Heading into the 2022 FIFA World Cup, no one really gave Japan much hope. The Bule Samurai have impressed in recent editions of the tournament. (newsonjapan.com)

Turning 20 used to mean becoming an adult in Japan, until the revised Civil Code went into effect in April 2022 to lower the age of adulthood to 18. (yomiuri.co.jp)

Emperor Naruhito wished for a year where people will be able to lead their lives with hope after one marked by the novel coronavirus pandemic and the Russian war in Ukraine, in his New Year address released Sunday. (Japan Today)

Emperor Naruhito and his family waved to throngs of New Year’s well-wishers from the balcony at the Imperial Palace on Monday in the return of a celebration halted for the past two years by the pandemic. (Japan Today)

Beatles musician John Lennon and his peace activist wife Yoko Ono asked Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in 1969 to permit overseas release of an unedited film on the aftermath of the U.S. atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to prevent a similar "atrocity," the Japanese Foreign Ministry's archives show. (Japan Today)

Worshippers flocked to a shrine in central Tokyo in the early hours of New Year's Day to pray for good luck in 2023. (NHK)

Japan is discussing a possible change next spring that would place COVID-19 in the same category of infectious disease as the seasonal flu, a move that could ease the strain on health care providers. (Nikkei)

Princess Kako had a busy year of engagements, taking over many of the duties of the former Princess Mako. (people.com)

Apple Japan is being charged 13 billion yen ($98 million) in additional taxes by Tokyo authorities, apparently for bulk sales of iPhones and other devices to foreign tourists that were incorrectly exempted from the consumption tax, Nikkei learned on Monday. (Nikkei)

Japanese reconstruction minister Kenya Akiba tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday, December 27, becoming the fourth minister to leave the cabinet created by Kishida in August. (rappler.com)

Japan will require COVID-19 tests on arrival for travellers from mainland China from Friday (Dec 30), Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, after Beijing announced it will end inbound quarantine requirements. (CNA)

Police sent a 40-year-old man to prosecutors on a murder charge Tuesday after three people were found dead with blunt trauma injuries in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo. (Kyodo)

Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Monday brushed aside the chance of a near-term exit from ultra-loose monetary policy but voiced hope that intensifying labour shortages will prod firms to raise wages. (CNAcn)

Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward announced Friday that two public restrooms in the ward, known as “see-through toilets,” in which the glass walls of the restrooms become opaque when in use, had a problem that allowed people to see inside while in use. (yomiuri.co.jp)

Drug stores in Tokyo are being forced to limit purchases of cold medicines due to a rush on stocks by foreign, mostly Chinese, customers. (Asahi)

Japanese prosecutors have decided to indict the man suspected of shooting former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Kyodo news agency and other Japanese media reported on Saturday. (inquirer.net)

Aiming to reduce its reliance on China for rare earth metals, Japan will begin in 2024 to extract the essential materials for electric vehicles and hybrids from the mud on the deep sea bottom in an area off Minami-Torishima Island, a coral atoll in the Pacific Ocean about 1,900 kilometers southeast of Tokyo. (Nikkei)

A Maritime Self-Defense Force captain is suspected of leaking information designated as a state secret, government sources said Saturday, the first time such a breach has come to light. (Japan Times)

The founder and former chairman of a business suit retailer has admitted that he paid bribes to win sponsorship rights for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. (NHK)

The former head of a major sushi chain operator in Japan has pleaded guilty to stealing confidential information from a rival company he used to work for. (NHK)