Train service on part of Tokyo's Yamanote Line resumed early Monday morning after large-scale renovation work was carried out at Shibuya Station over the weekend. (NHK)

The U.S. is finalizing plans to extend its security umbrella for Japan into space, seeking to protect satellites crucial in military surveillance and operations, Nikkei has learned. (Nikkei)

The New Year Grand Sumo tournament opened in Tokyo on Sunday. This tournament has only one yokozuna, the highest rank, and a single ozeki, the second highest, on the ranking list. (NHK)

A bomb threat has forced a passenger plane operated by budget carrier Jetstar Japan to make an emergency landing at an airport in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan. (NHK)

Japan's Finance Ministry says it is more than doubling the coupon rate on 10-year government bonds amid a rapid rise in market yields. (NHK)

The suspect in the deaths of three family members last month at a residence in Hanno, Saitama Prefecture, has denied killing them, police said Wednesday. (Japan Today)

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said on Wednesday that her government will provide benefits of approximately 5,000 yen ($38) per person per month to residents of Tokyo aged 18 or younger to help cover the cost of their education. (Nikkei)

Japanese employees returned to work on Wednesday (Jan 4) after celebrating the first three days of 2023 by travelling and having family gatherings, as eased restrictions allowed a gradual return to normalcy following two years of muted celebrations. (CNA)

Top Japanese cosplayer Enako earned over 200 million yen (approximately $1.5 million) in revenue for 2022, according to her manager. (nextshark.com)

Taking advantage of the vast cash pile generated by the success of its COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax, US mRNA therapeutics and vaccines specialist Moderna (Nasdaq: MRNA) today announced its first out-right acquisition since its launch in 2020. (thepharmaletter.com)

The Sony-Honda electric vehicle alliance unveiled a new brand and its prototype car on Thursday while also announcing a partnership with U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm on intelligent mobility technology. (Japan Times)

Traders at Tokyo's Toyosu wholesale market held the first auction of 2023 on Thursday to sell raw and frozen tuna from ports around Japan and abroad. (NHK)

With the New Year comes to the kabuki world the season of the "early spring" performances, filled with auspicious and celebratory works and dances, and including four major shows in the capital (Kabuki-za, Shinbashi Enbujō, National Theatre and Asakusa Kōkaidō) and one Tamasaburō dance recital in Osaka. Happy New Year to everyone! 明けましておめでとう！ (Kabuki In-Depth)

This time I took the luxury overnight express bus from Osaka to Tokyo. (At JAPAN)

Japan said on Monday it scrambled jet fighters and dispatched aircraft and warships over the past two weeks to keep tabs on China's Liaoning aircraft carrier and five warships that conducted naval maneuvers and flight operations in the Pacific. (Japan Today)

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)