A Japanese company has become a world leader in a very specific area of ski manufacturing, with its triangular logo set to be seen at the Beijing Olympic Games on the skis of most of the world's best moguls racers. (Kyodo)

Defending champion Naomi Osaka was eliminated from the Australian Open on Friday in a third-round upset against 60th-ranked American Amanda Anisimova. (Kyodok)

The eruption of an underwater volcano off Tonga on Saturday that caused tsunami waves of up to around 1 meter to hit parts of Japan's coast stumped weather experts, as volcanic eruptions are said to rarely cause a rise in tide levels. (Kyodo)

Japan will shorten to 10 days the current 14-day isolation period for close contacts of the Omicron COVID-19 variant among the general public, health minister Shigeyuki Goto said Friday. (Kyodo)

The Japanese Olympic Committee will select veteran Nordic combined skier Akito Watabe as a flagbearer for February's Beijing Winter Games, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday. (Kyodo)

Veteran No. 3 maegashira Tamawashi took advantage of a slipup to snap yokozuna Terunofuji's 23-match win streak Friday and remain within one win of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament lead. (Kyodo)

Police on Sunday arrested a 28-year-old man who held the manager of a "yakiniku" grilled meat restaurant in Tokyo hostage and claimed he had planted a bomb in the establishment, later telling police he wanted to eat grilled meat before being nabbed, investigative sources said. (Kyodo)

The leaders of Australia and Japan have signed a “historic” defence treaty that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said would “contribute to a secure and stable Indo-Pacific” as China expands its military and economic clout in the region. (aljazeera.com)

A transgender woman was referred to prosecutors Thursday for suspected trespassing after using the ladies room in a commercial facility in Osaka, in a case an expert on LGBT issues fears might lead to more prejudice and discrimination against sexual minorities. (Kyodo)

A tiger bit off a keeper's hand and attacked two other people at a safari park near Tokyo, Japanese media reported Wednesday. (france24.com)

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday asked business leaders to raise wages more aggressively for employees as part of his pursuit of wealth redistribution. (Kyodo)

Sony Group Corp. will set up a new unit in the spring for electric vehicles as it explores the possibility of launching them commercially, its CEO said Tuesday. (Kyodo)

A southwestern Japan hospital where women can give birth anonymously said Tuesday that a teenage girl who gave birth in December has become the first person to use the system, the only one of its kind in the country. (Kyodo)

Japan confirmed 554 daily coronavirus cases Sunday, a new high since the Omicron variant was first detected in late November, amid a steady increase of infections involving the highly transmissible strain in the midst of the country's New Year holidays. (Kyodo)

The leaders of Japan's major business organizations on Saturday expressed their resolve to address pressing challenges facing the country to support growth in 2022, ranging from digitalization and decarbonization to regional revitalization and deregulation. (Kyodo)

Mizuho Bank said Friday it has failed to process some 300 money transfer requests following a temporary system failure the previous day that was its ninth this year. (Kyodo)

Viewer ratings for national broadcaster NHK's "Kohaku" live music show on New Year's Eve fell to a record low of 34.3 percent, a TV viewership research firm said Sunday. (Kyodo)

A woman was arrested Wednesday for allegedly pushing her 9-year-old son to death from a Tokyo hotel, police said. (Kyodo)

Students applying to enter public high schools from next spring will no longer be required to specify their gender on the application form in all of Japan's 47 prefectures except Tokyo, local education boards said as of Sunday. (Kyodo)

More than half of single-parent households in Japan struggle financially while 30 percent have experienced being unable to afford food, results of the first government survey on child poverty showed Friday. (Kyodo)

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Thursday it successfully launched an H-2A rocket carrying a British communications satellite from Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan, with the satellite entering its planned orbit about 26 minutes after liftoff. (Kyodo)

The government plans to simplify the immigration procedures for foreign travelers arriving in Japan by luxury transport such as private jets and superyachts usually used by the wealthy, sources close to the matter said Monday. (Kyodo)

The kanji for "kin," meaning gold or money, was picked as the single most representative Chinese character corresponding to the social mood in Japan this year, a Kyoto-based organization said Monday. (Kyodo)

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi gave an impromptu piano rendition of John Lennon's "Imagine" during Saturday's dinner party of the Group of Seven ministerial talks in Liverpool, England. (Kyodo)

Masayuki Uemura, the lead architect for the breakthrough Nintendo Entertainment System and the Super NES, and a visiting professor at Ritsumeikan University, has died, the university said Thursday. He was 78. (Kyodok)