Head to the winding streets of Tokyo’s trendy Omotesando district on any given day and you’ll see young South Korean women taking selfies in front of popular cafes or snapping photos of their logo-emblazoned coffee cups. (Japan Times)

Japan is ready to share, as requested by South Korea, information related to the launch a day earlier of what North Korea claims to have been a submarine-launched ballistic missile, government sources said Thursday. (Kyodo)

Immigration authorities revoked a record 832 visas in 2018, more than double the figure of a year earlier, Justice Ministry data showed Monday. (Japan Times)

Earnings season in Japan is highlighting a recent plunge in inbound spending and its impact on drugstore chains, cosmetics makers and department stores previously favored by big-spending Chinese tourists. (Nikkei)

Overwhelmed by unprecedented demand, Tokyo Olympic organizers said Thursday they hope to run another ticket lottery next month for residents of Japan who got nothing the first time. (Japan Today)

Tourist destinations are struggling for ways to ask tourists to stop eating while walking without offending them. (Japan Times)

Police took action against a record 3,578 people in cannabis cases in 2018, up 570 from the previous year, data released by the National Police Agency showed Thursday. (Japan Times)

The inflation outlook is looking dismal for the Bank of Japan as cheaper oil and falling mobile phone charges threaten to push price growth toward zero by mid-summer. (Japan Times)

While some people don't like wasabi on their sushi, it turns out that potentially deadly fire ants don't have an appetite for it either. (Asahi)

Japan's once-buoyant real estate market has seen a sharp pullback in foreign buying, sending property deals falling by a third in the second half of 2018. (Nikkei)

Toshiba Corp. on Thursday announced its five-year business reform plan to revamp its operations, with thousands of global job cuts, a withdrawal from its nuclear plant construction business in Britain and a sell-off of a U.S. liquefied natural gas operation on the agenda. (Japan Times)

The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station has deleted a hashtag it used for Instagram that means to enjoy views of the plant. (NHK)

A government survey has found that more than 410,000 cases of bullying were reported at schools in Japan during the 2017 academic year that ended in March. The figure was the highest ever. (NHK)

Sharp Corp's RoBoHon, a small humanoid robot with artificial intelligence features, will accompany tourists in taxis in Kyoto and offer sightseeing guidance in Japanese, Chinese and English from Sept 22, the service providers said Tuesday. (Japan Today)

In his last official appearance at the annual ceremony commemorating the end of World War II, Emperor Akihito on Wednesday repeated his “deep remorse” over the conflict that led to the deaths of tens of millions of people in Asia and elsewhere. (Japan Times)

Sharp will stop making household appliances in Japan, relocating production abroad as it turns toward markets such as China and Southeast Asia. (Nikkei)

Sharp Corp scrapped a plan to issue up to $2 billion in new shares, changing its mind in a matter of weeks after the initial announcement prompted investors to dump its shares on fears of earnings per share dilution. (Japan Today)

Airbnb Inc said Thursday that it is still removing "thousands" of listings from its website for unlicensed private lodgings in Japan, as required under a new law that took effect last week to cope with a sharp increase in foreign visitors and a consequent shortage of hotel rooms. (Japan Today)

The earthquake that struck western Japan on Monday morning battered the region's infrastructure, revealing the fragility of utility lifelines and transportation networks in one of the country's most densely populated areas. (Nikkei)

Japan’s new law on minpaku (private lodging) businesses took effect Friday, but stringent rules may dampen the entry of homeowners into the market, despite hopes that it could help counter a shortage of accommodation amid a growing number of foreign tourists. (Japan Times)

Finance Minister Taro Aso on Tuesday repeated a controversial statement that appeared to downplay an incident of alleged sexual harassment by his ministry’s top bureaucrat, just a day after his earlier comments sparked protest demonstrations in a number of cities across the nation. (Japan Times)

The Japanese yen is the sweetheart of global speculators. Speculators loath uncertainty but thrive on calculated risk, and the yen offers unparalleled favorable odds for fast-paced global money managers. (Japan Times)

ANA Holdings Inc, Japan's biggest airline by revenue, said on Thursday it would merge its units Peach Aviation and Vanilla Air by March 2020, to sharpen the competitive edge of its budget carrier business and tap growing travel demand in Asia. (Japan Today)

Prices of school uniforms are on the rise in Japan, due to sharply climbing wool prices and changing fashion trends in neighboring China. (Nikkei)

While the average height of Japanese adults had grown some 15 cm (nearly 6 inches) over the past century with improved nutrition and public health conditions, it has started to decline for those born in 1980 or later, recent research has shown. (Japan Times)