As the era of the samurai ended and Japan rushed towards modernization, a hard-scrabble fashion movement called the Bankara rose in opposition. (Unseen Japan)

Chinese auto giant BYD said on Thursday that it will start selling electric vehicles in Japan from 2023, hoping that demand will grow in a country where the shift toward greener cars has been slow. (Nikkei)

The number of foreign visitors to Japan topped 120,000 in June, exceeding 100,000 for the third straight month. (NHK)

Japan lowered its gasoline subsidy for oil distributors to 36.6 yen (26.5 cents) a litre for the seven days from Thursday, down from 36.9 yen a week earlier, the industry ministry said. (channelnewsasia.com)

Japan's trade deficit rose to a record in the first six months of the year. (NHK)

Japanese travel agency H.I.S. is making arrangements to sell its stake in Huis Ten Bosch, a well-known resort in the Nagasaki Prefecture city of Sasebo, Nikkei has learned. The company is considering a Hong Kong investment company as a possible buyer along with others, sources close to the situation say. (Nikkei)

The Japanese passport confirmed its leadership in world geopolitics and was elected the most powerful in the world by the quarterly ranking of the immigration consultancy Henley Partners. (thegoaspotlight.com)

The Saitama District Court has handed a 20-year prison sentence to an unemployed man who holed himself up in an internet cafe, taking a female employee hostage last June. (Japan Today)

Five people were injured on Tuesday night after a man committed suicide by jumping from a platform into the path of an express train in Kobe. The impact hurled his body back onto the platform where he hit and injured five commuters. (Japan Today)

The organizers of a traditional summer dance festival in Okinawa in southwestern Japan have decided to postpone it due to a resurgence of the coronavirus in the island prefecture. (NHK)

This is Shibasaki, a painting instructor. Today I will be correcting a winter scene of a hot spring resort town featuring a retro townscape that looks as if it were lost in a movie world. (Watercolor by Shibasaki)

Shionogi's experimental Covid-19 treatment Xocova failed to win the backing of health experts in Japan who said there wasn’t enough data to show the medicine’s efficacy. (theedgemarkets.com)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 31,878 new cases of the coronavirus, the highest ever daily tally, on Thursday. (NHK)

The number of visitors to Japan fell last month despite borders being partially reopened to foreign tourists, and a recent surge in domestic COVID infections has further dimmed the outlook for the country's travel industry. (Nikkei)

Managing a co-working space is a complex assignment and managers have their hands full, at all times. (newsonjapan.com)

Going on a trip requires an extensive amount of planning. You have to book your accommodations, research what attractions to go to, and plan your itinerary thoroughly. (newsonjapan.com)

For more than five years the Bank of Japan has struggled to bring inflation to the bank's target rate of 2%. But with Japan’s annual inflation hitting 2.5% in April, could the Bank of Japan be ready to join with other central banks in the current global tightening cycle? (Bloomberg Markets and Finance)

Japan Airlines plans to transfer about 3,000 workers from its core business to its budget carriers and nonaviation units, Nikkei has learned, as forecasts show business travel struggling to return to pre-pandemic levels. (Nikkei)

Japan bought its most expensive ever natural gas shipment as an escalating global energy crunch brings new risks of blackouts and intensifies competition for fuel imports. (Business Times)

People in Japan are seeing coronavirus cases spike higher than ever before with no peak in sight. (NHK)

Japan is looking to hold a state funeral on Sept. 27 to honor former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated this month, Japanese news outlets reported Wednesday. (washingtonpost.com)

Host Rafał Tomański takes a closer look at the current state of Japanese military and the possible future. (TVP World)

Dylan Kesterson was arrested for an anti-Asian attack in early July. The victim of a previous attack filed a police report after recognizing his picture on the news. (KGW News)

Jetstar’s flights between Tokyo and Cairns take off today after nearly two and a half years, with the airline preparing to welcome thousands of visitors from Japan into tropical north Queensland each week. (nationaltribune.com.au)

The Utsunomiya District Court in Tochigi Prefecture on Tuesday sentenced a 29-year-old man to two years in prison after he was convicted of assaulting a 17-year-old boy who asked him to stop smoking on a train. (Japan Today)