Tokyo residents were treated to an unusual sight on July 16 when a giant floating head appeared over the city’s Yoyogi Park. (yahoo.com)

CHIBA – The government has asked airlines to halt new bookings by the general public for flights arriving in Japan during the period when arrivals of athletes and delegation officials for the Tokyo Olympics increase, sources have said. (Japan Times)

OSAKA – A Ugandan athlete who is missing from his pre-Olympic training camp in Osaka Prefecture left a note saying he hoped to work in Japan because life is difficult in his home country, a local official said Friday. (Japan Times)

This year’s rainy season appears to have ended in the Kanto-Koshin and Tohoku regions, the Meteorological Agency said Friday. (Japan Times)

A 49-year-old man accused of shooting two cats with an air gun in separate incidents has admitted to dozens of other cases, police have revealed, reports TV Asahi (tokyoreporter.com)

Today we are Exploring the beautiful and historical Japanese village of Shirakawago in Gifu prefecture. (Tokyo Lens Explore)

From boisterous bars in Tokyo to bucolic breweries in the hinterland beyond the capital, sake is intertwined with Japan’s cultural and spiritual life. (National Geographic)

TOKYO — Local officials are searching for a Ugandan athlete who went missing in western Japan on Friday in a case raising questions over Japanese organizers’ oversight of Olympic participants amid local coronavirus concerns. (nbcnews.com)

TOKYO -- Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing on Thursday stressed that the company does not use any materials linked to human rights violations in the supply chain amid rising concerns over forced labor in China's Xinjiang region. (Nikkei)

China is assembling the largest delegation it has ever sent to an overseas competition for the delayed 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. (South China Morning Post)

NHK has learned that the Tokyo Games organizing committee will urge people not to gather to observe the Games' cauldron in the capital's waterfront area. (NHK)

Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn became an international fugitive after fleeing house arrest in Japan in 2019. (BBC)

Japan is a mix of energies and panoramas. The great number of nuances of this destination makes it one of the most visited in the world, receiving around 8 million average tourists each year. ()

Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has expressed his determination to make the upcoming Tokyo Olympics safe and secure by taking all possible measures against the coronavirus. (NHK)

TOKYO – Despite a fresh state of emergency over the coronavirus taking effect in Tokyo on Monday, pedestrian traffic in busy areas of the capital did not dramatically decrease from the week before. (Japan Times)

The Tokyo metropolitan government reported 1,149 daily coronavirus cases Wednesday, topping 1,000 for the first time since May 13. (Kyodo)

Japanese vending machines dispense everything from pizza to cigarettes and edible insects. Now there are even ones where you can buy Olympics souvenirs. (INQUIRER.net)

China said Japan was ‘wrong and irresponsible’ to interfere in its internal affairs after Tokyo named Beijing’s increased military activity around Taiwan as its top national security concern in its annual defense review. (Reuters)

Jill Biden, the first lady, will travel to Japan next week to attend the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, scheduled for July 23, her office said on Tuesday. (nytimes.com)

The International Olympics Committee president, Thomas Bach, mistakenly referred to Japanese people as 'Chinese' during a Tokyo 2020 press conference in Japan. (Guardian News)

This is a walking tour inside of Tokyo Station, the main railway terminal in Tokyo. It's the busiest station in Japan with over 4,000 trains passing through it every day. (Cory May)

Four electricians from the United States and Britain who came to Japan to work on the Tokyo Olympics have been arrested on suspicion of using cocaine, police said Tuesday. (Japan Today)

KYOTO (TR) – A famous potter was fatally shot by his girlfriend with a crossbow inside a love hotel in Kyoto City last week, police have revealed, reports Abema Times (tokyoreporter.com)

A Frenchman in Japan who says his children were abducted by their Japanese mother began a hunger strike in Tokyo on Saturday, in a protest he hopes will bring international attention to his fight to be reunited with his family. (Japan Times)

A Tokyo hotel has apologized amid backlash over their decision to delineate elevators with signs indicating “Japanese only” and “foreigners only.” (nypost.com)