The population of Japan has fallen for the 11th straight year. The amount of the decline has set a record for six years in a row. (NHK)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 34-year-old man for allegedly drugging and raping a woman earlier this year, reports TBS News (Aug. 6). (tokyoreporter.com)

A school girl from Saitama Prefecture used a game console to alert police after a 44-year-old man confined her inside his residence in Yokohama City on Wednesday, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Aug. 6). (tokyoreporter.com)

About 60 percent of people in the nation who developed cold-like symptoms during the first wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic, between February and May, went to work despite a request by the government for them not to do so, a recent survey has found. (Japan Times)

Data from mobile phones show that fewer people went out at night on Monday when the Tokyo Metropolitan Government started asking establishments that serve alcohol to close early to curb the spread of the coronavirus. (NHK)

NHK will reduce the number of its satellite television channels from the current four to two. The public broadcaster announced Tuesday it also plans to consolidate its two AM radio channels into one. (Japan Times)

A survey by credit research firm Teikoku Databank shows 400 businesses in Japan have gone under due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. (NHK)

Five-time Olympian Ken Terauchi, who is set to dive for Japan at the Tokyo Games next summer, is being treated in hospital after testing positive for the novel coronavirus, his sponsor announced Monday. (Kyodo)

An old train car that has served as a tourist information center outside Tokyo’s busy Shibuya Station was removed Monday to be relocated to the birthplace of Hachiko, the famously loyal dog immortalized in a nearby statue. (Japan Times)

A man suspected of taking illicit films of a girl plunged to his death from his apartment in Nakano Ward on Tuesday, police said, reports TBS News (Aug. 4). (tokyoreporter.com)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a male university student over the alleged molestation of a woman in Ota Ward, reports TV Asahi (Aug. 4). (tokyoreporter.com)

“Tosatsu Hunters” is a label given by law enforcement to fraudsters who swindle perverts interested in taking illicit photographs of women. (tokyoreporter.com)

An NHK survey shows the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa has the nation's highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in the preceding seven days. (NHK)

Did Japan move in too fast? The infection rates are spiking in Tokyo and there is a lot of fear about strangers visiting local countryside towns as part of the government's Go To Travel campaign. (ONLY in JAPAN)

Tea shops, tea houses, tea bars or tea cafes. Whatever name they go by, spaces specializing in tea are popping up all over Japan and drawing a heavily female clientele, offering beverages with fruity aromas and Instagram-worthy colors. (Nikkei)

Over 1,300 new cases of coronavirus were reported on Sunday across Japan. Authorities have counted more than 1,000 new cases for five days in a row through Sunday. (NHK)

That loud ticking sound emanating from Tokyo's political clock bodes the imminent explosion of costs resulting from Japan's tepid COVID-19 response. (Nikkei)

Popular Japanese singer-songwriter Noriyuki Makihara was sentenced Monday to two years in prison, suspended for three years, for possessing illegal drugs. (Japan Times)

Organizers of the Tokyo Games announced the schedule for the Paralympics on Monday, with only minor changes to the plan that was in place before the coronavirus pandemic forced a one-year postponement. (Kyodo)

Tokyo reported 258 new coronavirus cases Monday, down from the record-breaking increases of recent days, but still a high figure amid a resurgence of infections since last month. (Japan Times)

Plant quarantine officials in Japan have had a number of inquiries about unsolicited packages of seeds apparently sent from China. They are calling on people not to plant them. (NHK)

Japan confirmed on Saturday 1,512 new coronavirus infections, topping the 1,000 mark for the fourth straight day, as authorities in large cities have been forced to reimpose restrictions on some businesses to address the resurgence of the virus. (Japan Today)

Companies racing to introduce the successor to the batteries that power everything from our smartphones to drones to electric cars are closing in on their goal. But they are not alone. Startups have joined the fray to develop technologies for higher-performance power packs that can relegate today's lithium-ion batteries to an earlier stage along the march of progress. (Nikkei)

As the rainy season ends, Japan is entering summer without its typical scenes of festivals, fireworks and open beaches this year as the novel coronavirus continues to spread in the country. (Kyodo)

The shocking revelations contained in the report "I Was Hit So Many Times I Can't Count," released by Human Rights Watch on July 20 exposing the abuse of child athletes in Japan, came as no surprise to those of us close to the world of Japanese sports administration. (Nikkei)