The suspension of Chinese group tours amid the coronavirus outbreak is taking a toll on major Japanese department stores. (NHK)

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Sunday to inaugurate a new Olympic and Paralympic venue, the Ariake Arena, in Tokyo's Koto Ward. (NHK)

A Fukushima prefectural police helicopter transporting a heart for transplant crash-landed Saturday in the northeastern Japanese prefecture, injuring all seven persons on board, including one seriously, authorities said. (Japan Today)

Tokyo Olympic organizers are trying to shoot down rumors that the 2020 Games might be canceled or postponed because of the spread of a new virus. (Japan Times)

Japan is one of many countries that's implementing tighter border controls in a bid to keep infected travelers out. (NHK)

The number of people moving into Tokyo and its vicinity exceeded the number of those moving out of the area in 2019 by 148,783, up 8,915 from the previous year for the third consecutive year of increase, according to government data (Japan Today)

Japanese actress Erika Sawajiri has pleaded guilty to possession of illegal drugs. (NHK)

Drug stores in Japan are scrambling to restock their supply of surgical masks to keep up with growing demand as fears deepen over the outbreak of the coronavirus. (Japan Times)

Prosecutors on Monday demanded the death penalty for a man charged with murdering 19 residents and injuring 26 others at a care home for people with mental disabilities near Tokyo in a knife rampage in 2016. (Japan Times)

A Tokyo Metropolitan Police officer has been dismissed from his post after he carried out fabricated investigations in order “to touch inside the mouths of women,” it has been learned, reports NHK (Jan. 31). (tokyoreporter.com)

Emperor Emeritus Akihito temporarily lost consciousness and collapsed at his Tokyo residence on Wednesday, but a subsequent medical checkup found no abnormalities, the Imperial Household Agency said Thursday. (Japan Times)

Vaccines against a coronavirus that has killed 170 people in China probably won’t be ready by the start of the Tokyo Summer Olympics, a professor who looked at health risks ahead of the games said, adding that he hoped that there was enough time to build defenses. (Japan Times)

Intellectual Property High Court slams the breaks for the company once known as 'MariCar.' (soranews24.com)

Suntory Spirits Ltd. said Thursday that it will sell a 55-year-old Yamazaki brand single-malt whisky product, the company’s oldest whisky, on June 30. (Japan Times)

Tokyo Disneyland will raise ticket prices in April for adults and older children, the resort park's operator Oriental Land said Thursday. (Nikkei)

Tokyo prosecutors have obtained a new arrest warrant for former Nissan Motor chairman Carlos Ghosn for suspected violation of the immigration control law. (NHK)

Like a lot of big cities in the developed world, Amsterdam lost population in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s as its inhabitants opted for newer dwellings and more space outside the city. (Japan Times)

The first group of Japanese evacuees from a virus-hit Chinese city arrived in Tokyo on Wednesday, a dozen of them with coughs and fever including two who were later diagnosed with pneumonia. (Japan Today)

The Village Plaza, which will serve as a key facility within the Athletes Village during the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, was unveiled Wednesday ahead of its planned completion in April. (Japan Times)

The hay fever season is set to begin earlier than usual in Japan this year due to a warmer-than-average winter, a weather information provider said Wednesday. (Japan Times)

The new Harajuku Station building in Tokyo’s pop-culture hub, which is set to open on March 21 in time for the Tokyo Olympic Games, was unveiled to the media Wednesday by East Japan Railway Co. (Japan Times)

Japan's health ministry announced on Tuesday that a bus driver in Japan who had not visited the Chinese city of Wuhan has contracted the new coronavirus. (Nikkei)

Japanese health ministry officials say passengers on the government-chartered flight will receive medical examinations on board. (NHK)

Between January 24 and 30, some 700,000 Chinese tourists are expected to arrive in Japan to celebrate the Chinese New Year. (tokyoreporter.com)

Japan's government is taking steps to evacuate Japanese citizens who want to leave Wuhan, the city at the center of the coronavirus outbreak. Japanese companies are preparing to repatriate employees and their families. About 160 companies are operating in and around the city. (NHK)