The Hands Shibuya store, a longtime landmark in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, will close in November this year, bringing its 48-year history to an end.

Japan’s benchmark stock index closed above the 65,000 level for the first time on May 25th, as optimism over easing tensions in the Middle East and continued enthusiasm for AI-related shares pushed the market to another record high.

Nintendo's game console 'Nintendo Switch 2' will become 10,000 yen more expensive from May 25th.

Skymark on May 25th unveiled its new Boeing 737-8 aircraft from the Boeing MAX series, becoming the first domestic airline in Japan to introduce the model. The aircraft will begin commercial operations on May 28th.

Toshifumi Suzuki, honorary adviser to Seven & i Holdings and widely regarded as the father of Japan's convenience store industry, has died of heart failure at the age of 93.

The problem of fake advertisements spreading through social media is expanding in Japan, with one of the country’s leading lingerie makers now facing growing damage from counterfeit ads and fraudulent online sales.

A string of bear sightings and suspected attacks in western Tokyo is prompting urgent action from local authorities, with schools in Hachioji preparing students for possible encounters and concerns mounting that animals once associated with remote mountain regions are moving deeper into populated areas.

Rising tensions surrounding the closure of the Strait of Hormuz are beginning to ripple through Japan’s economy, with higher energy costs and shortages of petroleum-based materials threatening to accelerate inflation just as the country heads into another extremely hot summer.

Tao Okamoto and French actress Virginie Efira won the Best Actress award at the Cannes International Film Festival, for their performances in Ryusuke Hamaguchi's film 'Suddenly, I Feel Sick', marking the first time a Japanese actress has received the honor.

Popular voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda has filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court seeking the removal of videos that allegedly used generative AI to imitate his voice without permission on the video-sharing app TikTok.

Construction projects across Japan are being suspended as shortages of paint, thinner and waterproofing materials linked to worsening tensions in the Middle East place mounting pressure on small and midsize builders, with some contractors warning they may soon be forced out of business.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi met with Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda at the Prime Minister’s Office on May 22nd, urging the central bank to implement appropriate monetary policies while taking into account the government’s efforts to combat rising prices and promote crisis-management and growth-related investment.

A new Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers’ group aimed at advancing the policies of the Takaichi administration held its first meeting, with Vice President Aso appointed as supreme adviser and former Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato named chairman.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is moving toward legislation that would punish acts of damaging or defiling the national flag in public, with a party project team broadly approving the outline of a proposed law on May 22nd while excluding decorative flags used in children's meals, artwork and digital content.

Education Minister Yohei Matsumoto said on May 22nd that Doshisha International High School's planning, on-site response and safety management during a study trip to Okinawa were "grossly inappropriate," placing extremely heavy responsibility on the school and its operator after two small boats carrying students capsized off Henoko in Nago, killing a student and a captain.

Japan's next-generation homegrown supercomputer, Fugaku NEXT, is being developed with a radically different strategy from its predecessors, abandoning the single-minded pursuit of the world's fastest calculation speed in favor of artificial intelligence capabilities expected to accelerate breakthroughs in fields ranging from drug development and batteries to disaster prevention and food production.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is considering the use of AI to produce low-cost localized versions of Japanese content for overseas markets in an effort to secure legitimate revenue streams, as the total estimated damage caused by online piracy of anime, character goods and other content exceeded 10 trillion yen for the first time last year.

The Nikkei Stock Average climbed sharply again on May 22nd, closing at a record high of 63,339 as investor sentiment improved on expectations that fighting between the United States and Iran could soon come to an end.

Takako Matsu made an elegant first appearance on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet as Koji Fukada’s latest film, 'Nagi Notes,' premiered in the festival’s main competition section, with the actress appearing alongside co-star Shizuka Ishibashi before an international crowd of photographers and film fans gathered outside the Palais des Festivals.

The film 'Kokuhou,' which swept 10 categories at this year's Japan Academy Film Prize ceremony in March, has become one of Japan's biggest box office successes in decades, helping fuel record profits at major distributor and production company Toho.

A black bear was filmed walking directly toward a camera from only a few meters away at around 2 p.m. on May 21st in the parking lot of a tourist facility in Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, as the person recording the scene could be heard saying, "Call someone. Wait a minute. This is bad, it is coming this way. We could get hurt."

The season's first auction for Yubari melons, a signature specialty of Yubari in Hokkaido, was held at the Sapporo Central Wholesale Market on Friday morning, with a pair of the premium melons fetching a record 5.8 million yen.

Japan is among the countries expanding AI translation systems most rapidly. This technology appears in train stations, airports, hotels, shops, and tourist areas across the country.

Bear sightings across Japan have already climbed to nearly twice the level recorded during the same period last year, prompting entry bans in mountain areas behind Kyoto’s Ninna-ji Temple and the cancellation of hiking events in Kansai, while new research suggests that the key to reducing encounters may lie in understanding what bears eat in each region.

After days of near-summer heat through May 20th, rain believed to mark the start of Japan's rainy season front swept across the country on May 21st, bringing sharp temperature drops, strong winds, and warnings for potentially heavy downpours.