Fukushima Mayor Hiroshi Kohata announced a decision on Tuesday to remove a controversial statue of a child in a radiation protection suit that has drawn waves of criticism since it was unveiled early this month. (Japan Times)

Japan's Empress Michiko gave a piano performance at a music workshop in the resort town of Kusatsu in Gunma Prefecture, north of Tokyo. (NHK)

Upon surrendering at a police station in Sapporo over the weekend, priest Masahito Nagaoka said, "I came to pay for the crime." (tokyoreporter.com)

With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in sight, the Japanese government aims to simplify tax-free shopping by digitizing the paperwork. (Nikkei)

Where, and how, will you spend New Year's Eve? There is one place where the party goes on throughout the night and the new year is rung in to the sound of fireworks, the Tokyo resort in Chiba that makes up two of Japan's top three theme parks, and the New Year's Eve Passport as the special ticket is known, will go on sale next month. (Japan Today)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has officially announced he will run in the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in September. (NHK)

Police in Tokyo say an aluminum beverage can burst suddenly inside Shinjuku Station on Sunday morning, injuring one person. They are investigating the incident as a possible assault. (NHK)

Japanese sporting goods maker ASICS Corporation and telecom giant NTT have unveiled a prototype of a new shirt with a sensor to help wearers avoid heatstroke. (NHK)

The northward migration of fugu, or blowfish, as well as new types created through mixed breeding, are causing confusion in Tokyo's Tsukiji food market. (NHK)

Officials at Narita Airport outside Tokyo are dealing with the arrival of tens of thousands of people returning from the Obon holidays. (NHK)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 48-year-old man over the alleged purchase of saliva and used underwear from a teenage girl earlier this year. Such crimes involving minors reached a record last year, reports the Asahi Shimbun (tokyoreporter.com)

Chiba Prefectural Police are investigating what is believed to have been a murder-suicide after the bodies of an 81-year-old man and his eldest son, 52, were found in their residence in Yotsukaido City on Wednesday, reports the Sankei Shimbun (tokyoreporter.com)

China is expected to surpass Japan as the second-largest contributor to the general United Nations budget starting in 2019, according to the latest U.N. report on contributions. (Japan Today)

In his last official appearance at the annual ceremony commemorating the end of World War II, Emperor Akihito on Wednesday repeated his “deep remorse” over the conflict that led to the deaths of tens of millions of people in Asia and elsewhere. (Japan Times)

A Japanese man has recently been taken into custody in North Korea, government officials said Saturday as Tokyo tried to obtain information on the case. (Japan Times)

Izakaya Japanese-style pubs are bringing in a new kind of customer, foreign tourists. (Nikkei)

All nine passengers on a rescue helicopter that crashed on a mountain near the border of Gunma and Nagano prefectures on Friday died, Gunma Prefectural Government officials confirmed on Saturday. (Japan Times)

Tokyo topped a list of the world's most innovative cities on Friday, leapfrogging London and New York after embracing the"globe-shaking trends of robotics and 3D manufacturing". (Japan Today)

Japan's SoftBank Group has agreed to invest an additional $1 billion in shared-office company WeWork, where SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son sees the potential for a repeat of his lucrative bet on Alibaba Group Holding. (Nikkei)

The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear reactors said Thursday it had stopped selling a souvenir at the plant after facing a storm of online criticism saying it was inconsiderate. (Japan Today)

Hokkaido Prefectural Police on Tuesday arrested an officer for exposing himself to women in Sapporo earlier this year, reports Jiji Press (tokyoreporter.com)

The parents of Princess Mako of Japan have informed the mother of her commoner fiancé that they will not permit the wedding to go ahead until a financial dispute within his family is solved. (smh.com.au)

Saitama Prefectural Police and Tokyo Customs on Thursday announced the bust of a marijuana smuggling ring that has netted 12 persons, reports the Sankei Shimbun (tokyoreporter.com)

Local organizers announced the road cycling courses for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Thursday and declared them "extremely difficult." (Kyodo)

In what appears to be an unusual mix, tech giant Sony Corp. opened a “park” in the middle of the Tokyo’s ritzy Ginza district on Thursday with four subterranean levels. (Japan Times)