Every day, half a million people are said to cross at Shibuya’s famous scramble crossing, making it one of the busiest intersections in the world. (soranews24.com)

The government plans to penalize universities with many foreign students whose whereabouts are unknown, it was revealed Thursday. (Japan Times)

The Japan Sumo Association is preparing to host U.S. President Donald Trump at an upcoming tournament after learning he wants to watch a live sumo bout during his visit to Japan at the end of May, a source with the organization said Friday. (Japan Times)

Kanagawa Prefectural Police arrested a man after he took a pistol from an officer in Yokohama on Friday and fired one round, reports NHK (tokyoreporter.com)

The Tokyo District Court decided Friday to extend former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn's detention by eight days, refusing to grant the full 10 requested by prosecutors in an unusual move. (Nikkei)

As a country that still stands behind fairly rigid gender roles, Japan has a long way to go in granting its LGBTQ citizens equal rights. Same-sex couples, for example, are still fighting for their right to get married in Japan, and many in the LGBTQ community experience discrimination and exclusion from society on a daily basis. (soranews24.com)

A female high school student was hit and killed by a train in Yaita City on Tuesday in an apparent suicide, police have revealed, reports NHK (tokyoreporter.com)

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko marked their 60th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, with celebratory events held during the day ahead of the emperor's abdication at the end of the month. (Japan Today)

Japan's antitrust watchdog on Wednesday raided the offices of Rakuten Inc and two other online booking operators, alleging they hurt fair trade by requiring accommodation clients offer their lowest prices on their platforms, according to a source close to the matter. (Japan Today)

Sources say the wife of former Nissan Motor chairman Carlos Ghosn has returned to Japan and is set to appear in a Tokyo court for questioning on Thursday. (NHK)

A Tokyo court on Wednesday ordered Aleph, the main successor group of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, to pay more than ¥1 billion in damages to the victims of the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack that shook the country in March 1995. (Japan Times)

Japanese convenience store operator FamilyMart will recruit franchisees to test shorter hours as the industry grapples with a labor crunch that has made it harder to maintain the traditional round-the-clock model, Nikkei has learned. (Nikkei)

The Japanese government will sell off another chunk of Japan Post Holdings as early as this fall, moving to end a more than decadelong privatization process. (Nikkei)

The wife of former Nissan Motor chairman Carlos Ghosn says she left Japan for France to fight for her husband's human rights following his rearrest in Tokyo. (NHK)

Carlos Ghosn has accused Nissan Motor executives of sacrificing the interests of the company by playing a "dirty game" to oust him as chairman, in a video statement recorded shortly before his fourth arrest in Tokyo last week. (Nikkei)

Japan will redesign its banknotes to incorporate the latest anti-forgery techniques. Finance Minister Taro Aso announced the makeover on Tuesday. The design changes will be the first since 2004. (NHK)

A man operating a turret truck died Monday after getting caught in an elevator door at Tokyo's Toyosu fish market, police said. (Japan Today)

Security cameras have been installed on street lights along Tokyo’s high-end shopping boulevard, Omotesando-dori, situated in Shibuya Ward, due to an increase in pick-pocketing and camera voyeurism. (Japan Today)

Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested a 25-year-old man over the alleged rape and robbery of a female university student in Sagamihara City earlier this year, reports the Sankei Shimbun (tokyoreporter.com)

Sources say Tokyo prosecutors have obtained email correspondence showing how part of the funds Nissan paid to a dealership in Oman were allegedly channeled to former chairman Carlos Ghosn. (NHK)

A 27-year-old Australian man was arrested in Tokyo yesterday, in relation to an incident that occurred in 2018 when a subway train at a rail yard in the city’s Bunkyo Ward was found covered in graffiti. (soranews24.com)

Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko have met with Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela and his wife at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. (NHK)

A Ferrari sports car traveling toward Mt. Fuji crashed in the town of Fujikawaguchiko and caught fire on Wednesday. The driver suffered light injuries, police and fire officials said, reports TV Asahi (tokyoreporter.com)

Carlos Ghosn, the former head of the Nissan-Renault automaking alliance, maintained his innocence in a video taken before his fourth arrest in Japan Thursday on new charges of misusing corporate money. (Nikkei)

The president of a school that teaches the art of picking up women and two former students have been arrested on suspicion of rape, the seventh such case to emerge, police revealed on Thursday, reports Jiji Press (tokyoreporter.com)