Japan's health minister has expressed concern over an increase in the number of people who are out and about at night in Tokyo amid the coronavirus pandemic. (NHK)

A seasonal rain front is bringing downpours to eastern and western Japan. Information on heavy rain inundation and landslides has been issued for Tokyo. (NHK)

Low-cost carrier Spring Airlines Japan has become a subsidiary of Japan Airlines. (NHK)

Japan has seen an unprecedented surge in suicides amongst women during the pandemic with more than 800 women taking their lives in October alone. (VICE)

Land prices in Japan fell 0.5% on average in 2021 from a year before, down for the first time in six years due to loss in demand by foreign visitors amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Thursday. (Japan Times)

The transport ministry plans to oblige automakers to install event data recorders in their new vehicles beginning in July 2022, informed sources said Tuesday. (Japan Times)

Japanese researchers said they came to a conclusion that a 3,000-year-old skeleton belonged to the earliest known human who suffered a shark attack, as seen in footage filmed in Kyoto University on Wednesday. (Ruptly)

Tokyo Gov Yuriko Koike was discharged Wednesday from hospital following treatment for severe fatigue, the metropolitan government said, less than a month before the opening of the Olympics. (Japan Today)

Coronavirus variants with the L452R mutation that were first detected in India are spreading at a fast pace in Tokyo. (NHK)

The Mito District Court on Wednesday sentenced a 36-year-old man to death for murdering his wife and five children at the family’s apartment in the city of Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture, in 2017. (Japan Times)

Japan's Mt. Fuji reopened Thursday to climbers for the summer season after being closed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Kyodo)

Major League Baseball star Ohtani Shohei who plays for the Los Angeles Angels hit two home runs in consecutive at bats during a game Tuesday. (NHK)

SHIZUOKA (TR) – Shizuoka Prefectural Police are holding custody of a python that was discovered at a residence in Hamamatsu City on Sunday, reports TV Shizuoka (tokyoreporter.com)

A firm created to take over the personal care division of Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido has unveiled its business strategy. (NHK)

Toru Muranishi is back: The adult-video auteur with the outsized underpants and monstrous ego on a mission to liberate the world from prudishness. (Japan Times)

Helping Carlos Ghosn escape trial in Japan was a mistake, one that they deeply regret, said the Americans who helped the former Nissan Motor Co. chairman flee the nation to safety in Lebanon. (Japan Times)

One of the most liberating and thrilling experiences a person can have is traveling. (newsonjapan.com)

Japan's strategic council for space development has laid out a goal to bring back samples from one of Mars' moons in fiscal 2029. (NHK)

Japan will replace red mailboxes with golden ones in locations linked to champions at the upcoming Tokyo Games, in honor of their achievements, the government and Japan Post Co. have said. (Japan Times)

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence given to a 74-year-old woman dubbed the “black widow” for murdering her husband and two common-law partners with poison in western Japan between 2012 and 2013 to inherit money and escape debt. (Japan Times)

After 15 years of a very focused formula, Zenryokuzaka is making a change. (soranews24.com)

A private jet that landed in Tokyo's Haneda Airport Tuesday afternoon looked perfectly normal on the outside. What made it special was on the inside: fuel made from used cooking oil and a kind of algae. (NHK)

A man has admitted consuming alcohol before the truck he was driving was involved in an accident that left two elementary school children dead and three others injured near Tokyo, investigative sources said Tuesday. (Japan Today)

Two elementary school boys were killed and three other pupils were seriously injured Monday when a truck driven by a drunk man crashed into them on a street in Chiba Prefecture, police said. (Japan Today)

I recently went to Fukushima, Japan, specifically a place called Ouchi Juku (大内宿）, a preserved bed town from the Edo period. (Ulysses Aoki)