A new star which was discovered by an amateur astronomer in Japan has kept growing brighter over two months and it can be spotted with the naked eye now. (NHK)

After more than a year of binge-watching their way through the coronavirus pandemic, American audiences still cannot get enough of Japanese shows and movies. (Nikkei)

People in Japan have eaten eel for thousands of years. Unagi, or freshwater Japanese eel, can cost more than bluefin tuna. (Business Insider)

The number of domestic violence consultations in Japan grew 1.6-fold to a record 190,030 in the fiscal year through March, preliminary government data showed Friday, as the coronavirus pandemic is believed to have ramped up stress among couples and families who spent more time at home. (Kyodo)

French President Emmanuel Macron plans to attend the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, France's sports minister said on Friday. (Japan Today)

Torrential rains caused by a seasonal front hit western and eastern Japan on Thursday and Friday. (NHK)

Japan's Prime Minister has confirmed the southern prefecture of Okinawa will be added to the coronavirus state of emergency. (NHK)

Japan's Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu has indicated that his ministry may consider halting the country's current economic assistance to Myanmar, whose military has been oppressing protesters. (NHK)

Japan's health ministry says the number of severe COVID-19 cases in the country hit a record high on Saturday. (NHK)

Health officials in Japan’s Ibaraki Prefecture have retracted an advisory that encouraged people to avoid sharing meals with foreigners due to Covid-19 concerns, after it was blasted as discriminatory. (rt.com)

Japanese sportswear firm Mizuno Corp. said Friday it will cease using cotton sourced from China's far-western Xinjiang region in its products, a move believed to reflect rising concern over Beijing's alleged human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority. (Kyodo)

Japan, it’s very often said, is a lonely country – crowded, certainly, and friendly too, in its own quiet way; famous for a unique brand of hospitality known as omotenashi, and yet lonely all the same, unforgiving of failure and despair, indifferent to appeals for help. (Japan Today)

The operator of the Mihama nuclear power plant on the Sea of Japan coast has started loading nuclear fuel into an aging reactor. (NHK)

Izumi Devalier, head of Japan economics at BofA Global Research, discusses the prospects for the world's third-largest economy. (Bloomberg Markets and Finance)

Japanese regulators recommended the approval of COVID-19 vaccines developed by Moderna Inc and AstraZeneca PLC on Thursday, paving the way for the country to speed up its slow-moving vaccination campaign. (Reuters)

TOKYO -- Japan will consider cutting off all official development assistance to Myanmar, even for ongoing projects, if the situation there does not improve, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told Nikkei. (Nikkei)

Less than 30% of Japan's medics have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in major cities with just 65 days to go before the start of the Tokyo Olympics, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Wednesday, amid growing calls for the Games to be canceled. (Japan Today)

A driver of a Shinkansen bullet train left the cockpit to use the bathroom while the train was running at 150 kilometers per hour with some 160 passengers on board in central Japan, Central Japan Railway Co. said Thursday. (Kyodo)

US customs authorities have blocked a shipment of Uniqlo shirts, saying the Japanese clothing giant violated an import ban on cotton products from China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (NHK)

Planning to expand your manga collection at a minimal cost? This guide can help you. (newsonjapan.com)

Cancelling the Tokyo Olympics in response to mounting public opposition in Japan to holding the Games during the Covid-19 pandemic would be an unparalleled act in peacetime. (deccanherald.com)

In less than 10 weeks, Japan is expected to host one of the biggest sporting events of the year, the Summer Olympics amid the global pandemic. But the COVID-19 situation in the country’s getting worse. (WION)

The Japanese government said Wednesday it will bar the entry of foreign nationals who have recently traveled to Thailand and six other countries in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus. (Kyodo)

TOKYO -- Japan plans to boost defense spending without worrying about sticking to its long-standing limit of 1% of gross domestic product, Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told Nikkei on Wednesday. (Nikkei)

U.S. President Joe Biden's COVID relief checks sent to ineligible Japanese by mistake are causing much confusion, with banks in Japan flooded with inquiries and the Internal Revenue Service asking for the return of the payments. (Nikkei)