Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Wednesday arrested the former male head of a fan club for popular voice actress Ayana Taketatsu for allegedly harassing her via email last year. The crime is believed to have included the sending of tens of thousands of messages dating back to four years ago, reports the Sankei Shimbun (tokyoreporter.com)

Sumo's top-ranked referee will resign over a sexual harassment scandal, the sport's governing body said Saturday following an extraordinary meeting of its board of directors. (Kyodo)

Students and graduates of high schools across Japan are sitting the annual unified college and university entrance examinations. (NHK)

A newly appointed female judge on Japan's Supreme Court has said she will use her maiden name when handing down rulings, a legal first in a country criticised for its attitudes to gender equality. (Japan Today)

Japanese investors became less enthusiastic about buying foreign bonds last year on growing concern about rising U.S. Treasury yields. (Nikkei)

a canoeist who has been banned after admitting that he doped a fellow competitor’s drink, contrived a variety of schemes to rattle his rival, an official source said thursday. (Japan Times)

A venerable cabaret in the ritzy Ginza district of Chuo Ward closed its doors for the final time on Wednesday in what indeed is the end of an era. (tokyoreporter.com)

Japan received a record number of overseas visitors in 2017 for the fifth straight year, with the greatest growth coming from Asian countries, where low-cost air carriers are expanding service. (Nikkei)

Japan's Air Self-Defense Force, or ASDF, suspects that a metal panel may have fallen from a Japanese government aircraft during flight. (NHK)

The Kosho Hajime new year lecture event, in which leading experts from the academic community deliver lectures to Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, was held at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Wednesday. (Japan Times)

Details emerged Wednesday about significant debts faced by a kimono rental firm that went bust just before Coming-of-Age Day ceremonies, leaving scores of women celebrating adulthood without their formal attire. (Japan Times)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 34-year-old man for allegedly molesting a woman in Adachi Ward last year, TV Asahi. (tokyoreporter.com)

Kanagawa Prefectural Police used posts made by a city councilor in Shizuoka Prefecture to arrest him for allegedly engaging in illicit acts with an underage boy and soliciting obscene photographs from another youth last year, reports TBS News (tokyoreporter.com)

A Japanese kayak racer who drugged a rival at a national championship event has been banned from competing for 8 years. (NHK)

Toyota Motor says it is developing a self-driving electric vehicle to shuttle people between venues at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. (NHK)

Three yokozuna, or grand champion sumo wrestlers, have taken part in a ring-entering ceremony at a Shinto shrine in Tokyo to pray for safety and success at the sport's New Year tournament. (NHK)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to start a subsidy program this year to accelerate the installation of charging stations for electric vehicles at condominiums in the capital, informed sources say. (Japan Times)

A guitarist for “visual-kei” band Codomo Dragon has gone missing, the group revealed via its Twitter account last week. (tokyoreporter.com)

Japanese women who work for social change out of the public eye often go unrecognized, but a new award aims to change that by honoring unsung heroes who effect grassroots reform in their communities. (Kyodo)

Tokyo man arrested for forcibly tattooing his initials into the butt of a maid cafe employee (Japan Today)

Japan reported in 2017 over 5,000 syphilis patients for the first time since comparable data became available in 1999, with the number rising particularly among women in their 20s, data by a national research center showed Friday. (Japan Today)

An 405 kg (892 pound) bluefin tuna has sold for ¥36.5 million ($320,000) in what may really be Tsukiji market's final year-opening auction at its current site in downtown Tokyo, media reports said Friday. (Japan Times)

The Japanese government will launch a project to convert all traditional squat toilets in popular tourist destinations into sit-on types that are more commonly used in other developed countries. (NHK)

South Korean President Moon Jae-in apologized to former "comfort women" Thursday, saying the 2015 agreement with Japan negotiated by his predecessor's government in an effort to bring closure to the wartime issue failed to consider the wishes of the women themselves. (Nikkei)

Kumamoto Prefectural Police have arrested a 47-year-old man over the stabbing death of his father at their residence in Kumamoto City, reports TBS News (tokyoreporter.com)