HIGASHI-OSAKA, Japan — Across Japan, it can seem as if there’s a 7-Eleven on every corner. (New York Times)

Japan's Golden Week holiday period began in earnest on Saturday, but the first day of five consecutive vacation days was relatively quiet in major areas as measures against COVID-19 dissuaded many people from traveling. (Kyodo)

Japan's Nippon Yusen (9101.T) subsidiary NYK Cruises Co said on Friday that its luxury cruise ship "Asuka II" was returning to port after a passenger tested positive for the coronavirus. (Reuters)

Former prime minister Julia Gillard is set to be honoured by the Japanese government for her service to the nation. (thenewdaily.com.au)

Golden Week typically runs from 4/29 to 5/5 five or take a couple of days, it’s quite a nice time in Japan but ... (ONLY in JAPAN)

As Japan’s government has in recent years been making preparations to cater to diverse visitors ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, Islam has been gradually demystified there. Here is how Muslims are observing Ramadan since the country’s infrastructures improved. (TRT World)

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake that also measured a strong 5 on the shindo (intensity) scale struck off Japan’s northeastern coast on Saturday but no tsunami warning was issued, Japanese and U.S. authorities said, with no immediate reports of damage. (Japan Times)

Jean-Marc Gilson, the newly-arrived chief executive officer of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp., shares his strategy to return the company to profitability. (Bloomberg Markets and Finance)

More than half the respondents in a Kyodo News survey released Saturday believe Japan needs to amend its Constitution to introduce an emergency clause so that it can better respond to the coronavirus pandemic and other disasters. (Kyodo)

Today we're going to pick up a Kimono for Sutan's Shichi-Go-San. (Kimono Mom)

As the coronavirus pandemic puts strain on the economy, Japan is finally moving toward tackling the phenomenon of “period poverty” facing many women. But campaigners say there are a number of hurdles still to overcome in a country that has often treated menstruation as a taboo subject. (Japan Times)

The first shipment of the coronavirus vaccine developed by US biotechnology firm Moderna has arrived in Japan. (NHK)

Japan will consider making vaccines and medical treatments that have yet to be domestically approved available in an emergency after regulatory roadblocks delayed its COVID-19 vaccination campaign as cases spiked. (Nikkei)

The Japanese government said Friday it has decided to send 300 respirators and 300 oxygen concentrators to India, which is battling one of the world's worst coronavirus crises with the rapid spread of the virus, including more contagious variants. (Kyodo)

Japanese government data shows that the country's unemployment rate in March dropped to the level of last April. (NHK)

Japan has only used about a fifth of the COVID-19 vaccine doses it has imported so far, government data shows, underscoring logistical hurdles such as a shortage of medical staff, as it grapples with a sluggish inoculation campaign. (Japan Today)

Momotarō was born from a giant peach, which was found floating down a river by an old, childless woman who was washing clothes there. The woman and her husband discovered the child when they tried to open the peach to eat it. (JapanSocietyNYC)

Twenty-eight-year-old sumo wrestler Hibikiryu has died of acute respiratory failure after hitting his head during the sport's last grand tournament in March, the Japan Sumo Association announced Thursday. (Japan Today)

Hideki Matsuyama received the Prime Minister’s Award Friday after becoming the first Japanese to win the prestigious Masters golf major in the United States. (Japan Times)

A woman using a toilet in the Diet building in Tokyo saw a miniature spy camera being aimed at her, police said Thursday. (Japan Today)

Train stations and tourist spots were largely quiet in Tokyo and elsewhere under Japan’s third coronavirus state of emergency as the Golden Week holiday period began Thursday. (Japan Times)

Have you ever thought of crying as something positive? We met a Japanese man who started a course that makes people cry on purpose with the goal to relieve their stress. So far, he has made over 50,000 people cry through his seminars. (Asian Boss)

The Tokyo metropolitan government on Thursday reported 1,027 new coronavirus cases, the result of 12,533 tests conducted on April 26. The number is up 102 from Wednesday and is the first time the figure for the capital has surpassed 1,000 since Jan 28. (Japan Today)

A man in his 40s is suspected of killing a 21-year-old university student in her apartment and then killing himself by setting fire to his own apartment one floor below in Daito, Osaka Prefecture, on Wednesday. (Japan Today)

Olympic organisers have unveiled a new rule book to explain how the Games will be conducted in the middle of a pandemic. (ABC News)