The Tokyo metropolitan government on Wednesday reported 591 new cases of the coronavirus, up 81 from Tuesday. Osaka reported the most cases in the nation, recording a record-high 1,130. (Japan Today)

The head of Japanese industrial giant Toshiba has stepped down. President and CEO Kurumatani Nobuaki's resignation comes days after the company got a buyout offer from a UK-based investment fund that he had ties to. (Kyodo)

Reports of involuntary sterilisation have been seen at least 38 countries worldwide over the past 20 years with women and marginalised groups worst hit by this ‘gross violation of rights’. (BBC News)

Surveys by local governments in Japan show the coronavirus variant first detected in Britain is surging in the country. The variant, dubbed N501Y, is said to be more transmissible than the original coronavirus. (NHK)

A government survey showed Monday that 5.7% of children in the second year of junior high school provide care to family members who have a chronic illness or other problems. (Japan Times)

More Japanese lawmakers and businesses are throwing their support behind shorter workweeks to give families more time to take care of children and older family members, as well as to adapt to a world where remote work is increasingly common. (Nikkei)

The reported $20 billion bid to take Toshiba private from U.K.-based private equity fund CVC Capital Partners has the investment community abuzz: Will CEO Nobuaki Kurumatani actually be allowed to pull it off and escape the nets that are encircling him? (Nikkei)

Foreign media have praised Matsuyama Hideki's caddie as they report on the Japanese golfer's triumph at the Masters on Sunday. (NHK)

The Japanese government has officially decided to release treated water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean. It will be discharged in about two years after being diluted. (NHK)

Japan's Meteorological Agency says hundreds of earthquakes have been occurring in waters near the Tokara Islands in the country's southwest since Friday. (NHK)

The boyfriend of Princess Mako, the niece of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, intends to pay money to his mother's former fiance in an effort to settle a long-standing money dispute, his lawyer said Monday. (Kyodo)

An increasing number of companies in Japan are providing polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests for the novel coronavirus at low cost, an effort to help boost travel demand battered by the pandemic. (Japan Times)

Japan's western prefecture of Osaka has broken another daily record. It reported over 1,000 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, marking a four-digit count for the first time. (NHK)

Japan's health ministry says at least 1,100 seniors were given a coronavirus vaccine on the first day of the country's inoculation program for the elderly. (NHK)

A team of Japanese researchers say they have found a way to convert plastic waste into liquid fuel. (South China Morning Post)

The dynamics of the gambling world varies from country to country. (newsonjapan.com)

TOKYO — There will be a few bleary eyes in corporate Japan on Monday morning. In this golf-crazy nation, it's hard to underestimate the impact of Hideki Matsuyama's historic Masters triumph and impossible to count the hours of lost sleep it entailed. (washingtonpost.com)

NHK has learned that the Japanese government is ready to announce, as early as Tuesday, that it plans to release treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean. (NHK)

Inside an abandoned Japanese village tucked into the mountains. While its not uncommon to find an abandoned building here or there in Japan, an entire village is something else entirely. (Tokyo Lens)

Japan’s vaccination drive finally kicked into gear Monday around four months after the start of inoculations in the United States and the United Kingdom, a slow rollout that has generated further criticism of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s handling of the pandemic. (Japan Times)

Eyeing a future in which it may send poets into space to extol the beauty of the stars, Japan's national space agency is looking to expand its horizons by dropping the science major requirement for potential astronauts as it launches its first recruitment drive in 13 years. (Kyodo)

Travel to Japan with Waffles + Mochi! Join in as they learn to speak Japanese with words like, Konnichiwa! They also meet a vegetable called, the mushroom, and discover just how fun and delicious it is to cook AND eat! (Netflix Jr.)

AUGUSTA, Ga - Hideki Matsuyama won The Masters by one shot at Augusta National on Sunday, clinching the first green jacket for Japan. (Golf Digest)

TOKYO (TR) – Membership in Japanese criminal syndicates dropped for the 16th straight year in 2020, the National Police Agency said last week. (tokyoreporter.com)

The organizing committee for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics is planning to secure a hotel with about 300 rooms for athletes with minor or no symptoms of the coronavirus, officials with knowledge of the plan said. (Japan Today)