Japanese researchers have found that the British coronavirus variant found in Japan is on average 1.32 times as transmissible as the original virus. (NHK)

Japan's health ministry says three of its employees have tested positive for the coronavirus after attending a farewell party last month at a restaurant in Tokyo. (NHK)

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is expected to visit India as part of efforts to bolster cooperation across the Indo-Pacific to counter China’s aggressive actions. (WION)

A record 5,034 people were involved in cannabis-related crimes in Japan in 2020, with teens and those in their 20s accounting for the majority of the offenders, police data showed Thursday. (Japan Times)

A Japanese karate official will quit after being accused of bullying a champion set to compete at the Tokyo Olympics, he has told a local newspaper. (yahoo.com)

A Japanese start-up is working to create man-made meteor showers for use in mass entertainment. (South China Morning Post)

Brothers Rikuto and Takushi Nakamura have become social media celebrities showcasing their stunning slackline skills online. (South China Morning Post)

Japan's western prefecture of Osaka has declared a medical "red alert," and reported a record 878 new cases of coronavirus infections on Wednesday. Osaka's daily cases have topped Tokyo's for more than a week. (NHK)

Japan’s western region of Osaka will hold the Olympic torch relay in a park without spectators instead of on public roads, as record coronavirus infections prompted its government to declare a medical emergency on Wednesday. (Reuters)

The boyfriend of Princess Mako, niece of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, expressed his resolve to tie the knot with her in a statement released Thursday, vowing to "correct erroneous information" regarding a monetary dispute involving his mother. (Kyodo)

Martial arts performer Koshiro Minamoto’s hope to introduce Bugaku, or warrior dance, to foreign visitors during the Tokyo Olympics faded after Japan decided to ban overseas spectators to prevent Covid-19 spread. (South China Morning Post)

In this first episode we travel to Kanayama near Hidatakayama to explore the boulders that are created in unique formations, which makes for a climbing experience like no other. (EpicTV)

Japan's Emperor Naruhito has planted rice seeds at the Imperial Palace. (NHK)

Japan deploys destroyer to gather information after Chinese carrier group spotted in Okinawa and Miyako islands towards the Pacific, Japan has sent its destroyer in retaliation. (WION)

Following the recent legalization of the recreational use of marijuana in New York and New Jersey, the Foreign Ministry in Japan is urging its citizens visiting or living in those states to continue to stay away from the drug. (Japan Times)

Osaka and two other prefectures in Japan are tightening coronavirus measures to curb a spike in new cases. (NHK)

Sugako Hashida, a scriptwriter known for the internationally acclaimed television drama series "Oshin" in the 1980s, died Sunday of lymphoma at her home in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, her foundation said Monday. She was 95. (Kyodo)

The Japanese government on Tuesday rushed to gather information about the announcement by North Korea that it will skip this summer's Tokyo Olympics in order to protect its athletes from the novel coronavirus. (Japan Times)

Police in Kasama, Ibaraki Prefecture, have arrested a 78-year-old Buddhist priest on suspicion of attempted murder after he drove his car with a woman clinging to the hood. (Japan Today)

Aichi prefectural police have arrested a 50-year-old unemployed man on suspicion of forcible obstruction of business after he refused to get off a shinkansen (bullet train) and remained inside the restroom. (Japan Today)

The president of one of Japan's major financial groups has apologized again for systems failures that shut down ATMs across the country. He said the problems have been fixed and the machines are more secure. (NHK)

Prefectural government officials in Osaka, western Japan, reported 719 new cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday. That is the highest number ever recorded in the prefecture. (NHK)

Norwegian robotics and software firm AutoStore AS said Monday that Japanese investment giant SoftBank Group Corp. will acquire 40% of its shares for $2.8 billion. (Japan Times)

One of the nicest things about visiting Japan is that there is so much to see and do. (newsonjapan.com)

Cosmic rays are causing an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 malfunctions in domestic network communication devices in Japan every year, a Japanese telecom giant found recently. (Kyodo)