A panel of experts at Japan's health ministry has given the green light to a coronavirus vaccine jointly developed by US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German partner BioNTech. (NHK)

COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates labour shortages in some parts of Japan, a Japanese inn turns to foreign workers for help and finds new meaning to Japanese hospitality. (CNA Insider)

The Japanese government plans to keep a coronavirus state of emergency in place for Tokyo, Osaka, and eight other prefectures in light of high bed occupancy rates at hospitals. (NHK)

Japan and the United States have broadly agreed to extend by one year the current deal on Tokyo's costs for hosting American troops, Japanese government sources said Wednesday. (Kyodo)

A 33-year-old man arrested on suspicion of stalking a woman in Tokyo repeatedly placed handwritten notes with his contact details inside the woman’s handbag. (Japan Today)

Osaka officials have decided to scrap the city’s plan to open a casino resort by March 2027 under Japan’s liberalized gambling laws, due to the effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday. (Japan Times)

A security guard was caught on camera shaking a leg as he guided pedestrians and traffic in Japan. (Reuters)

Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide says the government will start coronavirus vaccinations in the middle of next week. (NHK)

Yoshiro Mori on Thursday decided to step down as head of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee amid a furor at home and abroad over his recent discriminatory comments about women, Nikkei has learned. (Nikkei)

Toyota Motor Corp. plans to launch two new battery-powered vehicles in the U.S. this year, revising its earlier tentative position on electric vehicles and trucks. (Japan Times)

Recovering demand for autos has Toyota Motor expecting a much better fiscal 2020 than it previously thought. The Japanese carmaker boosted its net profit forecast on growing sales in its main markets. (NHK)

Clubhouse, the invite-only drop-in conversation app attracting Silicon Valley leaders in the U.S., has jumped the pond to become a hit in Japan where company heads, celebrity musicians and politicians have embraced the latest social-media phenomenon. (Japan Times)

A group of female Japanese lawmakers wore white in parliament Tuesday in protest of recent comments by Tokyo Olympic organizing committee chief Yoshiro Mori widely criticized at home and abroad as sexist against women. (Kyodo)

Japan is unlikely to inoculate as many people with Pfizer Inc.'s COVID-19 vaccine as planned due to a shortage of special syringes capable of extracting the final dose from vials provided by the drugmaker, health minister Norihisa Tamura said Tuesday. (Kyodo)

Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako are planning to make online visits to three prefectures hit hard by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. (NHK)

The Tokyo metropolitan government on Wednesday reported 491 new cases of the coronavirus, up 79 from Tuesday. (Japan Today)

Some 390 Olympic and Paralympic volunteers have decided to give up their roles in the wake of sexist remarks by Tokyo Games organizing committee chief Yoshiro Mori, the committee said Monday. (Japan Today)

Japan's Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo says it is extremely regrettable that a Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine has collided with a commercial ship. (NHK)

In a few months, the Mediterranean island of Malta will be transformed into a global hub of classical music. (newsonjapan.com)

A number of forged Japanese-style art prints by late master painters were found to be in circulation following a discovery that an art dealer in western Japan had sold 10 counterfeits, people familiar with the matter said Monday. (Japan Today)

Iza Kavedzija calls it an “attitude of gratitude.” That’s what struck the anthropology and aging expert after she spent years interviewing the elderly and super-elderly in the Japanese city of Osaka, and trying to understand why they seemed so happy. (marketwatch.com)

The Japanese government has today mapped out plans to develop significant ammonia fuelling plans for its utility and shipping sectors. (splash247.com)

Japan’s currency in circulation and bank deposits rose at a record pace in January, data showed on Tuesday, a sign companies and households continued to hoard cash due to uncertainty over the coronavirus pandemic. (Reuters)

When the coronavirus pandemic hit last year, Japan's booming sauna industry had a problem: packed hot rooms seemed to violate all the new rules of social distancing and ventilation. (news.abs-cbn.com)

Japanese precision equipment maker Shimadzu Corp started selling on Monday test kits that can detect coronavirus on inanimate surfaces, including doorknobs, faucets and computers, for the first time in the world. (Japan Today)