On the morning of 26 September in Tokyo, schoolchildren on their way to a day of learning and play at Edogawa Elementary School were crossing a pedestrian land bridge. However, hanging from the rail was a little doll made of straw along with a note which read "All you f***ing brats jump from here and die." (rocketnews24.com)

With higher costs weighing on the conveyor-belt sushi restaurant industry, Akindo Sushiro and Genki Sushi aim through their merger to leverage greater scale to negotiate better prices for quality fish. (Nikkei)

Police have arrested a man in his 40s on suspicion of attempted murder after he stabbed a homeless man in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, on Saturday morning. (Japan Today)

The governors of Tokyo and Osaka have agreed to cooperate in the upcoming Lower House election. (NHK)

Kanagawa Prefectural Police have apprehended a 60-year-old man after a standoff in which he wielded a knife inside a residence in Yamato City left his former wife, 51, slightly injured, reports the Sankei Shimbun (tokyoreporter.com)

Xiang Xiang, the female giant panda born in June at Japan's oldest zoo, is growing well and has added 900 grams in 10 days, Ueno Zoo said Sunday. (Japan Times)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 41-year-old man for intimidating students commuting to school near his residence with a doll made of pine needles, reports TV Asahi (tokyoreporter.com)

Hyogo Prefectural Police have launched an investigation following the discovery of two corpses inside a burned-out vehicle in Kato City on Friday, reports Mainichi Broadcasting System. (tokyoreporter.com)

Illegal overtime has been found at 37 of the 762 companies involved in the construction of the new National Stadium in Tokyo, the labor ministry’s Tokyo Labor Bureau has said. (Japan Times)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a male Mongolian national for allegedly attempting to sexually assault a woman in a parking lot in Edogawa Ward earlier this week, reports TV Asahi (tokyoreporter.com)

Selling painkillers in Japan used to be like pulling teeth. That was until baby boomers discovered how analgesics could take the sting from arthritis, diabetic nerve damage and the ravages of cancer. (Japan Times)

Contaminated water may have leaked from the disaster-struck Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant since April, the owner said Thursday. (Japan Times)

A 39-year-old man, arrested on Sept 5 for stalking a 27-year-old woman, has also been charged with indecently assaulting her while she slept in her apartment in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward. (Japan Today)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have busted an operation in the Kabukicho red-light district of Shinjuku Ward that sold pornographic DVDs deemed illegal, reports TBS News. (tokyoreporter.com)

Struggling Japanese electronics company Toshiba says it has signed a deal to sell its memory chip unit to a group led by US private equity firm Bain Capital. The deal is worth about 18 billion dollars. (NHK)

A female worker at an elderly nursing home in Shimonoseki City was arrested for allegedly mixing drain cleaner into her colleague’s tea, reports the Sankei Shimbun (tokyoreporter.com)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolved the House of Representatives on Thursday, calling a general election in a bid to maintain his hold on power, while opposition parties rallied together in a major reorganization aimed at giving the administration a challenge at the polls. (Japan Times)

Heavy rain hit eastern Japan areas near Tokyo on Thursday, marking record hourly rainfalls in some municipalities, while a man was believed washed away by a swollen river in Yokohama, according to the weather agency and local authorities. (Japan Today)

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike's new party has issued a direct challenge to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, receiving a show of support from Japan's leading opposition Democratic Party, whose chief Seiji Maehara said that he will pursue a de facto merger with Koike in the upcoming snap election. (Nikkei)

A panel weighing three kilograms fell from a plane onto a factory near Tokyo, Japanese officials said Thursday, the country's second case in a week after a similar part landed on a car. (Japan Today)

Around 1,900 students from 53 elementary and junior high schools in Tokyo’s Shinjuku, Toshima and Itabashi wards have complained of an “unusual” smell coming from milk they were given as part of their school lunches, ward authorities reported Tuesday. (Japan Today)

Shibuya's Scramble Intersection is one of Tokyo's most famous landmarks. Located directly outside Shibuya Station, where a number of train and subway lines converge, the intersection serves as the gateway to the neighborhood's hundreds of shops, restaurants, and clubs, and the mass of people that makes its way across every time the walk sign comes on is a sight to see. (rocketnews24.com)

Fukuoka Prefectural Police have arrested a 42-year-old man for allegedly beating his ailing father to death at the residence they share in Fukuoka City, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (tokyoreporter.com)

The husband of lawmaker Seiko Noda, the newly appointed Internal Affairs and Communications Minister, is a former member of a criminal syndicate based in Kyoto, claims a weekly magazine. (tokyoreporter.com)

Shizuoka Prefectural Police are hunting for a man who robbed an outlet of a restaurant chain in Kakegawa City early Tuesday, reports the Asahi Shimbun (tokyoreporter.com)