A worker dismantling tanks at Japan's wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was found to have been exposed to a small amount of radiation during a routine safety check on Friday, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said. (Japan Today)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have busted a mail order service based in a Nerima Ward that sold about 1 million illegal pornographic DVDs each year since 2012. The operation is believed to have funded organized crime, reports TV Asahi. (tokyoreporter.com)

Walk into any Japanese convenience store, and you'll find a row of magazine racks, usually just inside the windows that run along the front of the store. (Japan Today)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 60-year-old man suspected in a series of thefts of women's underwear, reports Fuji News Network. (tokyoreporter.com)

Hakuho on Friday pulled out of the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament getting underway Sunday due to pain in his left knee, becoming the third yokozuna to withdraw from the meet after Kisenosato and Kakuryu. (Japan Times)

Democratic Party lawmaker Shiori Yamao, a prominent adversary of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Diet debates, tendered her resignation from the party Thursday evening amid allegations of an extramarital affair, dealing a heavy blow to the nascent leadership of the struggling opposition. (Japan Times)

Aomori Prefectural Police have arrested a 23-year-old man in the stabbing death of his mother at a unit of a municipally managed housing block they shared in Goshogawara City on Wednesday, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Sept. 6). (tokyoreporter.com)

McDonald's Japan is turning to stay-at-home wives as the restaurant industry struggles with a severe labor crunch. (NHK)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police believe a botched burglary resulted in a safe weighing about 100 kilograms being dumped outside a jewelry store in Shibuya Ward early Tuesday, reports TV Asahi (tokyoreporter.com)

Three Asian universities made the top 30 for the first time in an influential ranking of the world's top 1,000 institutions released Tuesday. (Japan Times)

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, a record 24.04 million foreign tourists visited the country in 2016. Of that figure, nearly 40 percent (or about 9.4 million) went to Osaka. (tokyoreporter.com)

An increasing number of local governments are planning to introduce a lodging tax to finance tourism promotion and ease the load on infrastructure amid record-breaking arrivals of travelers from abroad. (Japan Times)

A Japan Airlines plane bound for New York made an emergency landing at Tokyo’s Haneda airport Tuesday due to engine trouble apparently stemming from a bird strike, the transport ministry and airline operator said. (Japan Times)

Two teenage students apparently committed suicide following the start of the new school term. (NHK)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 24-year-old man who is suspected in dozens of bag-snatching incidents in the Kanto area, reports TV Asahi. (tokyoreporter.com)

Japanese telecommunications equipment maker Yupiteru Corp. said Monday it will recall a total of 85,000 units of a dashboard camera model and replace its lithium battery free of charge due to fire risk. (Japan Times)

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has issued a warning to all bus companies due to multiple incidents of expressway buses being parked for prolonged hours within the vicinity of the Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal near Shinjuku train station. (Japan Today)

KFC got our hearts all aflutter twice in 2016. In the spring, we visited its branch in the Takadanobaba neighborhood of Tokyo, which in the evening serves not only fried chicken but also beer and cocktails, and a few months after that the chain announced an all-you-can eat fried chicken deal. (rocketnews24.com)

Osaka Prefectural Police have arrested a 65-year-old woman who is suspected of abandoning a body believed to belong to her sister at a residence in Kadoma City over two years ago, reports TV Asahi (tokyoreporter.com)

Chiba Prefectural Police have arrested two women in the quick-strike theft of nearly two billion yen from ATMs nationwide last year, reports TV Asahi. (tokyoreporter.com)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 31-year-old company employee for allegedly splashing bodily fluid on a school girl in Katsushika Ward earlier this year, reports TBS News. (tokyoreporter.com)

As Japan's schools reopened Friday after summer holidays, a day when suicides among young people spike, celebrities reached out to at-risk children and one Tokyo zoo offered refuge to nervous pupils in a bid to tackle the mental health crisis. (Japan Today)

Police on Friday night captured a male Vietnamese national in Saitama Prefecture who eluded custody in Gunma Prefecture the day before, reports TBS News (tokyoreporter.com)

Police arrested a 19-year-old male Thursday for allegedly stabbing and seriously injuring his 18-year-old girlfriend in Tokyo the previous day. (Japan Today)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his British counterpart, Theresa May, have released joint statements on security and economic cooperation after their talks in Tokyo. (NHK)