Bic Camera Inc., a consumer electronics mass retailer, opened a new shop Friday in Mitsukoshi's flagship department store in Tokyo, focusing on high-end products to attract affluent customers. (Kyodo)

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics torch relay will start on March 12, 2020, and end on July 24, 2020. Olympics organizers will lit up the torch in Olympia, Greece and take it to Athens after one week. Sports enthusiasts can get the latest sports news about the Olympics at Betway. (newsonjapan.com)

As the supply of surgical masks in Japan's stores runs low amid fears of the new coronavirus from China, some have attempted to profit from the situation by offering masks for resale online at rates far higher than retail prices. (Kyodo)

An annual bean-throwing event was held Monday at Naritasan Shinshoji, a major Buddhist temple in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, to mark setsubun, the day before the start of spring according to Japan’s ancient calendar. (Japan Times)

Food exports from the European Union to Japan increased sharply in the February to November period immediately following the entry into force of their free trade agreement last year, the European Commission said Friday. (Kyodo)

Japan's government is facing criticism that its initial response to the outbreak of a deadly coronavirus was too lax, as other countries have taken stronger steps to prevent a spread within their borders. (Kyodo)

After a victory no one would have dared predict, Tokushoryu also proved to be a champion in the afterglow on Sunday. (Kyodo)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told parliament on Thursday the government will ask airlines to make announcements on flights from China urging passengers to notify cabin crew if they feel ill, as a new coronavirus continues to spread. (Kyodo)

A Japanese person with severe pneumonia has been hospitalized in Wuhan, a senior official of the Japanese Embassy in Beijing said Thursday. (Kyodo)

A 61-year-old postman failed to deliver thousands of postal items that he kept at his home instead, police said Thursday. (Kyodo)

Five major Tokyo-based private television networks will take turns airing daily coverage of the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer, sources close to the matter said Saturday. (Kyodo)

The Hiroshima High Court on Friday revoked a lower court decision and ordered Shikoku Electric Power Co. to suspend a reactor in western Japan, dealing a blow to the government's bid to bring more reactors back online after the 2011 nuclear crisis. (Kyodo)

Japanese Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, a potential future prime minister according to some opinion polls, said he became the father of a baby boy on Friday. (Kyodo)

Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. has offered to invest between $30 billion and $40 billion in the development of the new Indonesian capital on Borneo Island, a close aide of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said Friday. (Kyodo)

A volcano on a southwestern Japan island erupted Saturday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, with no immediate reports of injuries. (Kyodo)

Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. plans to invest in the development of the new Indonesian capital on Borneo Island, the tech giant's founder and Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son said Friday. (Kyodo)

Former Nissan and Renault boss Carlos Ghosn began his astonishing escape from Japan with a bullet train ride from Tokyo to Osaka, possibly accompanied by several people, Japan's Kyodo News reported Monday. (aljazeera.com)

Swedish teen environmental activist Greta Thunberg pledged to continue her fight this year for measures to curb climate change and expressed hope that she may visit Japan, given the opportunity. (Japan Today)

Japan Airlines Co. said Thursday overseas members of its mileage program will be able to apply for free return tickets for domestic flights next summer, part of an effort to provide foreign travelers with a greater experience of Japan alongside the Olympic and Paralympic Games. (Kyodo)

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Thursday visited areas in northeastern Japan that were hit by a powerful typhoon in October to encourage the victims, in the couple's first trip to disaster-hit regions since the emperor's enthronement in May. (Kyodo)

A court sentenced a Chinese man on Monday to 14 months in prison, suspended for three years, for intruding into war-linked Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo and damaging a drape by throwing ink on it earlier this year. (Kyodo)

Former Emperor Akihito turned 86 on Monday, marking his first birthday since stepping down from the Chrysanthemum Throne in late April to become the first Japanese monarch to abdicate in around 200 years. (Kyodo)

A ceremony has been held to mark the completion of the main stadium for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. Construction of the new National Stadium was finished late last month. (NHK)

Prosecutors on Friday sought an eight-year jail term for a former top bureaucrat at the farm ministry for killing his socially reclusive son in his high-profile trial in Tokyo. (Kyodo)

Traditional female entertainers in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto are offering early New Year greetings to their teachers. (NHK)