Masayuki Uemura, the lead architect for the breakthrough Nintendo Entertainment System and the Super NES, and a visiting professor at Ritsumeikan University, has died, the university said Thursday. He was 78. (Kyodok)

Throughout its history, Japan has been the source of a diverse range of art and design forms. Classic woodblock prints such as Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa are recognized all over the world. (businesswire.com)

Japanese costume designer Emi Wada, known for her Academy Award-winning work on a film by renowned director Akira Kurosawa, died on Nov. 13, her family said. She was 84. (Japan Times)

Two decades after "One Piece" introduced the world to a swashbuckling pirate in a straw hat, fans of the Japanese cartoon series are giddily awaiting this weekend's release of the 1,000th episode. (Japan Today)

Japan's animation industry contracted sharply last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, while overseas markets saw strong sales and exceeded the domestic market for the first time. (NHK)

TOKYO (AP) — Jakucho Setouchi, a Buddhist nun and one of Japan's best-known authors known for novels depicting passionate women and her translation of “The Tale of Genji,” a 1,000-year-old classic, into modern language, has died. She was 99. (tulsaworld.com)

November marks one year since the Metropolitan Police Department began a program to reduce street prostitution in Tokyo by connecting women to welfare counseling. (Japan Times)

Japanese pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki was taken to hospital Saturday after performing at a concert in Nagoya, with her management later confirming she was suffering anaphylactic shock. (Japan Today)

Amazon Prime Video has commissioned a Japanese adaptation of Australian comedy No Activity as an Amazon Original. (tbivision.com)

For most people, the word "geisha" conjures visions of Kyoto's Gion district. But there is another major geisha centre, one that even many Japanese don't know. (BBC)

Famed Japanese rakugo storyteller and designated Living National Treasure Yanagiya Kosanji died of heart failure in Tokyo on Thursday. He was 81. (NHK)

There are likely many factors behind Tokyo’s dramatic fall in new COVID-19 cases, but research shows that one group may be playing a surprising role in ending the fifth wave: the unvaccinated. (Japan Times)

Johnny & Associates Inc. announced today that its honorary chairperson, Mary Yasuko Fujishima, sister of music mogul and company founder Johnny Kitagawa, died of pneumonia at a hospital in Tokyo on Aug. 14. She was 93 years old. (Japan Times)

Sales in Japan's animation production industry fell 1.8% on year in 2020, the first drop in a decade. (bangkokpost.com)

Needless to say, 2020 was a pretty horrible year for live music in Japan, shows big and small either had to make major alterations or just cancel altogether in order to help fight the spread of COVID-19. However, this situation can only continue for so long before the organizers reach a breaking point. (Japan Today)

TOKYO -- Five years after its launch, Pokemon Go monsters still run amok in the world and are chased by a legion of fans. (Nikkei)

Tokyo’s delayed Olympics is flipping conventional wisdom on its head, with Japan’s stay-at-home stocks expected to emerge as winners rather than once-favored advertisers, real-estate firms and travel operators. (Japan Times)

Those looking for definitive answers about Naomi Osaka and how she copes with the demands of her career and fame shouldn’t expect to find them in a new Netflix docuseries about the four-time Grand Slam champion. (Japan Today)

Toru Muranishi is back: The adult-video auteur with the outsized underpants and monstrous ego on a mission to liberate the world from prudishness. (Japan Times)

Japan's lifting of the coronavirus state of emergency in areas including Tokyo and Osaka has brought alcohol back to bars and restaurants, to the relief of both drinkers and businesses battered by lockdowns. (Nikkei)

An ultra-modern online crowdfunding campaign has come to the rescue of one of the most traditional and uniquely Japanese businesses in the north coast city of Niigata – its geisha community. (South China Morning Post)

Japan's telecom giant NTT has announced that its executives, including the president, will have their pay cut due to wining and dining scandals involving the communications ministry. (NHK)

The coronavirus vaccine rollout is accelerating nationwide. Officials say about 70 percent of healthcare workers have been fully vaccinated, and more than 20 percent of the elderly have received their first shot. (NHK)

Kataoka Hidetaro, a kabuki actor and living national treasure in Japan, has died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Shochiku Co, a producer of kabuki performances, said Thursday. He was 79. (Japan Today)

After more than a year of binge-watching their way through the coronavirus pandemic, American audiences still cannot get enough of Japanese shows and movies. (Nikkei)