Japan’s second-largest airline, Japan Airlines (also known as JAL), has announced a change in its customer service policies that will be taking effect soon. (soranews24.com)

Mt. Fuji got its first snowcap of the season on Monday, 24 days earlier than last year and two days earlier than average, a local weather agency said. (Kyodo)

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. is planning to turn Japan's largest mobile carrier NTT Docomo Inc. into a wholly-owned company through a takeover bid, sources close to the matter said Monday. (Kyodo)

Princess Yuriko, the oldest member of the imperial family and great-aunt of Emperor Naruhito, has been diagnosed with heart failure, the Imperial Household Agency said Monday. (Kyodo)

The death of Japanese actor Yuko Takeuchi has once again started a conversation on Japan's high suicide rate. (WION)

China is on an arduous long march to eradicate poverty. In Japan, inequalities remain despite economic growth. Our correspondents take a closer look at the countries' quest for prosperity. (CNA Insider)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government confirmed 78 new cases of the coronavirus in the Japanese capital on Monday. (NHK)

It’s midnight. Tokyo. Tsukiji. I need to go for a walk — through some dark alleys on a Saturday night. (ONLY in JAPAN)

Undeterred by the coronavirus pandemic, one of Asia's largest short film festivals on Sunday wrapped up its nearly two-week run in Tokyo with online screening, with the top prize awarded to a story of a woman traveling to witness the execution of her son's murderer. (Kyodo)

Japanese household consumption is likely to be boosted by a spending spree before too long, as the government introduced cash handouts after the pandemic hit the economy. But in the meantime, statistics show that Japan's consumption has plunged the most among advanced economies. (Nikkei)

The Japanese government is considering boosting the capacity of the country's authorized nurseries and other facilities for preschoolers by some 120,000 over the four years from fiscal 2021, it was learned Saturday. (Japan Times)

The new coronavirus has people everywhere avoiding crowded spaces, and in Japan that includes temples. The number of services for the traditional Buddhist holidays of Bon and Higan has fallen, putting some temples under financial strain. (Nikkei)

Former Toshiba memory unit Kioxia Holdings, the world's second-largest maker of NAND flash memory chips behind Samsung Electronics, will postpone plans for an initial public offering, Nikkei learned on Sunday. (Nikkei)

Cases of fraudulent receipts of subsidies designed to support small businesses and self-employed people hit hard by the pandemic are increasingly being found across Japan. (Japan Times)

The 28-year-old Shodai has won his first title in the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament, with 13 wins and two losses. (NHK)

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga vowed Saturday to press forward with reconstruction efforts for areas devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, as he visited the Fukushima nuclear power plant crippled by the disasters. (Japan Today)

Growing numbers of Tokyo-based companies are considering relocating some of their functions to other parts of Japan, spurred by a desire to minimize risks in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. (Nikkei)

Despite record employment under Abenomics, Japan’s poverty rate is the second highest among the Group of Seven nations at 15.7%, and above the OECD average. (CNBC)

The coronavirus pandemic has heightened distress felt by unmarried Japanese couples in long-term relationships as they face the prospect that, should one become ill, they would not be afforded the same rights as married couples. (Kyodo)

Japanese actor Takeuchi Yuko has died in an apparent suicide. She was 40 years old. (NHK)

NHK has learned that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to visit Japan as early as next month to meet his Japanese counterpart, Motegi Toshimitsu. (NHK)

Japan will relax from October its border restrictions aimed at controlling the spread of the novel coronavirus to allow entry for new visa applicants other than tourists from all regions. (Japan Times)

Many universities in Japan are set to partially resume in-person classes in the second half of the current academic year, which starts in autumn, while taking measures against the spread of the coronavirus. (Japan Times)

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake hit Japan's Pacific Ocean coast off Honshu Island on Sunday, the country's meteorological agency reported. (aa.com.tr)

The city of Nara in Nara prefecture is famous for its free-roaming deer population, who've been known to cross at pedestrian crossings and bow to tourists in Nara Park in return for senbei rice crackers. (Japan Today)