The Tokyo Olympics is not just about watching the best of the best compete. Organisers are also using the platform to showcase Japan's culture, but the COVID-19 pandemic has forced them to scale down the festivities. (CNA)

The Japanese government said Monday it will tighten border controls for travelers from three U.S. states, Finland and some other areas in response to the spread of highly contagious variants of the novel coronavirus. (Kyodo)

As COVID infection cases continue to rise in Japan, ever more diners are opting for takeout or delivery to keep the infection risk to a minimum. And dining chains are wasting no time catering to the growing demand. (NHK)

I traveled to one of the most famous hot spring cities in Japan and explored Beppu Jigoku. ( Solo Travel Japan)

Kiyoshi Matsuura was so worried about growing old that he started using an anti-baldness treatment as a teenager. (yahoo.com)

Discover the exceptional work of a great sushi chef in Kyoto, Ryuji Fukagawa. His apprentice Julien Doukhan also explains the difference between sushi from Tokyo known around the world and sushi from Kyoto. (UNJAPAN)

Do you know there are several types of taste Egg roll? Today, we’re going to make sweet one using sugar and savory one using Dashi. (Kimono Mom)

Like something out of a science-fiction movie, a mysterious, strangely shaped structure rises up from a barren red desert. Inside, buildings stand on tracts of green, grassy land and boats sail across vivid blue water -- all on near-vertical walls. (Nikkei)

Halfway through the Summer Olympics in Japan, coronavirus cases are surging in the nation during a state of emergency though the outbreak is nowhere near as severe as other places as the world deal with a more contagious Delta variant. (UPI)

I spent an entire week driving some of the most beautiful areas that Japan has to offer. (Tokyo Lens)

The National Governors’ Association on Sunday discussed a proposal for the government to ask the public to avoid summer holiday travel across prefectural borders, including trips to their parents’ homes during the Bon holidays, to help prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. (Japan Times)

OBIHIRO, HOKKAIDO – A startup in Hokkaido successfully launched a small rocket Saturday. (Japan Times)

We all remember names like Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods. Well, if you are from the US, you may have heard about Shohei Ohtani. (Asian Boss)

Although these Olympics have been plagued by unprecedented challenges and many public setbacks for the host nation, they are already the most successful in Japan's entire sporting history when measured from the top of the medal podium. (Japan Todayj)

Toyota Motor Corporation together with a major construction company will begin a project using hydrogen produced with geothermal energy. (NHK)

As competitors battled for the podium on the third day of Olympic athletics on Sunday, it was Tokyo’s stunning heat that perhaps dished out the most pain. (Japan Times)

IKEA is the largest furniture retailer in the world, so how does this behemoth company squeeze into Shinjuku, one of the tightest downtown areas in the world? (Life in Japan)

Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases says 67 people in the country were confirmed to have the coronavirus during the three-month period through June despite being fully vaccinated. (NHK)

Japan's coronavirus state of emergency has been extended and expanded to include three of Tokyo's neighboring prefectures and Osaka. (NHK)

Japan secured its best-ever Olympic gold medal tally on Friday after winning the men's fencing team epee event. (NHK)

The average life expectancy in Japan reached record highs for both men and women last year. (NHK)

NHK has learned that the man whose engagement with Japan's Princess Mako was postponed is to start his law career in the US state of New York. (NHK)

In Tokyo for the Olympics, TODAY senior international correspondent Keir Simmons took the time to visit the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto, a city of unparalleled beauty and the cultural heart of the country. He also got a lesson in Zen meditation. (TODAY)

Kotodama (言霊) refers to the belief that words have mystical powers. It combines the word for "speech" (言 koto) and the word for "soul"(霊 tama). (Japan Today)

A five-year-old boy died Thursday after being left behind in a school bus for hours on a hot summer day in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Fukuoka, police said. (Kyodo)