Japan is slowly bringing its economy back on line as a state of emergency was fully lifted after almost two months. While many in Tokyo seemed eager to reclaim a sense of normalcy, steps to keep the coronavirus at bay mean it's far from business as usual. (NHK)

Japan's cargo spacecraft Kounotori 9, the last of the Kounotori transporter series, has successfully docked at the International Space Station. (NHK)

Amusement park association wants quiet thrill rides, no hugs as part of post-coronavirus closure reopenings. (soranews24.com)

A Japanese-style izakaya pub in Osaka has started distributing free face shields for use by its customers, in the hope of regaining drinkers after the state of emergency, over the novel coronavirus, was lifted last week. (Japan Times)

Pachinko parlors in Japan are struggling, with some going bankrupt, after the country declared a state of emergency in April and many establishments were asked to stay closed. (NHK)

PM Abe ended Japan’s State of Emergency but what does that mean? We’ll go over the news. (ONLY in JAPAN)

Japanese consumers are spending more on masks, cleaning products and personal sanitizers while sales of makeup and motion sickness medicine take a major hit. (Nikkei)

The Japanese government has lifted the state of emergency in the last five of the country's 47 prefectures. (NHK)

The government will carry out support measures to shore up demand in the travel and restaurant industries hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, starting late July, sources said Monday. (Japan Times)

One of Japan’s major airlines plans to make the wearing of face masks compulsory as the industry shifts toward operating in a new coronavirus pandemic normal. (Japan Times)

COVID-19 has decimated many nations around the globe, and we've seen industries crumble under the impact of this deadly virus. (newsonjapan.com)

Japan's professional baseball teams will start the 2020 season on June 19 after a three-month delay due to the coronavirus outbreak. (NHK)

An association comprised of hostess clubs has issued guidelines for how clubs will operate once they reopen due to the lifting of the state of emergency caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic. (tokyoreporter.com)

The number of foreign tourists staying at hotels in the normally thronging tourist destination of Kyoto plunged 89.5 percent in March from a year earlier amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a recent survey. (Japan Times)

One of Japan’s major annual electronics shows will be held online in October due to safety concerns arising from the novel coronavirus, organizers said Monday. (Japan Times)

A pair of melons grown in the Hokkaido city of Yubari sold for ¥120,000 ($1,100) in the season's first auction on Monday, 2.4 percent of the price at last year's auction. (Japan Times)

An apparent suicide note written by Hana Kimura, the 22-year-old professional wrestler and cast member of the internationally popular Netflix reality show “Terrace House,” was found at her Tokyo home in the wake of her death, investigative sources said Monday. (Japan Times)

Police in Kumamoto City have arrested three youths — two aged 19 and one aged 18 — on suspicion of attempted murder after they threw concrete blocks from a bridge at trucks on an expressway below. (Japan Today)

The coronavirus pandemic is yanking corporate Japan into the 21st century, forcing businesses to embrace digital signatures and boosting the shares of Bengo4.com Inc., one of the few local providers of the service. (Japan Times)

Japanese medical institutions are seeing a lightening in their coronavirus caseload, health minister Katsunobu Kato said Sunday, in yet another indication the government is set to imminently lift a state of emergency over the Tokyo metro area and Hokkaido. (Japan Today)

The local government in the city of Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, has announced that a person who traveled from the Philippines had developed rabies — the first case in Japan in 14 years. (Japan Times)

The threat of sexual harassment is an all-too-real concern for Japan's student job hunters, and it is sometimes university alumni who use promises of patronage to abuse their position of trust. (Japan Today)

Over 40 percent of the coronavirus-linked deaths in Osaka involve hospital infections, sources in the prefectural government told Jiji Press on Saturday. (Japan Times)

The Japanese capital suffered more than 200 excess fatalities from pneumonia and other coronavirus symptoms early in the outbreak, dwarfing the period's officially recorded 16 from the new disease. (Nikkei)

Among the types of businesses that were requested to shut their doors due to the high risk of cluster infections of the coronavirus were pachinko parlors. At a press conference on May 13, however, the Tokyo Medical Association backtracked on its earlier opinions, posting a retraction and apology. (Japan Today)