About 5,000 people held a rally outside the Myanmar embassy in Tokyo to call for the release of the country's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained in a coup on Monday. (NHK)

On this overnight trip to Nara Prefecture, we visit Mount Yoshino, a sacred mountain in the middle of the prefecture on the first day. On the second day, we explore Imaicho, a traditional merchant town, midway between Mount Yoshino and the prefectural capital of Nara. (japan-guide.com)

Eiko Harada, who served as the head of the Japanese subsidiaries of McDonald’s Corp. and Apple Inc., has been arrested for alleged domestic violence, Tokyo police said Saturday. (Japan Times)

Japanese researchers believe that a jawbone fossil discovered in Fukui Prefecture in 2019 might be from the earliest mammal to ever live within its shores. (NHK)

Yakushima is located 60 km off the southernmost tip of Kyushu. (Armadas)

A sharp improvement in Japan's trade balance saw the current account surplus more than double in December from a year ago. But the numbers show that the coronavirus continues to weigh on travel. (NHK)

Anyone wondering how, oh how, Japan could trail the United Arab Emirates, Benin and Timor-Leste in gender equality has never met Yoshiro Mori. (Nikkei)

Tokyo's benchmark stock index reached its highest level in more than 30 years on Monday morning. (NHK)

This Kyoto food guide is a Kyoto food tour of unique flavors to plan into your Japanese food tour of Kyoto. (GRRRLTRAVELER | Christine Kaaloa)

Japan's average monthly spending by households in 2020 fell a real 5.3 percent from the previous year, marking the sharpest drop on record, as people refrained from going out due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Friday. (Japan Today)

Doctors have warned that many coronavirus patients, especially younger ones, are suffering aftereffects for a long time despite subsequently testing negative for the virus and are calling on the government to take countermeasures. (Kyodo)

The European Union has approved exports of novel coronavirus vaccines to Japan for the first time, EU sources said Friday. (Japan Times)

The education ministry has kicked off its first extensive survey to examine how elementary and junior high school students were affected by nationwide school closures implemented in spring 2020 in the fight against the coronavirus. (Japan Times)

Japan's agriculture, fishery and forestry exports in 2020 hit a record high for the eighth consecutive year, with household items such as eggs and rice seeing a boost in sales during the novel coronavirus pandemic, the farm ministry said Friday. (Japan Today)

Police in Higashi-Murayama, Tokyo, have arrested a 36-year-old unemployed man on suspicion of assaulting and robbing an Uber Eats deliverer last month. (Japan Today)

A petition calling for action against Yoshiro Mori, head of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee who caused an uproar with sexist comments, gathered tens of thousands of signatures on Friday, a day after its launch by Japanese activists. (Japan Today)

Just over 21 percent of people in Japan are washing or sanitizing their hands appropriately amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to an online survey by a team drawn from Tokyo Medical University and other institutions. (Kyodo)

ANA Holdings Inc. plans to reduce its workforce in the aviation business by roughly 20 percent over the next five years through natural attrition to cut costs and cope with the COVID-19 crisis that has depressed travel demand, sources familiar with the matter said Friday. (Kyodo)

The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, takes us over the algal blooms swirling around the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of Japan, in this edition of the Earth from Space programme. (European Space Agency, ESA)

Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings is scrapping a joint-venture in Myanmar with a conglomerate linked to the country's army. The move follows the military coup earlier this week. (NHK)

A Japanese health ministry survey shows that less than one percent of people in Tokyo and four other prefectures are estimated to have had antibodies against the coronavirus last December. (NHK)

British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca has applied for authorization to use its coronavirus vaccine in Japan. (NHK)

The rise of "inward-looking youth", with little interest in venturing outside Japan, has caused consternation among Japanese journalists, policymakers and business leaders in recent years. (economist.com)

Japan's population shrank by a record 420,000 people last year, government estimates show, as the coronavirus pandemic dealt a heavy blow to an influx of foreign workers that had helped offset the country's ongoing natural population decline. (Nikkei)

When Japan rolled out its contact-tracing app last summer to fight the coronavirus, nobody expected that a major flaw affecting about one-third of users would go overlooked for more than four months. (Nikkei)