A record 2,684 people were found to have been infected with the coronavirus in Japan on Saturday. (NHK)

With its enormous cities and towering skyscrapers brightly clad in neon lights, Japan is a fun country to visit, full of history and with a rich cultural heritage. (touropia)

The Diet on Friday gave the green light to stop Saturday as well as next-day delivery of standard postal mail to address a worker shortage and falling demand due to increased use of the internet. (Japan Today)

Tokyo stocks ended higher Friday, with the benchmark Nikkei extending its rally to a fourth straight day and renewing a 29-year high, as buying in real estate and high-tech shares wiped out initial losses on the yen's rise. (Japan Today)

Bars, karaoke lounges and restaurants serving alcohol in parts of the city of Osaka began operating under shorter hours Friday, a day after the prefecture saw a record daily total of 12 deaths due to COVID-19. (Japan Times)

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Friday that shorter hours for bars and restasurants serving alcohol would be "crucial" in stemming the coronavirus spread, with other major cities Osaka, Nagoya and Sapporo having already taken or getting set to take similar steps. (Japan Today)

Japanese property developer Mitsui Fudosan plans to acquire Tokyo Dome, eyeing a tender offer of more than 100 billion yen ($960 million) for the ballpark and hotel operator. (Nikkei)

Japanese prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for a 30-year-old man charged with murdering nine people at his apartment in the city of Zama, near Tokyo. (NHK)

The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks may be in the middle of an epoch-making run in Japanese baseball that could — if other teams can emulate the way they operate on and off the field— cause a shift in the game. (Japan Times)

Japan's asteroid explorer Hayabusa2 has completed its engine thrusts to adjust the orbit for returning its capsule to Earth next month. (NHK)

In the waters off Ise-Shima, "ama" (sea women) continue the tradition of free-diving for seafood. (NHK WORLD-JAPAN)

Japan's Imperial Household Agency said Friday it has decided to cancel Emperor Naruhito's annual New Year event at the Imperial Palace due to a recent spike in the number of new cases of the novel coronavirus. (Kyodo)

Officials at Japanese beverage maker Kirin Holdings say they will sell their Australian drink business to a dairy maker in the country. (NHK)

NHK has learned that the Olympic rings will return to Tokyo Bay on December 1, following safety and maintenance checks. (NHK)

Over 40 percent of medical institutions in Japan lowered their year-end bonuses for nurses and other staff members due to the effects of the pandemic, a survey by the Japan Federation of Medical Worker’s Unions has shown. (Japan Times)

The Japanese arm of German automaker Porsche says it will open a Porsche Experience Center in Kisarazu City, Chiba Prefecture, next August. (NHK)

Japan's transport ministry has asked taxi drivers to use the fresh air mode of their vehicles' air conditioners to reduce the risk of coronavirus infection. It also requested that they wear masks and ask passengers to do the same. (NHK)

A man who grew up in a foster care home hopes to pass on the love by becoming a foster parent himself. (NHK WORLD-JAPAN)

Welcome to Tokorozawa! This town about 30 minutes from Central Tokyo is where you’ll find some of the coolest manhole covers in the world. (ONLY in JAPAN * GO)

Japanese astronaut Noguchi Soichi says he is calling home every day from the International Space Station, just like fathers who have to live apart from their families because of job transfers. (NHK)

Japan and China are racing to build a new type of ultrafast, levitating train, seeking to demonstrate their mastery over a technology with big export potential. (Japan Times)

Pull back the curtain on Kamiyama, a mountain village in Tokushima Prefecture undergoing a quiet transformation as a hub for technology companies, sanctuary for traditional performing arts, living workspace for international artists and checkpoint for religious pilgrims. (NHK WORLD-JAPAN)

Jiji Press has confirmed the existence of a sword-slashed uniform of a former Ground Self-Defense Force officer attacked by author Yukio Mishima during his failed coup attempt 50 years ago. (Japan Times)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has reasserted his country's sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands. He stressed the necessity of avoiding any action that could complicate matters in the waters around the islands. (NHK)

Carlos Ghosn's detention for almost 130 days in a Japanese jail was neither necessary nor reasonable and violated the former Nissan Motor Co. chairman's human rights, a U.N. panel concluded in a harsh critique of Tokyo prosecutors who led the case against him. (Japan Times)