The Japanese government has decided it will not to give subsidies this fiscal year ending March to a university where a large number of foreign students have gone missing. (NHK)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday declared 2020 a “crucial year to establish a new era of Japanese diplomacy” in a speech before the Diet, vowing to tackle international issues head-on. (Japan Times)

After leaving Tokyo, the original life-size Gundam is establishing a new base in another major Japanese city. (soranews24.com)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a member of the Nihon University Rugby Club over the alleged possession of marijuana in Shibuya Ward, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Jan. 20). (tokyoreporter.com)

Okayama Prefectural Police are questioning a man after a woman was fatally stabbed and her husband injured at their residence in Okayama City earky Saturday, reports TV Asahi (Jan. 20). (tokyoreporter.com)

Visitors at a Buddhist temple in western Japan marked a time-honored tradition by soaking themselves in cold water in a ritual aimed at toughening the body and soul. (NHK)

Quarantine officials at a port near Tokyo have conducted a drill aimed at preventing the new coronavirus linked to a pneumonia outbreak in China from spreading in Japan. (NHK)

Online streaming has been very good for the anime industry, opening flows of revenue both domestic and international by delivering the product to ravenous fans in the fastest manner possible. For a while, though, it looked like Studio Ghibli was going to stick to its “physical media-only” policy until the end of time. (soranews24.com)

The agriculture ministry will propose a new law aimed at preventing the smuggling of genetic materials, such as fertilized eggs and semen, related to wagyu cattle to other countries. (Japan Times)

The founder of retail giant Lotte Holdings has died. (NHK)

Japan will start issuing passports featuring art by ukiyoe master Katsushika Hokusai for people applying as early as February. (NHK)

Three employees were slashed by four men in a bar in Shinjuku, Tokyo, early Saturday morning. (Japan Today)

Fans of Kyoto Animation Co artworks on Saturday visited the site of its studio where an arson attack killed 36 people and injured 33 others exactly six months ago to commemorate the victims. (Japan Today)

Five major Tokyo-based private television networks will take turns airing daily coverage of the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer, sources close to the matter said Saturday. (Kyodo)

Netflix, the streaming service that has shaken up Hollywood, has unleashed its brand of big-budget disruption in Japan's TV industry. (Nikkei)

Fears are mounting that a new coronavirus identified in China may spread, not only infecting humans but also hurting the world’s second-biggest economy, which already is beset by a trade war with the United States. (Japan Times)

Events were held on Friday morning to mark the 25th anniversary of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in Hyogo Prefecture. (Japan Today)

Carlos Ghosn, the former Nissan Motor chairman-turned-fugitive, strongly implied to French media that Japanese people aided his epic escape. (Nikkei)

With Japanese society often placing intense pressure on teens and adults alike, as well as traditional values that can frame self-sacrifice as an admirable way of taking responsibility, a high suicide rate has long been a dark mark on the nation’s culture. (soranews24.com)

The Hiroshima High Court on Friday revoked a lower court decision and ordered Shikoku Electric Power Co. to suspend a reactor in western Japan, dealing a blow to the government's bid to bring more reactors back online after the 2011 nuclear crisis. (Kyodo)

An international group of geologists on Friday formally adopted “Chibanian” as the name of a geologic age spanning 770,000 to 126,000 years ago, researchers said, marking the first time a Japanese name has been chosen. (Japan Times)

Japan kept unchanged its timing for balancing the primary budget on Friday, but expects to see a much smaller excess than previously thought when it hits a budget surplus, underlining the government’s struggle to rein in massive public debt. (Japan Times)

An amazingly affordable way to see Japan and live like a local. (soranews24.com)

Japanese Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, a potential future prime minister according to some opinion polls, said he became the father of a baby boy on Friday. (Kyodo)

Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. has offered to invest between $30 billion and $40 billion in the development of the new Indonesian capital on Borneo Island, a close aide of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said Friday. (Kyodo)