A public uproar has forced the government to retract a controversial report claiming that retired couples reliant on public pensions also need sizable savings, but this backpedaling could further delay Japan's much needed reckoning with the overburdened program. (Nikkei)

Japan's Financial Services Minister Taro Aso says he will not accept a controversial report that says elderly couples need 20-million yen for retirement. He says this is not the government's stance. (NHK)

Japan's Defense Ministry has confirmed that a Chinese aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, navigated between two islands that are part of Okinawa Prefecture. (NHK)

Japan's leading instant noodle company is joining the fight against pollution. Nissin Food Products says it will redesign its containers to use less petroleum-based products and more so-called bio-plastic, derived from plants. (NHK)

The Japanese government is taking action against a university for losing track of more than a thousand foreign students. (NHK)

A team of linguists will conduct Japan's first literacy rate survey in more than 70 years. (NHK)

The lines foreigners have to stand in to depart Japan may be eased -- just a little -- as automated gates will be introduced at airports across the country to speed up immigration checks. As a result, arrival lines might also be shortened. (Nikkei)

Japan's westernmost point has moved further west by about 110 meters, after it was decided to include an ocean rock on official maps. (NHK)

Keidanren, the Japan Business Federation, says major companies are planning to trim summer bonuses this year. (NHK)

More than 60 percent of women in Japan have experienced the enforcement rules calling for the wearing of heels in the workplace or while job-hunting, or have witnessed others being forced to wear them, according to a survey conducted by a Japanese business website, which also reported the findings Tuesday to a Diet discussion. (Japan Today)

Cannabis has been legalized in some parts of the world. But the chief executive of next year's Tokyo Olympics has reminded potential visitors to the games that the substance is against the law in Japan. (Japan Today)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is set to launch a subsidy to help prevent accidents involving elderly drivers. (NHK)

Japan's Imperial Household Agency says Empress Emerita Michiko has been diagnosed with heart disease. (NHK)

Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Monday the crash of an Air Self-Defense Force F-35A stealth fighter into the Pacific Ocean two months ago was likely caused by "spatial disorientation" of the pilot, rather than technical problems with the aircraft. (Kyodo)

Japanese rail companies are known for implementing “manners campaigns”, where they ask passengers to consider the comfort of fellow commuters with reminders to refrain from talking on the phone and speaking too loudly while onboard. (soranews24.com)

A 39-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman were killed after the car they were in went off a cliff while they were being pursued by police in Fukaura, Aomori Prefecture, on Sunday. (Japan Today)

Following recent stabbing incidents involving middle-aged hikikomori, or social recluses, and their parents, the number of inquiries received by support groups and similar organizations that support such individuals has surged. (Japan Times)

Japan is bringing in more foreign workers to help address a labor shortage, and the government wants to make sure Tokyo and other major cities are not the only places that benefit from the additional manpower. (Nikkei)

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday, as their countries have been discussing a bilateral trade deal with a focus on whether it could involve a provision to prevent competitive currency devaluation. (Japan Today)

These days the list of things to be outraged about is pretty long. Some things are worth addressing, like racism, sexism, and anti-Semitism, but sometimes the things that people get riled up about, particularly when it comes to celebrities in Japan, are major head-scratchers. (Japan Today)

Police in Tokyo said Sunday they have arrested a 53-year-old woman on suspicion of abandoning the body of her 72-year-old husband after she left his corpse in their apartment in Edogawa Ward for four months. (Japan Today)

Boarding systems are running again at Naha Airport in Okinawa Prefecture, southwestern Japan. (NHK)

Ministers in charge of trade and digital economy from G20 countries will discuss trade issues on Sunday, the second day of their meeting in Tsukuba, north of Tokyo. (NHK)

A fleet of vessels will depart from Kushiro, Hokkaido, on July 1 as Japan resumes commercial whaling following a three-decade hiatus after the government announced its withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission in December, a local fishery source said Friday. (Japan Times)

Government statistics show that Japan's population is shrinking at a faster pace as births hit a new record low. (NHK)