Japan's Imperial Household Agency says Empress Emerita Michiko will undergo a heart exam in the coming days after a blood test showed a higher risk of heart failure. (NHK)

Junnosuke Taguchi, a former member of Japanese all-male idol group Kat-tun, was released on bail Friday after he was charged with possessing marijuana. (Japan Times)

A mother and her boyfriend in Sapporo were referred to prosecutors Friday on suspicion of assaulting her 2-year-old daughter, who was pronounced dead at a hospital earlier this week. (Japan Times)

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to visit Iran next week amid rising tensions between the Middle Eastern country and the United States. (NHK)

Airbnb Inc. says it’s back in business in Japan, a year after stricter short-term lodging regulations forced it to freeze a major portion of its listings in the country. (Japan Times)

The Lower House of Japan's Diet has unanimously adopted a resolution urging a lawmaker to decide whether to give up his seat over a controversial remark about four Russian-held islands claimed by Japan. (NHK)

Japanese sprinter Abdul Hakim Sani Brown clocked 9.96 seconds with wind assistance of 2.4 meters in the men's 100-meter semifinal at the NCAA championships in Texas. (NHK)

NHK has learned Japan's government will go ahead with a planned increase in the consumption tax in October. (NHK)

Japanese musician and actor Pierre Taki appeared in court on Wednesday and admitted to using cocaine. (NHK)

In a move to better compete with a rival train operator's famous "seven-minute miracle" for cleaning a bullet train between its arrival and departure, Central Japan Railway Co will shave off two minutes from its own shinkansen cleaning work, beginning next spring. (Japan Today)

Lawmakers from Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party have launched a group to consider ways to encourage men to take childcare leave. (NHK)

The U.S. Marines in Okinawa said Wednesday that a piece of rubber tape attached to a wing blade of a U.S. military helicopter fell onto the grounds of a junior high school in Okinawa the previous day. (Japan Today)

A Japanese woman Wednesday sued three Tokyo medical schools she says rejected her because of her gender and age, in a case her lawyer said was the "tip of the iceberg". (Japan Today)

Music-themed restaurant doesn’t want to rock the boat and instead incorporates local cultural into its design and food items. (soranews24.com)

With Japan's annual shareholders meetings season coming up later this month, institutional investors are ramping up pressure on companies to appoint more and better external directors who can improve corporate governance. (Nikkei)

NHK has learned that the Defense Ministry plans to end a major search operation for an F-35 fighter jet that crashed off northern Japan, and prepare to resume flights of the same model. (NHK)

Japan plans to make it mandatory to charge for plastic shopping bags at supermarkets, convenience stores, drugstores and department stores as the country combats marine pollution by plastic waste. (Japan Today)

E-commerce group Rakuten, Japan's newest wireless carrier, will partner with information technology group NEC to install roughly 16,000 low-cost 5G base stations across the country over five years, Nikkei has learned. (Nikkei)

Professional shogi player Yoshiharu Habu earned his 1,434th win at a tournament in Tokyo on Tuesday, setting a record for victories in the traditional Japanese board game. (Japan Today)

Japan's Crown Princess and her eldest daughter have watched a performance of the traditional dances of Ryukyu, now known as Okinawa. (NHK)

Home to companies such as Sony, which makes billions of dollars selling PlayStation consoles, as well as Nintendo, Sega, Capcom and Konami, Japan is famous for being a world leader in gaming. However, when it comes to competitive gaming - esports - the country has lagged behind. (newsonjapan.com)

Japan's government will allow NTT Docomo and its three major mobile rivals to set up 5G base stations on traffic signals, hoping to reduce the cost and time it takes to roll out the ultrafast networks by taking advantage of the nation's high density of traffic lights. (Nikkei)

The public pension system is not enough to sustain people’s livelihoods anymore in a rapidly aging society, according to a government report. (Japan Times)

Budget carrier Jetstar Japan is expecting to cancel 70 flights in June, 2 percent of the total, due to a shortage of pilots. (Japan Times)

The FIFA Women's World Cup is just days away to kick off in France and the Japanese team will be ready to compete. There they'll make the final adjustments to their plans to lift the trophy for the second time in their history after conquering the world at Germany 2011. (newsonjapan.com)