Johnny & Associates Inc. announced today that its honorary chairperson, Mary Yasuko Fujishima, sister of music mogul and company founder Johnny Kitagawa, died of pneumonia at a hospital in Tokyo on Aug. 14. She was 93 years old. (Japan Times)

Sales in Japan's animation production industry fell 1.8% on year in 2020, the first drop in a decade. (bangkokpost.com)

Needless to say, 2020 was a pretty horrible year for live music in Japan, shows big and small either had to make major alterations or just cancel altogether in order to help fight the spread of COVID-19. However, this situation can only continue for so long before the organizers reach a breaking point. (Japan Today)

TOKYO -- Five years after its launch, Pokemon Go monsters still run amok in the world and are chased by a legion of fans. (Nikkei)

Tokyo’s delayed Olympics is flipping conventional wisdom on its head, with Japan’s stay-at-home stocks expected to emerge as winners rather than once-favored advertisers, real-estate firms and travel operators. (Japan Times)

Those looking for definitive answers about Naomi Osaka and how she copes with the demands of her career and fame shouldn’t expect to find them in a new Netflix docuseries about the four-time Grand Slam champion. (Japan Today)

Toru Muranishi is back: The adult-video auteur with the outsized underpants and monstrous ego on a mission to liberate the world from prudishness. (Japan Times)

Japan's lifting of the coronavirus state of emergency in areas including Tokyo and Osaka has brought alcohol back to bars and restaurants, to the relief of both drinkers and businesses battered by lockdowns. (Nikkei)

An ultra-modern online crowdfunding campaign has come to the rescue of one of the most traditional and uniquely Japanese businesses in the north coast city of Niigata – its geisha community. (South China Morning Post)

Japan's telecom giant NTT has announced that its executives, including the president, will have their pay cut due to wining and dining scandals involving the communications ministry. (NHK)

The coronavirus vaccine rollout is accelerating nationwide. Officials say about 70 percent of healthcare workers have been fully vaccinated, and more than 20 percent of the elderly have received their first shot. (NHK)

Kataoka Hidetaro, a kabuki actor and living national treasure in Japan, has died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Shochiku Co, a producer of kabuki performances, said Thursday. He was 79. (Japan Today)

After more than a year of binge-watching their way through the coronavirus pandemic, American audiences still cannot get enough of Japanese shows and movies. (Nikkei)

TOKYO (TR) – Over the past few months, Tokyo Metropolitan Police have been busting maid cafes in Chiyoda Ward for operating without licenses, reports the Asahi Shimbun (May 20). (tokyoreporter.com)

Some theaters and theme parks in Tokyo have begun to open conditionally in the past week while taking thorough measures to prevent coronavirus infections while under the government’s extended third state of emergency over the pandemic. (Japan Times)

Tokyo Disney Resort operator Oriental Land Co. on Wednesday reported a loss for the year ended March, its first annual red ink since listing in 1996, due to record-low visitor numbers as a result of the temporary closure of its theme parks and subsequent capacity limits amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Kyodo)

TOKYO (TR) – A man suspected of stabbing two employees at a transport company in Saitama City on Thursday was later apprehended in Tokyo, police have revealed, reports TV Asahi (tokyoreporter.com)

Members of a government panel on the coronavirus say the spread of infections in Japan this winter was aggravated by people attending year-end parties, especially in nightlife districts after 9 p.m. (NHK)

A Japanese start-up is working to create man-made meteor showers for use in mass entertainment. (South China Morning Post)

Osaka and two other prefectures in Japan are tightening coronavirus measures to curb a spike in new cases. (NHK)

All Nippon Airways looks to sate the curiosity of those who wish to dine in the first-class cabin, debuting a service that raises revenue even while the planes remain grounded during the coronavirus pandemic. (Nikkei)

Universal Studios Japan in the western city of Osaka marked its 20th anniversary Wednesday, but without any large-scale events to celebrate the occasion due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Kyodo)

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a former star on YouTube who is suspected of soliciting nude photographs from girls, reports NHK (March 17). (tokyoreporter.com)

Evenings are normally the busiest time at Mikado, a retro gaming arcade in Tokyo, but these days the shutters come down early, leaving Street Fighter fans out in the cold. (malaymail.com)

A popular hostess has issued an apology after her club in the Kabukicho red-light district was busted for operating outside of legal hours. (tokyoreporter.com)