Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is not saying whether or not he nominated Donald Trump for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, but the question may be moot: the U.S. president has been put forward by others for the prestigious award. (Japan Today)

Immigration Bureau's relaxed visa policy has boosted tourism from southeast Asia, but it seems to have come with an unwanted side-effect. (soranews24.com)

Visitors to a village near Mount Fuji and its residents were rewarded with a dazzling spectacle on Monday. (NHK)

A movie by the Japanese director Hikari picked up two awards at the Berlin International Film Festival on Saturday. "37 Seconds" won the Panorama Audience Award and the CICAE Art Cinema Award. (NHK)

Ichiro Suzuki fluidly went through a variety of stretches on the floor in the Seattle Mariners clubhouse even before going onto the field. Once outside, he smoothly went through fielding, hitting and baserunning drills. (Japan Times)

NHK is a great source of shogi, kabuki, and intimidation. (soranews24.com)

Two rare deep-sea oarfish caught in fixed nets off Toya port on the southwest side of Okinawa stunned the local fishing community last month for simply being alive. (Japan Times)

People are enjoying the first signs of spring at an annual plum flower festival at the Kairakuen garden in Mito City, north of Tokyo. (NHK)

A 43-year-old employee of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has been arrested for allegedly using his smartphone to film up the skirt of a high school girl on a train. (Japan Today)

By changing his lead attorney from a former prosecutor known as "the breaker" to a hotshot trial lawyer nicknamed "the acquitter", Carlos Ghosn plans a defense in his own image -- combative and media-savvy, experts say. (Japan Today)

The Royal Express is coming to Hokkaido, but if you can't wait, it's already running in the Tokyo area. (soranews24.com)

When Chie Takaiwa struck up the courage to reveal a family secret to her colleague some years ago, she was met by an unexpected response.

(Japan Times)

With 125 million citizens and the world's third largest GDP, Japan is an important market force. (newsonjapan.com)

Police in Koga, Ibaraki Prefecture, said Saturday they have arrested a 35-year-old woman on suspicion of abusing her six-year-old daughter by hitting her with a futon beater. (Japan Today)

Don't go looking for titillation at your local convenience store.　As reported last month, Japan's three largest convenience chain operators - 7-Eleven, Family Mart and Lawson - are planning to halt sales of pornographic magazines nationwide by the end of August. (Japan Times)

Soft drink companies in Japan have put aside their long-held fear of losing market shares, moving to raise prices amid soaring expenses for labor and materials. (Nikkei)

Reservations for travel overseas are surging for this year's 10-day Golden Week period, during which the Imperial succession is set to take place, according to a JTB Corp. official. (Japan Times)

A fire broke out at a warehouse in Tokyo on Tuesday afternoon leaving three men dead and another man injured, while some flights at nearby Haneda airport were also disrupted by the incident. (Kyodo)

The Japanese government has mapped out a bill to officially recognize the Ainu ethnic minority as an indigenous people of Japan. (NHK)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 58-year-old woman who while nude portrayed an elderly woman on a pay-to-view site, reports TV Asahi (Feb. 14). (tokyoreporter.com)

Bullet train ticket machines have stopped working in many parts of Japan. (NHK)

As spring approaches in Japan, the country's weather forecasters face one of their biggest missions of the year: predicting exactly when the famed cherry blossoms will bloom. (straitstimes.com)

A new outbreak of swine fever has been confirmed on a pig farm in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan. It is the third farm in the prefecture to be hit by the highly contagious disease. (NHK)

Around the world, people use chocolate treats to express sweet nothings on Valentine's Day. (BBC)

Convenience store operator Family Mart Co. on Monday announced the dismissal of a male employee after the emergence of a video showing him licking items, the latest of several similar incidents involving a food-related company in the last week, reports TV Asahi (Feb. 12). (tokyoreporter.com)