Japan's Defense Ministry has launched its first space operations unit to protect Japanese satellites in outer space. (NHK)

The coronavirus pandemic continues to have a significant economic impact, with Japan's GDP plunging during the January-to-March quarter. (NHK)

Schools in many regions across the nation reopened Monday with staggered attendance, in preparation for a full-scale restart of classes, following the government’s lifting of the state of emergency in 39 of the nation’s 47 prefectures last Thursday. (Japan Times)

The climbing season for Mount Fuji, Japan's highest peak, has been cancelled for this year in a bid to curb the spread of the new coronavirus. (NHK)

SoftBank Group said Monday it would raise $11.5 billion using its holdings of Alibaba Group stock, part of plans to generate 4.5 trillion yen ($42 billion) in cash to shore up its balance sheet. (Nikkei)

Panasonic and Tesla have revived talks on investment to boost output of electric-vehicle batteries at the Gigafactory in the U.S. state of Nevada, the Japanese company said Monday. (Nikkei)

Efforts to stem the spread of the coronavirus are yielding encouraging results in Tokyo, with officials reporting just 10 new cases in the Japanese capital on Monday. (NHK)

An amusement park in central Japan has partially reopened after the government lifted emergency declarations for the coronavirus in dozens of prefectures. (NHK)

More and more people in Japan have started baking to pass time at home as they refrain from outings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to shortages of flour products on store shelves. (Japan Times)

While China’s tensions with the United States and Australia have been sharply intensifying over its handling of the new coronavirus outbreak, the Asian power has been apparently aiming to bolster ties with its neighbors — Japan and South Korea. (Japan Times)

In what would have been a windfall year had the Olympic Games proceeded as planned, Japan's hotel chains are instead facing an existential threat after the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the travel industry. (Nikkei)

Japan is casting an even wider protectionist net to shield its big companies. (Japan Times)

The Japanese government has decided to ban reselling of disinfectant ahead of reopening the economy across the country amid the coronavirus pandemic, sources close to the matter said Sunday. (Kyodo)

During a House of Representatives Cabinet Committee meeting on May 13, Takuya Hirai, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, was photographed watching a video of a crocodile on his tablet. Unsurprisingly, the video was not at all related to the meeting’s topic, which was about the retirement age for prosecutors. (Japan Today)

Japan experienced its first weekend after the state of emergency was lifted in 39 prefectures, where restaurants and shopping streets enjoyed a semblance of normalcy for the first time in about a month. (Japan Times)

TV personality and former mixed martial artist Bobby Olugun has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting his wife. (Japan Today)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a female university student over the alleged smuggling of stimulant drugs from the U.S., reports TBS News (May 15). (tokyoreporter.com)

The body governing the Japanese board game of shogi has introduced a game recording system that uses artificial intelligence. (NHK)

Following the lifting of the month-long state of emergency in Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, bus service to a resort area that serves as the gateway to Japan's Northern Alps resumed on Saturday. (NHK)

Businesses began reopening across parts of Japan on Saturday, as dozens of prefectures entered their first weekend since being released from a state of emergency for the coronavirus pandemic. (NHK)

Three major types of the novel coronavirus have spread across the world, with the European version moving beyond its point of origin to New York, Brazil, Africa, Russia and beyond, recent studies show. (Nikkei)

Deer! Deer! Deer! That's is who will greet you when you arrive on Miyajima Island (Itsukushima Island) in Hiroshima prefecture. (ONLY in JAPAN)

Japanese health authorities reported 57 new cases of coronavirus infection and 19 deaths on Saturday. (NHK)

It was around the middle of February when the first scintilla of doubt began to form in Yu Okada’s mind that his April 4 wedding might not proceed as planned. (Japan Times)

If you've lived and worked in Japan -- especially as an English teacher in Japanese schools, then you might know that the high-tech image of Japan is still somewhat of an illusion. (soranews24.com)