Kyoto has topped a ranking of major Japanese cities as measured by criteria such as livability and economy, according to a survey by a think tank affiliated with major real estate developer Mori Building Co. (Japan Times)

Japanese telecom firm Softbank is partnering with Toyota for a venture that could help to usher in a new era of mobility. They want to use automated driving to transform the way people move around and the services they enjoy. (NHK)

Police in Tokyo are looking for two men who injured three people with pepper spray in Ueno on Sept 29. (Japan Today)

Part of a theme park based on the Moomin series of children's books is to open near Tokyo next month. (NHK)

A 30-year-old man, who was at large for nearly seven weeks after escaping from a police station in Osaka Prefecture in mid-August, masqueraded as a cycle tourist, spun a web of lies and stole basic goods including clothes and a bicycle, investigative sources said Wednesday. (Japan Times)

Japan's prime minister has reshuffled his Cabinet. Shinzo Abe appointed a dozen first-time ministers, while keeping several central roles unchanged. It follows his re-election as Liberal Democratic Party leader last month, where he won a third and final term despite recent scandals. (NHK)

A head that appeared to have been deliberately severed from its body was found near the coast close to the town of Kujukuri in Chiba Prefecture on Tuesday, only several kilometers away from where a limbless body of a woman was found last month, investigative sources said. (Japan Times)

A woman injured a man after she made a fatal leap from a building Shinjuku Ward in an apparent suicide on Tuesday, police said, reports NHK (tokyoreporter.com)

For anyone who is finding it difficult to quit smoking in a country which has been known as the smoking paradise, there is still hope. Aside from the smoking ban which has been recently adopted in Japan, there are a few ways to seek help, get nicotine substitutes, and be motivated to completely quit smoking. Let's take a look. (newsonjapan.com)

A 30-year-old man recaptured after escaping from a police station in Osaka Prefecture in mid-August had likely been traveling on a stolen bicycle with another man who was unaware of who he was, police said Sunday. (Japan Times)

Toyota Motor Corp. anticipates halting production at its Midlands U.K. factory in the event Britain leaves the European Union without a deal, the plants managing director, Marvin Cooke, told the BBC. (Japan Times)

Typhoon Trami continues to wreak havoc across Japan after making landfall on its main island of Honshu on Sunday evening. (NHK)

The decapitated and limbless body of a woman was found Saturday floating in an estuary in eastern Japan, local police said. (Japan Today)

A Japanese court on Thursday released on bail Hitomi Yoshizawa, a former member of the all-girl J-pop group Morning Musume, who was indicted the previous day for injuring two people in a hit-and-run incident while driving under the influence of alcohol. (Kyodo)

Beginning Monday, visitors to Kyoto will be hit with an increase to their lodging bills as the city’s accommodation tax goes into effect at over 3,200 hotels, traditional inns, and private lodgings. (Japan Times)

The percentage of working-age women with jobs in Japan reached a record-high 70.0 percent in August, government data showed Friday, underscoring an increase in female workers amid changing attitudes and a deepening labor shortage. (Japan Today)

Subaru Corp. revealed fresh cases of improper final vehicle inspections on Friday in a final report on its series of data falsifications that blamed excessive workloads on inspectors for causing the practice. (Kyodo)

USJ Co. said Thursday it would lower ticket prices for Universal Studios Japan during the theme park’s off-season, while raising them during busy periods. (Japan Times)

Papers were sent to prosecutors Tuesday on two sisters aged 48 and 49, charging them with violation of the Cruelty Prevention and Welfare of Animal Law after they kept 40 cats in their municipal apartment in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. (Japan Today)

Prosecutors on Wednesday indicted Hitomi Yoshizawa, a former member of the all-girl J-pop group Morning Musume, for injuring two people in an alleged hit-and-run incident while driving under the influence of alcohol. (Kyodo)

A 36-year-old woman and her three children -- a 10-year-old daughter, 5-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter -- were found dead in their apartment in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward on Wednesday morning in an apparent murder-suicide, police said. (Japan Today)

A record 103 Japanese universities made it onto this year’s Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings list, with the nation’s two top universities — the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University — moving up in the standings. (Japan Times)

Japan rugby international Takuma Asahara was run over by a car early Sunday, but only sustained light injuries, police said Tuesday. (Japan Times)

Japan has very little in the way of dangerous wildlife, meaning that you’re about as unlikely to be a victim of a violence in rural areas as you are in the country’s famously safe cities. However, Hokkaido is home to a sizable bear population. (Japan Today)

The world’s third-largest economy has suffered from a caricature. Yes, Japan fell from its pinnacle in the 1990s because of a property crash, enfeebled banks and a dwindling population. But that was then. It’s not falling anymore. (Japan Times)