The annual Snow Festival began in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo on Tuesday, hit by fears over the coronavirus outbreak and soaring costs involved in transporting snow to the site amid a warm winter. (Japan Today)

Scientists in Japan say one in two sufferers of the new coronavirus may have been infected by a person with no symptoms at the time. (NHK)

A Yomiuri Shimbun reporter has been arrested by Tokyo police for allegedly using stimulant drugs, police sources said Tuesday. (Japan Times)

Police in Konan, Aichi Prefecture, on Monday arrested a 16-year boy on suspicion of attempted murder after he stabbed his 45-year-old mother with a pair of scissors at their home. (Japan Today)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says officials have started developing test kits to detect the new coronavirus in an effort to find infections more swiftly. (NHK)

The suspension of Chinese group tours amid the coronavirus outbreak is taking a toll on major Japanese department stores. (NHK)

Quarantine officials in Japan have boarded a cruise ship to screen its crew and passengers for the coronavirus. The move came after a Hong Kong traveler was found to have been infected, after disembarking in his home city. (NHK)

A Japanese tourism industry body estimates that package tours involving at least 400,000 Chinese tourists will be canceled due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus. (NHK)

As a shortage of face masks continues in Japan amid the spread of the new coronavirus originating in China, their prices are shooting up on online flea markets. (Japan Times)

An annual bean-throwing event was held Monday at Naritasan Shinshoji, a major Buddhist temple in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, to mark setsubun, the day before the start of spring according to Japan’s ancient calendar. (Japan Times)

Police on Sunday arrested a man for allegedly firing several shots with a handgun at a home belonging to the second-in-command of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the nation’s largest yakuza group, in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture. (Japan Times)

A Fukushima prefectural police helicopter transporting a heart for transplant crash-landed Saturday in the northeastern Japanese prefecture, injuring all seven persons on board, including one seriously, authorities said. (Japan Today)

Tokyo Olympic organizers are trying to shoot down rumors that the 2020 Games might be canceled or postponed because of the spread of a new virus. (Japan Times)

The number of coronavirus cases in Japan rose to 20 on Saturday as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instructed ministers to come up with additional steps to respond to the outbreak. (Japan Times)

Japan is one of many countries that's implementing tighter border controls in a bid to keep infected travelers out. (NHK)

Original Japanese programs made for subscription video streaming services have thus far been less focused on finding new formulas and more about upgrading the familiar. With that in mind, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that travel shows — or at least offerings that use countries that aren’t Japan as a backdrop — have started popping up on Netflix and Hulu. (Japan Times)

The number of people moving into Tokyo and its vicinity exceeded the number of those moving out of the area in 2019 by 148,783, up 8,915 from the previous year for the third consecutive year of increase, according to government data (Japan Today)

Local Chinese governments are telling companies to keep workers at home after the Lunar New Year holidays as the coronavirus infection spreads, raising the possibility of stalled production disrupting the global supply of smartphones, personal computers and other electronics. (Nikkei)

The Yamaguchi-gumi is one of the most feared crime syndicates in Japan and yet its name may become a relic of the past in 2020 if recent reports are to be believed. (Japan Times)

Japanese actress Erika Sawajiri has pleaded guilty to possession of illegal drugs. (NHK)

Drug stores in Japan are scrambling to restock their supply of surgical masks to keep up with growing demand as fears deepen over the outbreak of the coronavirus. (Japan Times)

Prosecutors on Monday demanded the death penalty for a man charged with murdering 19 residents and injuring 26 others at a care home for people with mental disabilities near Tokyo in a knife rampage in 2016. (Japan Times)

People around the world are buying up protective face masks in hopes of keeping the new virus from China at bay. (Japan Times)

Food exports from the European Union to Japan increased sharply in the February to November period immediately following the entry into force of their free trade agreement last year, the European Commission said Friday. (Kyodo)

Japan's government is facing criticism that its initial response to the outbreak of a deadly coronavirus was too lax, as other countries have taken stronger steps to prevent a spread within their borders. (Kyodo)