Police in Sapporo on Monday arrested a 71-year-old woman on suspicion of abandoning the body of her mother in their apartment in Kita Ward for the past 18 months. (Japan Today)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says the government will provide financial support to areas in western Japan that have been battered by record-breaking torrential rains. (NHK)

Haruka Kuwabara, at 31 currently the youngest mayor in Japan, was welcomed with flowers and applause by municipal employees in Tsunan, Niigata Prefecture, on Monday, her first day in office. (Japan Times)

Nissan Motor is facing its second inspection scandal since the fall after it said Monday that emissions data had been tampered with for several years, delivering another blow to the automaker's brand even as it tries to shake off the first. (Nikkei)

SoftBank Group has filed for the listing of its mobile service unit SoftBank Corp., in an apparent bid to raise about 2.5 trillion yen ($22.6 billion) from the stock debut. (Nikkei)

In the busiest city in a country famous for working employees to death, Tokyo Workers hopes to help people find the work/life balance they desire. (soranews24.com)

Officials in Japan say the death toll from floods and landslides caused by record rainfall in the western part of the country has reached 114. (NHK)

Former Aum Shinrikyo executive Fumihiro Joyu, who later founded Hikari no Wa (The Circle of Rainbow Light) which is one of the splinter groups, offered his apologies once again Friday to people affected by the doomsday cult but said he is no longer part of the original group. (Japan Times)

A Japanese court sentenced the former head of a parents' group at an elementary school near Tokyo to life in prison on Friday over the 2017 murder of a 9-year-old Vietnamese girl who attended the school. (Kyodo)

Princess Mako’s fiance, Kei Komuro, will attend the law school of Fordham University in New York starting in August, the school announced Thursday. (Japan Times)

A 6.0 magnitude earthquake shook Chiba Prefecture east of Tokyo on Saturday. (NHK)

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed determination to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to resolve the issue of the North's abductions of Japanese. (NHK)

An agency whose clients include the popular Japanese dancing and singing group EXILE has been found to have failed to declare about 300 million yen ($2.7 million) in income for the four years through March 2017, a source close to the matter said Thursday. (Kyodo)

Shoko Asahara, founder of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo and mastermind behind the deadly 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system - and a number of other horrific crimes in the 1980s and ’90s - was executed on Friday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. (Japan Times)

The latest forecast from Japan's government sees GDP growing by about 1.5 percent in fiscal 2019. Officials expect the current recovery to continue even after the planned consumption tax hike to 10 percent in October 2019. (NHK)

Personnel expenses at Japan's large corporations have grown to their highest level in 16 years as a deepening shortage of workers has forced them to increase pay for part-timers. (Nikkei)

The city of Kyoto once again saw record levels of tourists in 2017, with 15.57 million foreign and Japanese visitors spending at least one night in the former capital, city officials said Wednesday. (Japan Times)

A Japanese court has ordered the government to grant refugee status to a Sri Lankan man who entered Japan 12 years ago after fleeing his country's civil war. (NHK)

Officials in Japan have issued warnings for floods and mudslides. They're due to torrential downpours brought by a seasonal rain front over much of the country. (NHK)

A male professor at Kagawa University in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture, has caused a controversy after he posted on Twitter that his “hobby” was sexual harassment. The tweet went viral on the internet, resulting in a public apology by the university’s president on Tuesday. (Japan Today)

Some 130 people who had been stranded at a hot spring resort in Hokkaido were rescued Wednesday after torrential rains triggered landslides in the area the previous day. (Japan Times)

Japanese airline ANA Holdings Inc said it will cancel 113 domestic flights between July 6 through July 12 to inspect Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc engines for compressor issues that have led to service interruptions for airlines globally. (Japan Today)

This spring, the Fukuoka Board of Education suddenly informed the 120 "guest teachers" responsible for its elementary school English classes that they were no longer welcome. (Japan Times)

Japanese Emperor Akihito is resting for a 3rd day in a row due to cerebral anemia, although officials say his condition is improving. (NHK)

Chiba Institute of Technology unveiled Wednesday a transformable machine that can play dual roles - as both a robot, fused with artificial intelligence technologies, and a vehicle to enhance personal mobility. (Japan Times)