The first female student was admitted to Japan’s national naval submarine academy Wednesday after the end of a ban on women on the country’s submarines. (Japan Times)

The smelt fishing season has begun at last on a frozen lake in Gunma Prefecture, central Japan. It started 10 days later than usual because of higher temperatures. (NHK)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 49-year-old man who is suspected of drugging and raping dozens of women over the past three years, reports NHK (Jan. 22). (tokyoreporter.com)

A group of merchants on Rakuten Inc's online shopping mall on Wednesday submitted a petition with some 4,000 signatures to the Japan Fair Trade Commission, asking it to investigate the e-commerce giant's planned "free shipping" policy. (Japan Today)

The last train schedules in and around the Japanese capital will be extended by up to two hours during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. (NHK)

A woman and three children were found stabbed to death in a car in a park in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, on Wednesday morning. (Japan Today)

Japanese Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has called into question Japan's financing of a coal-fired power plant in Vietnam. (NHK)

Dangerous stunt by Japanese civil servant gets slammed online. (soranews24.com)

The Japanese government has decided it will not to give subsidies this fiscal year ending March to a university where a large number of foreign students have gone missing. (NHK)

After leaving Tokyo, the original life-size Gundam is establishing a new base in another major Japanese city. (soranews24.com)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a member of the Nihon University Rugby Club over the alleged possession of marijuana in Shibuya Ward, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Jan. 20). (tokyoreporter.com)

Okayama Prefectural Police are questioning a man after a woman was fatally stabbed and her husband injured at their residence in Okayama City earky Saturday, reports TV Asahi (Jan. 20). (tokyoreporter.com)

Visitors at a Buddhist temple in western Japan marked a time-honored tradition by soaking themselves in cold water in a ritual aimed at toughening the body and soul. (NHK)

Quarantine officials at a port near Tokyo have conducted a drill aimed at preventing the new coronavirus linked to a pneumonia outbreak in China from spreading in Japan. (NHK)

Online streaming has been very good for the anime industry, opening flows of revenue both domestic and international by delivering the product to ravenous fans in the fastest manner possible. For a while, though, it looked like Studio Ghibli was going to stick to its “physical media-only” policy until the end of time. (soranews24.com)

The agriculture ministry will propose a new law aimed at preventing the smuggling of genetic materials, such as fertilized eggs and semen, related to wagyu cattle to other countries. (Japan Times)

The founder of retail giant Lotte Holdings has died. (NHK)

Japan will start issuing passports featuring art by ukiyoe master Katsushika Hokusai for people applying as early as February. (NHK)

Three employees were slashed by four men in a bar in Shinjuku, Tokyo, early Saturday morning. (Japan Today)

Fans of Kyoto Animation Co artworks on Saturday visited the site of its studio where an arson attack killed 36 people and injured 33 others exactly six months ago to commemorate the victims. (Japan Today)

Five major Tokyo-based private television networks will take turns airing daily coverage of the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer, sources close to the matter said Saturday. (Kyodo)

Netflix, the streaming service that has shaken up Hollywood, has unleashed its brand of big-budget disruption in Japan's TV industry. (Nikkei)

Fears are mounting that a new coronavirus identified in China may spread, not only infecting humans but also hurting the world’s second-biggest economy, which already is beset by a trade war with the United States. (Japan Times)

Events were held on Friday morning to mark the 25th anniversary of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in Hyogo Prefecture. (Japan Today)

Carlos Ghosn, the former Nissan Motor chairman-turned-fugitive, strongly implied to French media that Japanese people aided his epic escape. (Nikkei)