A member of the Japanese all-girl idol group AKB48 suffered a head injury on Sunday after tripping off the stage during a concert in Saitama near Tokyo, its management agency said. (Japan Today)

A leading North Korea-watching website has disputed Foreign Minister Taro Kono’s reported remarks that Pyongyang is preparing to conduct a fresh nuclear test even as tensions on the Korean Peninsula ease ahead of a rare summit between the two Koreas. (Japan Times)

A black-headed gull with what appears to be a paper dart lodged in its head has been found in a canal in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, local officials said Monday. (Japan Today)

Overseas visitors to the ancient Japanese capital of Nara will now see warning signs in English and Chinese explaining how to interact safely with the city's wild deer. (NHK)

Nobuaki Kurumatani on Monday took office as the first chairman and CEO of Toshiba Corp to be appointed from outside the company in over 50 years. (Japan Today)

The operator of the Genkai nuclear plant in southwestern Japan says it has found a hole in a reactor pipe where a steam leak was detected on Friday. (NHK)

Japan’s whaling fleet returned on Saturday after catching more than 300 of the mammals in the Antarctic Ocean without interference from anti-whaling protests, officials said. (Japan Times)

A team of Japanese research institutes wants to hunt down the stem cells of human cancers by employing an ultra-precise observation sensor technology used in the Hitomi astronomy satellite. (Japan Times)

It is becoming difficult for the Japanese government to adequately support universities as its fiscal conditions tighten. (Japan Times)

Fans of the Akita dog Wasao will be in for a treat for another year as the canine, who has gained nationwide fame with his unique looks, was reappointed Sunday as "tourism stationmaster" in a town in northeastern Japan. (Japan Times)

Leading up to the 2020 Olympic games, Japan, once a haven for smokers among developed countries, has recently begun sweeping measures to make smoking increasingly inconvenient without outright banning it. While other countries have long ago banished the act from eateries and many other public spaces, Japan has only begun to gradually trim down the available smoking areas in the past decade. (Japan Today)

The legal definition of beer changes on Sunday, and Japan’s major breweries are looking to shore up their shrinking customer bases by introducing new products with a wider variety of flavors to shake up the stagnant market. (Japan Times)

The Bank of Japan is finding out just how hard it is to be stealthy — when everyone is looking right at you. (Japan Times)

Japanese high school students have lower physical and mental self-confidence but healthier eating habits than their American, Chinese and South Korean counterparts, according to a study released Friday by the National Institution for Youth Education. (Japan Times)

Workers stand on the Hakkoda-Towada Gold Line road with snow walls up to 8 meters high. (Japan Today)

Sumo elder Takanohana, who was faulted for his absence from the most recent Spring Grand Sumo Tournament and lack of supervision of a wrestler from his stable, was handed a two-rank demotion by the Japan Sumo Association on Thursday. (Japan Today)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has released its first estimate of maximum storm surges triggered by a super typhoon hitting Tokyo Bay. (NHK)

Shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. put an ice-breaking tanker into service in the Arctic Ocean on Thursday to transport liquefied natural gas from a Russian plant to Europe, becoming the first Japanese firm to own and operate such a vessel. (Japan Times)

Back when I was in college, an acquaintance of mine who was answering a survey listed his favorite smell as "young women." I sort of figured he was either trying to be funny or suffering the psychological effects of a major dating dry spell, but it turns out he may have been on to something. (soranews24.com)

Kyoto University, one of Japan’s oldest and most prestigious centers of higher education, has announced a basic policy of not conducting military-related research. (Japan Times)

The Tokyo Midtown Hibiya shopping and entertainment complex opened for business Thursday in the capital’s arts district, connecting Japan’s key business, fashion and political areas. (Japan Times)

Apple Inc. is going head-to-head with Google in education, a market the iPhone-maker helped pioneer but has let languish. (Japan Times)

A few years back, the normally sleepy town of Taiji in Wakayama Prefecture was filled with activists furious with its traditional dolphin hunt, which was featured in “The Cove,” a 2009 Academy Award-winning documentary. (Japan Times)

Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited Yonaguni Island on Wednesday. (NHK)

Four years after popular Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange MtGox was hacked and went bankrupt, the case still casts a shadow over the regulatory regime put in place to protect Japan's thriving cryptocurrency market. (Japan Today)