Researchers at Kyoto University in Japan have started what they say is the world's first clinical trial of medicine found through iPS cell studies. (NHK)

Google and LINE have announced that they will each launch AI speakers that handle the Japanese language. (NHK)

Novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, best known for his book “The Remains of the Day,” has been awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature. (the-japan-news.com)

A new party led by Tokyo Gov Yuriko Koike has unveiled policies it dubs "Yurinomics" that aim to revitalise the economy and cut reliance on fiscal spending and monetary easing, seeking to distance itself from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's more aggressive stimulus measures. (Japan Today)

Six people were found dead after a fire engulfed an apartment in Ibaraki Prefecture early Friday morning, and a 32-year-old man who claimed to have deliberately started the blaze turned himself in to police. (Japan Times)

Daito Bunka University located in Tokyo’s Itabashi Ward has received its fifth bomb threat this year, police and university officials said Wednesday. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said the person responsible faces charges of forcible obstruction of business. (Japan Today)

New rules requiring greater scrutiny of applicants from five countries have landed Japanese-language schools with that little bit more paperwork. (Japan Times)

Tokyo 2020 Olympic organizers said on Wednesday that tests showed levels of E. Coli up to 20 times above the accepted limit and fecal coliform bacteria seven times higher than agreed at the planned venue for marathon swimming and triathlon. (Japan Today)

Retailer Takashimaya has opened a specialty section in one of its Tokyo department stores that sells only robots. Most of them cost between 900 and 2,700 dollars. (NHK)

While the Federal Reserve is entering the final phase of its exit strategy, there is no end in sight for the BOJ's massive monetary easing policy, which has seen nothing but expansion during Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda's term. (Nikkei)

A 31-year-old male driver briefly fell asleep at the controls of a commuter train traveling at 120 kilometers per hour in the Tokyo metropolitan area in September, the railway operator said Tuesday. (Japan Today)

Yokozuna Hakuho received a special award from an advisory body of the Japan Sumo Association on Wednesday, commemorating the record of all-time wins of 1,050 he set in July. (Japan Times)

Japan accepted just three refugees in the first half of 2017 despite receiving a record 8,561 fresh asylum applications, the government said on Tuesday, highlighting the nation's reluctance to accept foreigners. (Japan Today)

Companies in Japan's service industries are struggling to hire and retain staff as the labor market becomes the tightest in decades, and are increasingly taking unorthodox steps to alleviate the shortage. (Japan Today)

A little-known milky paradise awaits those who know where to look at this busy station in the capital. (rocketnews24.com)

Tokyo police have arrested a 52-year-old company employee for driving through a busy pedestrian crossing near Shibuya Station last week. (NHK)

Many people in Japan are still trying to wrap their heads around an incident that occurred on September 28 at Hakata High School in Fukuoka Prefecture, in which a student violently assaulted his teacher after the educator confiscated a tablet on which the boy had been watching movies during class time. (Japan Today)

Japan's nuclear regulator has taken a step further in allowing Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, to restart its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast. (NHK)

Uber’s board of directors Tuesday approved a plan that reins in the influence of ousted chief executive Travis Kalanick and opens the door to a colossal investment by telecommunications giant SoftBank. (Japan Times)

Police have arrested two men on suspicion of stealing baseballs from a high school baseball club in Saitama Prefecture. The suspects, who were arrested on Monday, were former baseball teammates in junior high school, Fuji TV reported. (Japan Today)

Police in Chofu, Tokyo, said Tuesday that part of a human skull was discovered on the premises of Jindai-ji temple last week. (Japan Today)

The stunning natural phenomenon looks more like an otherworldly dragon as it’s filmed slowly retreating up to the sky. (rocketnews24.com)

A wild boar created havoc in a peaceful residential area in Nagasaki Prefecture on Sunday, terrifying a man in a wheelchair, biting two pensioners and smashing into both a motorbike and a car, police said. (Japan Times)

The Bank of Japan's quarterly survey of large manufacturers shows confidence at its highest level in 10 years. (NHK)

Schools in Japan aren't entirely free of misbehaving students, ranging from sleepers to delusional ranters. (rocketnews24.com)