With so many maid cafes in Tokyo it can be hard to pick just one to visit if you’re pressed for time and on a tight itinerary. (soranews24.com)

Trains in and around the Japanese capital will run later into the night during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to allow spectators to get home easily from events. (NHK)

A 46-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of strangling to death her six-year-old daughter at their home in Tokyo’s Itabashi Ward. (Japan Today)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suggested Thursday he has no intention of serving another four-year term as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party when his third term expires in September 2021. (Japan Times)

For idol singer fans in Japan, the biggest event of the year isn’t the release of a single or opening of a concert tour, but the AKB48 General Election. (soranews24.com)

Japan has temporarily banned all flights of Boeing 737 Max aircraft in the country's airspace. (NHK)

Journalists on Wednesday were given a guided tour of the Izumo — Japan’s largest flat-topped helicopter carrier — for the first time since the Defense Ministry revealed a controversial plan late last year to convert it so that it could handle fixed-wing aircraft — which critics and some opposition lawmakers say could make it capable of offensive operations. (Japan Times)

Pierre Taki, a member of Japanese techno-pop duo Denki Groove and the Japanese voice of snowman Olaf in the hit Disney anime movie Frozen, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of using cocaine, investigators said. (Kyodo)

The Supreme Court has finalized high court rulings ordering owners of television-capable cellphones to pay a subscription fee to public broadcaster NHK, Kyodo News learned Wednesday. (Japan Times)

Two 12-year-old elementary school students apparently jumped to their deaths from an apartment building in Aichi Prefecture on Tuesday, leaving notes suggesting that they were being bullied, according to investigative sources. (Japan Times)

Japan's Emperor Akihito has begun a series of rituals leading to his abdication on April 30. (NHK)

Three former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company have pleaded not guilty to professional negligence in connection with the 2011 nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. (NHK)

The Japan leg of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic torch relay will start at a soccer facility in Fukushima Prefecture that is considered a symbol of the country's reconstruction from the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori said Tuesday. (Kyodo)

The former CEO of Olympus, who blew the whistle in 2011 on a massive accounting scandal at the medical equipment maker, has won a London court battle over alleged wrongdoing linked to his £64 million (¥9.4 billion) pension. (Japan Times)

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it will jointly develop a rover to be sent to the moon in 2029, amid fierce global competition to explore Earth’s natural satellite. (Japan Times)

The number of Japanese athletes at next year's Tokyo Olympics is expected to exceed 500 and could conceivably be one of the largest contingents in Olympic history, an informed source said Sunday. (Kyodo)

The only dedicated coal-carrying railroad still running in Japan will cease operations at the end of this month, ending its 94-year mission to support the country’s industrial development. (Japan Times)

Japan on Monday marked the eighth anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan that left more than 15,000 people dead and triggered the world’s worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl crisis. (Japan Times)

Kane Tanaka, a 116-year-old Japanese woman in the southwestern city of Fukuoka, has been recognized as the world's oldest living person, Guinness World Records said Saturday. (Kyodo)

March 11th marks the eighth anniversary of the major earthquake that hit northeastern Japan and the ensuing nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. (NHK)

The Justice Ministry plans to require foreign workers entering the country using the new work visas to submit medical certificates, informed sources said. (Japan Times)

Police in Machida, Tokyo, said Sunday they have arrested a 43-year-old woman on suspicion of murder after she drugged her 61-year-old boyfriend and then stabbed him. (Japan Today)

The Japan Coast Guard says at least 80 people have been injured after a jetfoil ferry hit an object in the Sea of Japan. (NHK)

The governor and mayor of Osaka tendered their resignations Friday to seek election in each other's current position with the aim of reorganizing the major city into a metropolitan government system similar to Tokyo's. (Japan Today)

Since the 2008 global financial crisis, expansionary monetary policy has been the order of the day in most of the major advanced economies. (Japan Times)