Japan on Friday stepped up its claim to a pair of South Korea-controlled islets, amid escalating tensions with its neighbor resulting from disputes over wartime issues. (Japan Times)

All Nippon Airways said Friday it was forced to delay a domestic flight earlier this week after a co-pilot failed an alcohol breath test despite new rules. (Japan Today)

Elin McCready, a transgender woman, has been married for 19 years, but registering her female identity and name has thrown her union into jeopardy because Japan doesn't recognize gay marriage. (Japan Today)

With seven months until the opening of the Rugby World Cup, organizing committee CEO Akira Shimazu said Thursday the number of foreign fans at the quadrennial tournament has far "exceeded his expectations." (Japan Today)

A mother and her boyfriend were arrested Thursday for allegedly injuring the woman's 8-year-old daughter by binding her wrists and forcing her into a cold bath at their home in Fukuoka Prefecture last month, police said. (Japan Times)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, says data from the Hayabusa2 space probe shows it had landed on the asteroid Ryugu. The spacecraft's task is to collect rock samples. (NHK)

Kanagawa Prefectural Police arrested a 56-year-old man after he was found wielding scissors inside a Tokaido Shinkansen train on Wednesday, reports NHK (tokyoreporter.com)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has spoken over the phone with US President Donald Trump ahead of next week's US-North Korea summit. (NHK)

Air travelers in Japan can expect some relief for their pocketbooks this spring. The country's biggest airlines say they are going to slash fuel surcharges for many of their international flights. (NHK)

Carlos Ghosn's new lawyer took aim at Nissan, prosecutors and courts on Wednesday, dismissing the charges against the ousted chairman as an internal company matter and saying Japan was out of step with international norms by keeping his client in jail. (Japan Today)

Japan recorded its biggest trade deficit in almost five years in January, extending its run of red ink to a fourth month as exports to China tumbled. (NHK)

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday sentenced a man to 12 years in prison for abducting a teenage girl and keeping her in captivity for two years from 2014, annulling the lower court ruling that gave him a nine-year jail term. (Japan Today)

A video of a first-year high school student in Niigata Prefecture being attacked by a group of schoolmates was posted online and went viral on social media, school officials said Tuesday. (Japan Times)

Aichi prefectural police said Tuesday they have arrested a 78-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder after he drove his car with a man clinging to the hood of his car in Nagoya. (Japan Today)

A Japanese court on Tuesday ordered two former classmates of a junior high school student -- who killed himself in 2011 -- to pay damages totaling about 37.5 million yen, acknowledging that their bullying led to his death. (Japan Today)

The cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday approved a bill to revise the enforcement of the civil law to enable the handover of a child to a parent who is awarded custody even if the other parent refuses to abide by a court order to transfer guardianship. (Japan Today)

Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono says the country clearly supports Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself interim president. (NHK)

A Japanese real estate leasing company says it has found defects in more than 11,000 buildings nationwide. (NHK)

Japan's government says it's building a computer database of registered private lodgings. It aims to stop people renting out properties illegally in the rush to cash in on the growing number of tourists visiting Japan. (NHK)

Rising resource costs, a worsening labor shortage and a flood of easy money are pushing property prices in Tokyo to near-historic levels. (Nikkei)

Police on Monday arrested a truck driver for allegedly driving off with a man clinging to the side of his vehicle following a road rage incident in Miyagi Prefecture last June. (Japan Times)

The health ministry on Monday approved the world's first clinical test in which artificially derived stem cells will be used to treat patients with spinal cord injuries. (Japan Times)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is not saying whether or not he nominated Donald Trump for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, but the question may be moot: the U.S. president has been put forward by others for the prestigious award. (Japan Today)

Immigration Bureau's relaxed visa policy has boosted tourism from southeast Asia, but it seems to have come with an unwanted side-effect. (soranews24.com)

Visitors to a village near Mount Fuji and its residents were rewarded with a dazzling spectacle on Monday. (NHK)