Organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics say applications for volunteers for the Games have surpassed the needed number of 80,000. (NHK)

Three male Keio University students, one of whom was a participant in the college's "Mr Keio Contest," have been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman and stealing her wallet after encouraging her to drink alcohol. (Japan Today)

Nissan Motor Co. employees reacted with anger, surprise and dismay Tuesday to the arrest the day before of charismatic Chairman Carlos Ghosn for allegedly underreporting his income. (Japan Times)

The number of licensed private lodgings for tourists in Japan topped 10,000 in early November, but the facilities were concentrated in urban areas, the Japan Tourism Agency said Tuesday. (Japan Times)

Seven-Eleven Japan will turn to an indoor farm to grow vegetables for salads and sandwiches sold at its convenience stores, aiming to reduce weather-related supply risks. (Nikkei)

The city of Sapporo observed its first snowfall of the season early Tuesday, on a date that matches the latest ever recorded, the Sapporo District Meteorological Observatory said. (Kyodo)

President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said France would be extremely vigilant about the fate of Renault and its alliance with Nissan after the arrest of the French auto group's boss Carlos Ghosn in Japan. (Japan Today)

Time seemed to have stopped inside the main control room for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's crippled Nos. 3 and 4 reactors -- that is how Kyodo News reporters felt when they recently became the first journalists to enter the facility since the 2011 nuclear meltdowns there.

(Japan Today)

Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko have released a special type of colored carp into a pond at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. (NHK)

A character representing a mythological pond goblin has won an annual poll to decide the most popular local mascot in Japan. (NHK)

Ikea Japan K.K. said Thursday it will open an outlet in front of Harajuku Station in Tokyo in spring 2020. (Japan Times)

Japan Airlines Co. and All Nippon Airways Co. pledged Friday to administer more stringent alcohol tests for pilots and use new testing equipment in response to recent drinking incidents involving flight crew. (Japan Times)

A Japanese national research institute said Thursday it will import strains of Ebola and four other deadly viruses to improve detection processes amid a rise in the number of foreign visitors to the country. (Japan Times)

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga has dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin's remarks on the possible return of 2 of the 4 Russian-held islands at the center of a long-running territorial dispute. (NHK)

On 14 October, the Minister in charge of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, Yoshitaka Sakurada was questioned by opposition party members in the Japanese Diet. In one particular exchange with Constitutional Democratic Party member Masato Imai he made a surprising revelation. (soranews24.com)

Between 260,000 and 340,000 foreign workers are estimated to flow into Japan in the five years from next April through an envisioned immigration control law revision aimed at dealing with the country's serious labor crunch, government sources said Tuesday. (Japan Today)

Japan will help countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations groom 80,000 manufacturing and digital industry specialists over five years, part of a broader effort by Tokyo toward cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. (Nikkei)

A Japanese high court on Wednesday overturned a lower court decision and acquitted a tattooist for operating without a medical license, ruling the process is not a medical practice. (Kyodo)

Japan's economy contracted for the first time in 2 quarters. Government officials say a string of natural disasters in the period dented exports and consumer spending. (NHK)

Public broadcaster NHK announced Wednesday the lineup for its annual New Year's Eve music extravaganza, but K-pop group BTS --- under fire recently for a controversial T-shirt worn by one of its members --- was not included. (Japan Times)

SoftBank Group Corp. is continuing to push money into one of its biggest investments: WeWork Cos. (Japan Times)

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged greater cooperation with the United States on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. Abe met US Vice President Mike Pence in Tokyo on Tuesday. (NHK)

Japan's government has projected up to 47,000 foreign workers could come to the country in fiscal 2019 under proposed revisions to the immigration law. (NHK)

With Japan having suffered extensive damage from a number of natural disasters this year, the country's three top damage insurers are expected to pay out a record 1 trillion yen ($8.7 billion) in combined insurance claims in fiscal 2018 through March 2019. (Nikkei)

Health officials in Japan say nearly 2,000 people have contracted rubella, or German measles, this year. (NHK)