Holidaymakers have flocked to a maze created with sunflowers in Yamagata Prefecture, northern Japan. (NHK)

One of the largest summer festivals in northeastern Japan has started in Akita City, featuring bamboo poles decorated with dozens of lanterns. (NHK)

A Russian media report says the country's air force has deployed fighter jets on a trial basis on one of the 4 Russian-held islands claimed by Japan. (NHK)

A university hospital in southwestern Japan says that over the past 2 years, 15 patients appear to have been infected with drug-resistant bacteria. (NHK)

A 7-month-old Japanese baby has become an Internet sensation for her full head of thick black hair. (NHK)

China's stock market has been overtaken as the world's second-biggest by Japan's, having been swiped this year by the threat of a trade war with the United States and slowing economic growth. (Japan Today)

Hotel Okura Tokyo, the flagship hotel of one of Japan's top hotel chain operators, has been fully booked during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics thanks to stays by officials connected with the International Olympic Committee. (Kyodo)

Strong sunshine pushed up temperatures across most of Japan on Friday. (NHK)

Triathlon events at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be staged on the large man-made island of Odaiba in Tokyo Bay and will start early in the morning to counter the heat that is expected in the Japanese capital. (Japan Today)

Japan’s driver’s licenses will start to indicate their expiration date using the Western calendar instead of the Japanese calendar, a draft of revised traffic law regulations showed Thursday. (Japan Times)

Japanese work notoriously hard—to which the abundance of comatose passengers on the commuter trains attests. (The Economist)

Mobile carrier NTT Docomo Inc. said Thursday it plans to review its two-year smartphone contracts by next March, a day after rival KDDI Corp. pledged to change its contracts in response to government warnings. (Kyodo)

Sharp will stop making household appliances in Japan, relocating production abroad as it turns toward markets such as China and Southeast Asia. (Nikkei)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Tuesday arrested a female Canadian cosplay (costume play) enthusiast for allegedly engaging in a fake marriage with a Japanese national two years ago in order to obtain residency, reports Jiji Press. (tokyoreporter.com)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a male Chinese national employed at a reflexology massage parlor in Ota Ward over the alleged molestation of a female customer last month, reports TBS News (tokyoreporter.com)

Japan's government has set up an office to handle next year's abdication of Emperor Akihito and the enthronement of Crown Prince Naruhito. (NHK)

One in four Japanese companies reported record-breaking profit for the quarter ended in June, marking a strong start to a fiscal year fraught with trade concerns. (Nikkei)

The Japanese government is considering splitting the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, concluding that the mammoth bureaucracy with an extensive portfolio is incapable of responding to the complex needs of an aging society. (Nikkei)

The Japan Amateur Boxing Federation is facing a wide range of allegations of misconduct, including the inappropriate use of grant money. (NHK)

Many parts of Japan saw record high temperatures and heavy rains in July. The Meteorological Agency called last month's weather conditions abnormal. (NHK)

Tochigi Prefectural Police have arrested two persons, a man and a boy, over the killing of an 82-year-old man at his residence in Tochigi City last week, reports the Asahi Shimbun (tokyoreporter.com)

Atsuko Maeda, 27, a pop cultural icon and original member of the all-girl group AKB48, has married actor Ryo Katsuji, 31, an official of his management company said on Tuesday. (Japan Times)

The Japan Amateur Boxing Federation has responded to allegations of fraud, including the misuse of federal grant money, saying “a lot of” the accusations made by regional federation executives and former boxers are false. (Japan Times)

Japan will support Britain in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership accord as both countries seek to promote free and rules-based trade, economy revitalization minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Tuesday. (Japan Times)

Japan has decided to reduce its plutonium stockpile, in line with its principle of possessing only the amount necessary for peaceful use, the country’s nuclear panel said Tuesday, while failing to give a numerical target. (Japan Times)