Monday's major earthquake in western Japan left 4 people dead and more than 370 injured. (NHK)

A basketball referee was punched in the face by a high school player during a game in the western Japanese prefecture of Nagasaki on Sunday. (NHK)

Shinkansen bullet train services in western Japan have resumed following disruption caused by an M6.1 earthquake in the Osaka region. (NHK)

For a Filipino man visiting Tokyo in May last year, the tour of the capital was supposed to be a fun sightseeing trip. (Japan Times)

An estimated 1.3 million Japanese people aged 15 to 64 have used marijuana, surpassing for the first time the number of those who have abused inhalants such as paint thinner, a survey by a national institute showed Sunday. (Japan Today)

More than 2,000 venomous fire ants have been discovered in a shipping container from China that arrived at a port in Osaka Prefecture earlier this month, leaving two people hurt, government officials said. (Japan Today)

Jurina Matsui of SKE48, one of the AKB48 family of all-female idol groups, has taken the No. 1 spot in the franchise’s annual popularity contest, which was the first to let its Thai and Taiwanese members join the 10-year-old event. (Japan Times)

Japanese car maker Toyota won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time on Sunday. (NHK)

With Japan now planning to open its doors to more foreign workers, academics and other observers are beginning to wonder exactly what kind of turn the country is in for -- one that lifts the economy or one that delivers discord. (Nikkei)

An earthquake shook Gunma Prefecture, north of Tokyo, on Sunday afternoon. No major damage has been reported. (NHK)

A nuclear reactor at a trouble-hit complex in southwestern Japan restarted operations Saturday for the first time in more than six and a half years amid lingering safety concerns. (Japan Today)

The U.S. naval hospital ship Mercy arrived Saturday in Japan, which is considering building such floating hospitals to provide medical care after disasters like the 2011 catastrophe. (Kyodo)

A 78-year-old man died after he was shot by a hunter who thought he was shooting at a wild monkey on a mountain slope in Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture, police said Friday. (Japan Today)

Japan's Cabinet has approved basic economic and fiscal policies that include measures to reconstruct state finances and address labor shortages. (NHK)

The father of a 9-year-old Vietnamese girl allegedly killed by a male neighbor near Tokyo in 2017 demanded capital punishment at a court hearing on Friday. (Kyodo)

Japan’s new law on minpaku (private lodging) businesses took effect Friday, but stringent rules may dampen the entry of homeowners into the market, despite hopes that it could help counter a shortage of accommodation amid a growing number of foreign tourists. (Japan Times)

Princess Kako, a granddaughter of Emperor Akihito, has returned to Japan after studying in Britain for about 9 months. (NHK)

The government has instructed West Japan Railway Co. to investigate why a driver of one of its bullet trains that hit and killed a man did not report any abnormal sound at the time, the transport minister said Friday. (Kyodo)

A day before a new law on minpaku (private lodging services) takes effect, Airbnb Inc. on Thursday welcomed the change and reinforced its commitment to the Japanese market with fresh initiatives. (Japan Times)

A railway company in western Japan has partially suspended operations on a Shinkansen bullet train line, after finding evidence that one of its trains hit a person. (NHK)

The Japanese government said Thursday foreign travelers with unpaid medical bills will be denied entry to the country in the future, with the number of foreign visitors set to surge in the run-up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. (Kyodo)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, has released new images of the Ryugu asteroid taken by its probe Hayabusa-2. (NHK)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly said he was open to dialogue with Japan during Tuesday's summit in Singapore with US President Donald Trump. (NHK)

To help prevent home accidents, Amazon Japan K.K. and a public entity that evaluates product safety signed an agreement Wednesday under which the online retail giant will share complaint information on consumer goods and home electronics. (Japan Times)

One of the famed deer roaming in the western Japan city of Nara has been found with a paper dart lodged in its neck, local authorities said Wednesday, prompting police to launch an investigation. (Kyodo)