The number of foreign tourists who traveled on cruise ships to Japan hit a record high in 2016, thanks mainly to more budget tours from China. (NHK)

Investigative sources say a group arrested on suspicion of smuggling apparent gold into Japan on a small boat had met another ship from China on open waters. (NHK)

Japanese business leaders on Friday questioned President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement. (Japan Today)

Japanese police have arrested 5 women for allegedly trying to smuggle gold from South Korea through an airport in central Japan. (NHK)

A government advisory panel on education reform proposed to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday steps to ease the workload on Japan's teachers and boost community and parent involvement with schools as concern about overwork grows. (Japan Times)

The inflow of international funds into information technology and semiconductors powered the Nikkei Stock Average's recovery Friday to above 20,000. But the automotive and financial sectors are faltering, highlighting the gap between Japanese equities and their foreign peers. (Nikkei)

Aichi Prefecture said Thursday it will build a theme park based on an anime by director Hayao Miyazaki with the aim of opening it in the early 2020s. (Japan Times)

Edward Snowden, who exposed the existence of highly invasive U.S. surveillance programs in 2013, warned this week that Japan might be moving closer to achieving sweeping surveillance of ordinary citizens with a bill that gives the police highly invasive surveillance powers in the name of counterterrorism. (Japan Times)

Japan's space agency has proposed to a government panel a plan to send Japanese astronauts to the moon after 2025. (NHK)

Japan's Environment Minister Koichi Yamamoto has criticized US President Donald Trump, saying his decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement defies the intelligence of mankind. (NHK)

A man was arrested Thursday in Tokyo after he tried to rob a police officer of his pistol at a koban police box in Katsushika Ward. (Japan Times)

As part of efforts to promote women's active participation in society, the government is considering allowing them to put their maiden names alongside their married names in passports from around fiscal 2019, according to government sources. (the-japan-news.com)

The US military is dispatching the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier to the Western Pacific Ocean as a response to North Korea's repeated missile launches and the increased maritime activities by China. (NHK)

The average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit record highs at all observation points in Japan in 2016, the Meteorological Agency said Wednesday, underscoring the continuing upward trend in levels of the global warming-causing greenhouse gas. (Japan Times)

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sought China's cooperation in dealing with North Korea. (NHK)

The Japan Coast Guard has arrested 5 Japanese and 3 Chinese men on suspicion of smuggling what appears to be over 200 kilograms of gold bullion into the country. (NHK)

The launch of a rocket carrying a satellite that's part of Japan's version of a global positioning system was a success. (NHK)

A blobfish, a deep-sea blob sculpin fish dubbed the world's ugliest animal, has been put on display at an aquarium in Fukushima Prefecture. (Japan Times)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 20-year-old employee at a Japanese restaurant in Toshima Ward for allegedly molesting a female customer inside the establishment last month, reports Fuji News Network (tokyoreporter.com)

Struggling Japanese electronics giant Toshiba will again postpone its earnings report. (NHK)

US Defense Department officials say the USS Ronald Reagan has entered the Sea of Japan for a joint drill with another aircraft carrier. (NHK)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday he had been listed as an executive member of a school operator run by his friend and received a salary, as opposition parties intensified their offensive against him alleging he favored the operator in connection with a plan to establish a new university department. (Japan Today)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says the mission accomplished by the Ground Self-Defense Force engineering units in South Sudan was historically significant. (NHK)

Amazon Japan will do away with a contract clause that has required e-book and other suppliers to guarantee prices lower than those offered on rival e-commerce sites, in response to an antitrust probe that began last year. (Nikkei)

An amateur historian has unearthed compelling evidence that the first Australian maritime foray into Japanese waters was by convict pirates on an audacious escape from Tasmania almost two centuries ago. (theguardian.com)