A sightseeing railway that runs through Kurobe Gorge in central Japan has begun full operations, offering visitors stunning views of spring greenery. (NHK)

Robots and smart devices are the face of some new hotels in Japan, where owners are using hi-tech ways to offer a friendly welcome to guests who don't speak the language. (NHK)

Roads are congested and planes and trains are packed as people in Japan return home from their spring holidays. (NHK)

A rare series of sketches of Japanese manga artist Osamu Tezuka's robot character Astro Boy sold for a record 269,400 euros in an auction in Paris Saturday. (Japan Today)

A 33-year-old man has been arrested for filming up a woman’s skirt at Kuki Station in Saitama Prefecture, police said. (Japan Today)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping over the phone about North Korea. The conversation comes ahead of an expected summit between the United States and the North. (NHK)

A Chinese court has ruled that a character registered in the country is a copyright infringement of the popular Japanese anime robot cat Doraemon. (NHK)

Japanese Major League baseball player Ichiro Suzuki says he will take his new role at the Seattle Mariners with pleasure if that is what the team wants him to do. (NHK)

Police arrested a 72-year-old man on Friday after a woman who had been missing for nine months was discovered at his apartment in western Japan the previous day. (Japan Today)

On Thursday the Asahi Shimbun newspaper remembered a 29-year-old reporter killed in a 1987 shooting at its western Japan bureau, in an attack claimed by ultra-rightists angered by the major daily's "antinational" reporting. (Japan Times)

Miss Magazine contest finalist can thank famous DNA for contributing to her good looks. (soranews24.com)

People in northern Japan have unveiled an Akita puppy, which will be sent to Olympic figure skating champion Alina Zagitova as a gift. (NHK)

The Hakata Dontaku port festival has started in the southern Japanese city of Fukuoka. The two-day event is expected to draw about 2 million people. (NHK)

Tokaido line shinkansen (bullet train) services between Nagoya and Gifu-Hashima stations were disrupted for about 20 minutes on Thursday morning after a fire broke out in a house beside the tracks in Kiyosu, Aichi Prefecture. (Japan Today)

An advisory panel to the United Nations' cultural agency has recommended that places linked to the history of Japan's persecuted Christians be granted World Heritage status. (NHK)

Japan's Fujifilm Holdings is likely to review its plan to buy the US firm Xerox Corp, after Xerox's CEO and most of its board stepped down. (NHK)

Corporate Japan is at a crossroads over domestic production as exchange rates, labor costs, automation and consumer tastes pull companies in opposing directions. (Nikkei)

A 31-year-old mother was arrested Monday for killing her 2-year-old daughter by dropping her from the balcony of her apartment in Osaka, police said. (Japan Today)

Policer handed out leaflets at Toyota Station in Aichi Prefecture on Wednesday, asking the public for any information that might help apprehend the person or persons who killed a 15-year-old girl in 2008. (Japan Today)

Tatsuya Yamaguchi, a member of Japanese all-male pop group Tokio, has expressed his intent to leave the five-member band after coming under fire for kissing a high school student against her will, other group members revealed Wednesday. (Japan Today)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, now on a tour of the Middle East, says Japan will continue to support the stability of Jordan, which has been accepting a large number of Syrian refugees. (NHK)

A hypothetical eruption of Mount Fuji, Japan's tallest peak, could rain volcanic ash on Tokyo and push the capital into a state of paralysis, according to a government report obtained by Kyodo News. (Japan Times)

Prosecutors have decided to drop the indictment against a 46-year-old member of an all-male pop group for kissing a high school student against her will at his condominium earlier this year. (Japan Times)

An escaped inmate managed to elude a massive manhunt conducted by police for over three weeks on an island in Hiroshima Prefecture by hiding in the attic of a vacation home, investigative sources said Tuesday. (Japan Today)

Formula One team Red Bull has begun talks with Honda to become its engine supplier for next season. (Japan Times)