Japanese officials are warning of continued volcanic activity at Mount Kusatsu-Shirane in Gunma Prefecture, north of Tokyo. (NHK)

Japan's Consumer Price Index for the year 2017 rose for the first time in 2 years. (NHK)

An F-35 stealth fighter has arrived at an airbase in Misawa in Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan. It is the first of 10 F-35s that will be deployed at the base. (NHK)

A former teen model has accused illusionist David Copperfield of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 1988 after he judged a modeling competition in Japan that she took part in. (Japan Today)

The population of foreign workers set a record of about 1.28 million in late October as rapidly graying Japan continued to rely on foreign trainees and students to make up for its labor shortage, the labor ministry said Friday. (Japan Times)

E-commerce giant Rakuten and retail behemoth Walmart are taking aim at Amazon in a partnership that will see the two companies launch an online grocery delivery service in Japan while offering e-readers, e-books and audiobooks to American Walmart customers. (Japan Times)

NHK has learned that satellite imagery shows possible newly formed craters on a volcano in Japan that erupted on Tuesday. (NHK)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested seven Chinese nationals believed to be members of the so-called "Pink Panda" gang in the theft of jewels at an exposition in Koto Ward this week, reports TBS News. (tokyoreporter.com)

Tokyo’s ambulance service experienced its busiest day in more than 80 years, officials said Thursday, amid icy conditions as the Japanese capital shivers through its coldest temperatures in decades. (Japan Times)

Japan will relax hotel regulations later this month to kill two birds with one stone -- catering to international tourists' desire to experience Japanese life and culture and making use of vacant old homes. (Nikkei)

The Japanese and Chinese governments are in the final stage of discussions on a social security agreement aimed at resolving the issue of double payments of pension premiums by Japanese and Chinese employees dispatched to each other’s countries, it has been learned. (the-japan-news.com)

Satoshi Uematsu, awaiting trial for the 2016 deadly attack on a facility for the mentally disabled in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, has told Jiji Press that he planned to assault another such facility in the same prefecture on the same day. (Japan Times)

Starting Monday, Tokyo Metro Co. will experiment with playing background music on their trains in a bid to provide a more comfortable travel experience for passengers. (Japan Times)

Police in Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture, have arrested three teenagers on charges of inflicting injuries on a 16-year-old girl after they forced her to jump off a bridge. (Japan Today)

A Japanese team competing in an international lunar probe contest says it will keep working to become Japan's first team to reach the Moon, separate from the event. (NHK)

Japan has released images of a suspected violation of UN Security Council resolutions by a North Korea-registered tanker. (NHK)

Organizers of an international lunar probe contest say the competition is likely to end in March without a winner, as none of the participating teams will be able to meet the deadline. (NHK)

It’s often said that the three most important things in real estate are location, location, and location. That goes double for land-scarce Japan, making location the top six priorities, but the important question then becomes what makes a good location? (Japan Today)

Tokyo experienced its coldest day in 48 years on Thursday when the temperature fell to minus 4 degrees in the morning. (Japan Today)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has held its first tourism promotion event in Moscow. (NHK)

On a chilly, wet Saturday in November, I made my way over to Senzoku Gakuen, a renowned private all-girls junior and senior high school located almost equal distance between Tokyo and Yokohama. I had been invited to assist at a college fair sponsored by the school together with a nonprofit that does these things — the U.S. College Alumni Network of Japan (USCANJ). (Japan Times)

Papers were sent to prosecutors on Monday on a 20-year-old man who used a flamethrower at a park in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. (Japan Today)

Police in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture, have arrested an unemployed 44-year-old man on suspicion of kidnapping a 16-year-old high school girl who lives in Tochigi Prefecture. (Japan Today)

Japan's department store sales at existing locations grew for the first time in three years in 2017, edging up 0.1% to 5.95 trillion yen ($53.9 billion), the Japan Department Stores Association said Tuesday. (Nikkei)

Japanese general contractor Shimizu appears to have owned up by Monday's deadline to fixing bids on construction projects connected to a magnetic-levitation train line, seeking lighter fines after initially denying wrongdoing. (Nikkei)