Selling painkillers in Japan used to be like pulling teeth. That was until baby boomers discovered how analgesics could take the sting from arthritis, diabetic nerve damage and the ravages of cancer. (Japan Times)

Contaminated water may have leaked from the disaster-struck Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant since April, the owner said Thursday. (Japan Times)

A 39-year-old man, arrested on Sept 5 for stalking a 27-year-old woman, has also been charged with indecently assaulting her while she slept in her apartment in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward. (Japan Today)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have busted an operation in the Kabukicho red-light district of Shinjuku Ward that sold pornographic DVDs deemed illegal, reports TBS News. (tokyoreporter.com)

Struggling Japanese electronics company Toshiba says it has signed a deal to sell its memory chip unit to a group led by US private equity firm Bain Capital. The deal is worth about 18 billion dollars. (NHK)

Toyota Motor Corp. is establishing a new venture to develop electric vehicle technology with partner Mazda Motor Corp., seeking to catch up with rivals in an increasingly frenetic race to produce more battery-powered cars. (the-japan-news.com)

Yamato Holdings Co., a Japanese parcel delivery service group, said Thursday that it will hire 10,000 new workers, including drivers specializing in busy night deliveries, over the three years through fiscal 2019. (Japan Times)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolved the House of Representatives on Thursday, calling a general election in a bid to maintain his hold on power, while opposition parties rallied together in a major reorganization aimed at giving the administration a challenge at the polls. (Japan Times)

Heavy rain hit eastern Japan areas near Tokyo on Thursday, marking record hourly rainfalls in some municipalities, while a man was believed washed away by a swollen river in Yokohama, according to the weather agency and local authorities. (Japan Today)

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike's new party has issued a direct challenge to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, receiving a show of support from Japan's leading opposition Democratic Party, whose chief Seiji Maehara said that he will pursue a de facto merger with Koike in the upcoming snap election. (Nikkei)

An Osaka tattoo artist was found guilty Wednesday of violating the Medical Practitioners’ Law in a case that drew international attention to Japan’s tattoo culture. (Japan Times)

A panel weighing three kilograms fell from a plane onto a factory near Tokyo, Japanese officials said Thursday, the country's second case in a week after a similar part landed on a car. (Japan Today)

Around 1,900 students from 53 elementary and junior high schools in Tokyo’s Shinjuku, Toshima and Itabashi wards have complained of an “unusual” smell coming from milk they were given as part of their school lunches, ward authorities reported Tuesday. (Japan Today)

An exhibition has opened in Bangkok to mark the 130th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Japan and Thailand. (NHK)

Milk-giving alien cow nipple is everything we’ve come to love about ads in Japan. (rocketnews24.com)

The husband of lawmaker Seiko Noda, the newly appointed Internal Affairs and Communications Minister, is a former member of a criminal syndicate based in Kyoto, claims a weekly magazine. (tokyoreporter.com)

The Nagoya District Court has sentenced a 61-year-old man to six months in prison, suspended for three years, after he was found guilty of injuring another man who warned him against feeding pigeons. (Japan Today)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated Tuesday his government will hike the consumption tax to 10 percent from the current 8 percent in October 2019 unless a setback such as a major financial crisis or massive earthquake occurs. (Japan Times)

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) has unveiled new graphics that are to feature on posters and banners across the city and during the planned “1,000 Days To Go” celebration period which will run from Oct 28 to Nov 29. (Japan Today)

The government said Tuesday it will start a new warning system from November to alert residents who could be affected by a magnitude 9-class temblor in the Nankai Trough. (Japan Times)

A 43-year-old Filipino man who was denied entry into Japan after arriving at Narita Airport on Monday managed to escape from two security guards and flee. (Japan Today)

When it comes to fiscal reconstruction, Japan has a history of failing to deliver on its promises, largely because of economic turmoil originating abroad. (Japan Today)

Foreign objects including insects and hair have been found in 46 lunchboxes offered at municipal junior high schools in Tagawa, Fukuoka Prefecture, since April, the local eduction board said Tuesday. ()

Passes allowing foreign tourists unlimited travel on major expressway networks across the country will go on sale in mid-October, in hopes of luring more visitors to regional areas, the transport ministry said Tuesday. (Japan Times)

A 23-year-old man from Anjo, Aichi Prefecture, was arrested in Shizuoka Prefecture, early Monday morning after trying to steal a police car that had police officers inside it. (Japan Today)