The Justice Ministry plans to introduce a new residency status for fourth-generation Japanese descendants living abroad that will enable them to work in Japan under certain conditions, such as acquiring a set level of Japanese language skills. (the-japan-news.com)

A German research group has handed over to representatives of Japan's Ainu ethnic group a skull that a German took secretly from a grave in Japan in 1879. (abcnews)

A man accused of groping a woman on a train escaped by jumping off the platform and running along the tracks at JR Tamachi Station in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on Monday. (Japan Today)

At a ceremony to mark her resignation as defense minister, Tomomi Inada on Monday called for the creation of an "open" atmosphere inside the ministry and the Self-Defense Forces following a data coverup scandal, but she did not offer an apology. (Japan Today)

Japan's direct investment beyond its borders climbed to a record $169.6 billion in 2016, according to an annual report Monday from the Japan External Trade Organization. (Nikkei)

Local authorities in the city of Nara, western Japan, have decided to capture some of the city's free range deer to reduce farming damage. (NHK)

Video captured Friday of North Korea's latest test of a powerful long-range missile appears to show that the nuclear-armed country has yet to master technology critical to any warhead's survival when re-entering Earth's atmosphere, a new report has found. (Japan Times)

Police on Monday said they have arrested a 35-year-old man on suspicion of killing a 70-year-old man in a park in Tokyo's Sumida Ward on Friday. (Japan Today)

Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Tourism has an idea on how to take some of the guesswork out of traveling by taxi in Japan's capital. The ministry has announced that from August 7 four taxi operators will allow riders to book cabs and lock in a fare by using the companies' smartphone apps. (rocketnews24.com)

A typhoon that briefly strengthened into the Northern Hemisphere's strongest storm of the year has lost much of its punch but could still hit Japan by this weekend. (Japan Today)

A 7-year-old boy fell to his death from the 8th floor of a Kagoshima prefectural housing complex on Sunday. (Japan Today)

The Bank of Japan has released minutes of its board meetings during the first 6 months of 2007. They show policymakers were not fully aware of the risks looming because of the subprime mortgage issue in the US. The resulting collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers led to a global financial crisis the following year. (NHK)

A Chinese woman who has gone missing while travelling alone in Japan left a note in her luggage saying she wanted to make a fresh start in life, according to a news website report. (scmp.com)

Restaurant chains serving gyudon beef-on-rice bowls are expected to be hit hard by a hike starting Tuesday in the country's tariffs on frozen beef from the United States and other countries. (the-japan-news.com)

A 16-year-old high school student and two men were arrested Monday for allegedly robbing a man of a bag containing about 72 million yen in cash in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district in April, police said. (Japan Today)

School officials in Toride, Ibaraki Prefecture, looking into the 2015 death of a 15-year-old schoolgirl concealed the fact that she committed suicide while surveying her classmates and parents, it has been learned. (Japan Times)

A Japanese city boasting one of the world's largest hot-spring resorts opened a special amusement park on Saturday with a hot-tub merry-go-round and other rides featuring immersion in its famous thermal water. (Bangkok Post)

Japan will nominate a group of ancient burial mounds in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, for inscription on UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage List. (NHK)

Fukuoka Prefectural Police on Saturday arrested one of their own on suspicion of possession of marijuana. (Japan Today)

A 10-year-old boy in western Japan fell unconscious after he was bitten by a poisonous snake on Saturday, police said. (Japan Today)

A task force of the main governing Liberal Democratic Party has proposed collecting admission fees at Imperial facilities to raise funds for their maintenance as tourist attractions. (NHK)

Even holy places have bills to pay, and with traditional sources of income rapidly shrinking, temples in Japan are looking to tourism to make ends meet. (Nikkei)

Transparent kayaks are exploding in popularity in Tottori Prefecture, with tourists describing the experience as akin "to flying in the sky." (Japan Times)

Young Japanese women are flocking to pools on summer evenings -- but not so much to swim as to shine on social media. (Kyodo)

Planned legislation to address passive smoking by banning lighting up in restaurants is in limbo following strife between the health ministry and the ruling party. (todayonline.com)