Democratic Party leader Renho announced Thursday she will step down as the head of the nation’s largest opposition force, saying she didn’t have the leadership ability to maintain party unity in the wake of its crushing defeat in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election earlier this month. (Japan Times)

Wasabi and Okinawan sweet potato may not be everyone's preferred type of Kit Kat but booming demand for exotic flavours in Japan has prompted bar-maker Nestle to open a new factory. (Japan Today)

An explosion at a fireworks plant in western Japan has injured the plant's president and an employee. (NHK)

A 9-year-old boy died from heatstroke after becoming trapped in his mother's car for about one and a half hours on a sweltering day in Nara, officials from the local prefectural government said Tuesday. (Japan Today)

Police in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, have arrested a 20-year-old female college student on suspicion of attempting to kill her ex-boyfriend by hitting him in the head with a hammer and stabbing him in the back with a knife. (Japan Today)

Tuesday was eel-eating day, when many in Japan treat themselves to the grilled delicacy -this year likely to make a smaller dent on the wallet with prices down. (Japan Times)

The new National Stadium being built for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be used exclusively for team ball sports like soccer and rugby after the games, sources told Kyodo News on Tuesday. (Japan Times)

This August, a mobile phone service provider will release a smartphone that only works during daytime hours in an effort to restrict elementary school students' screen time, the company said Tuesday. (Japan Times)

An Osaka-based restaurant chain operator and its top manager were fined Wednesday for making foreign student employees work longer hours than legally permitted. (Japan Times)

Two men have been arrested for allegedly sending virus infection alerts purporting to be from Google Inc. and deceiving recipients into paying for antivirus software, police said Wednesday. (Japan Times)

Uber Technologies Inc. is at risk of losing out on another big chunk of the global market. (Japan Times)

An estranged wife of a former violin maker in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of destroying 54 violins and 70 bows collectively worth around 105.9 million yen that belonged to him, police said. (Japan Today)

Japan's prime minister faced a second day of questioning in an ad hoc Diet session over allegations he misused his influence to help a long-time friend open a vet school in western Japan. Lawmakers grilled Shinzo Abe over when exactly he learned his friend was submitting his application. (NHK)

Japan Airlines will partner with Vietjet Aviation to rebuild its presence in Vietnam, joining a trend of Southeast Asian collaborations between conventional and low-cost carriers. (Nikkei)

Aiming to mitigate the passenger congestion due to a surge in inbound tourists, the city of Kyoto proposed Monday a price hike for the one-day pass for public and private bus services. (Japan Times)

Toyota Motor aims to introduce autonomous vehicle technology that can handle complex city driving in the first half of the next decade to keep up with competition while ensuring safety. (Nikkei)

Torrential rain over the weekend has left at least 485 houses flooded in Akita Prefecture and more than 20,000 residents under evacuation orders, the prefectural government said Monday. (Japan Times)

The government held a teleworking campaign day on Monday, with about 60,000 people from about 1,000 companies mainly based in the Tokyo metropolitan area working outside their regular workplaces. (the-japan-news.com)

A woman in western Japan died due to a tick-borne disease last year after being bitten by a stray cat, in the world's first case of the illness contracted from a mammal, the health ministry said Monday. (Japan Today)

Authorities ordered 26,000 residents of Akita Prefecture to evacuate their homes as record levels of torrential rain lashed northern Japan, triggering widespread flooding over the weekend. (Asahi)

Four bodies were found Sunday in a park in Onojo, Fukuoka Prefecture, with the police saying the people, likely a family reported missing, died in an apparent murder-suicide. (Japan Today)

Over the past few weeks, actress Kazuyo Matsui has been a fixture on Japan's tabloid TV shows for the very public battle she is waging against her actor husband, whom she has accused of adultery. (Japan Times)

In the past several weeks alone, elderly Japanese drivers have been wreaking havoc across the country: breaking through median barriers into oncoming traffic, ploughing over pedestrians crossing the road, and smashing into other cars. In all these cases, somebody was killed. (afr.com)

Reports of poisonous fire ants being discovered at ports across Japan are boosting sales of pesticides. (NHK)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, his ratings sinking over a suspected cronyism scandal, on Monday said he had never instructed officials to give preferential treatment to a long-time friend, adding that the latter had never sought favors. (Reuters)