A 27-year-old man was arrested Thursday in Shizuoka Prefecture on suspicion of fatally stabbing a total stranger with a knife, police said. (Japan Times)

The Metropolitan Police Department on Wednesday arrested Yoshiyuki Kurita, 64, a former senior executive of Narita International Airport Corp., for allegedly receiving ¥600,000 in bribes in return for business favors. (the-japan-news.com)

Japan's oldest "love doll" manufacturer wants to strip the sex toys of their seedy image and encourage people to see them as works of art instead. (Japan Times)

Japan has one official holiday in July. Marine Day, or Umi no Hi as it’s called in Japanese, is held on the third Monday of the month, and is a nice midsummer excuse to blow off work and head down to the beach. (rocketnews24.com)

Japan's labor shortage has pushed the number of people changing jobs and employers during their career to its highest level since the global financial crisis, as companies scramble for workers with experience amid a rapidly-aging economy. (Japan Times)

Police arrested a man on arson charges after the bodies of a woman and two toddlers believed to be his wife and children were found at the scene of a fire at a home in Miyagi Prefecture early Tuesday. (Japan Times)

Preparations for shipping MOX, or mixed oxide, fuel to be used in a recently restarted nuclear reactor in Fukui Prefecture, central Japan, is underway in northwestern France. (NHK)

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga says the Japanese government is doing all it can to rescue people and assess the damage from the downpours in northern Kyushu. (NHK)

Where is the world's most beautiful Starbucks? Japan, of course. (ONLY in JAPAN)

Police in Tokyo said Tuesday have arrested a 61-year-old deliveryman on suspicion of stealing women's underwear and said they had found more than 1,000 items of women's lingerie and clothing at his home. (Japan Today)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to call on world leaders to pressure North Korea at the upcoming Group of 20 summit in Germany, following the reclusive country's ballistic missile launch on Tuesday. (the-japan-news.com)

Japan's blue chips managed to hold the line above 20,000 Tuesday despite North Korea's best efforts to rain on the parade. But the real test lies in whether the market value can last long beyond the 600 trillion yen ($5.29 trillion) barrier, which has proved the downfall of many a rally. (Nikkei)

Japan's Meteorological Agency has lifted an emergency heavy rain warning for the western prefecture of Shimane after torrential rains caused by a front weakened. (Japan Times)

More than half of freshly minted presidents at major Japanese enterprises in the first six months of this year were in their 50s, according to a Nikkei Inc. survey. (Nikkei)

Japan's transport ministry is set to help regional airports attract more international flights in an effort to boost the number of foreign tourists to the country. (NHK)

Japan's panda-obsessed public got their latest fix of cute Tuesday as a Tokyo zoo released footage of its 20-day-old helpless cub, who has ballooned in size since its birth last month. (Japan Today)

A recently opened theater in Kyoto's Higashiyama Ward featuring maiko young female entertainers is becoming a popular tourist attraction for visitors from abroad. (the-japan-news.com)

Major Japanese travel agency JTB estimates that more than 77 million people will take overnight or longer trips from July 15th through August 31st. That is up 0.8 percent from last year, and will mark the first uptick in 4 years. (NHK)

Severe tropical storm Nanmadol is bringing heavy rain to western Japan. (NHK)

Two women were struck and killed by a train along the Tobu Tojo Line tracks in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, on Monday morning, in what police believe was a suicide. (Japan Today)

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party suffered a historic defeat in Sunday's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intends to quickly get the Cabinet and the LDP back on their feet. (the-japan-news.com)

A 67-year-old former policeman with the world's biggest Hello Kitty collection has become the envy of little girls everywhere with 30 million yen worth of moon-faced memorabilia. (Japan Today)

North Korea launched a ballistic missile that appears to have landed in Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone in the Sea of Japan. (NHK)

Salarymen have taken a pummeling in recent years - with pay stagnating and rising numbers of working women and mothers eroding their once-dominant position as the family's breadwinner. (Japan Times)

North Korea's state-run media say the country has carried out its first successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. (NHK)