E-commerce giant Rakuten is linking up with a major US vacation rental platform. The move will support its new business in private rentals for tourists to Japan. (NHK)

A 38-year-old woman working at a private elementary and junior high school in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, was slashed by a man on Monday. (Japan Today)

Several female employees at Cool Japan Fund Inc, a public-private investment fund aimed at promoting Japanese culture and products overseas, claim they were sexually harassed by executives of the entity including a career bureaucrat on loan from the central government, sources familiar with the matter said Monday. (Japan Today)

A 31-year-old man has been arrested for spraying a taxi driver with a fire extinguisher and attempting to flee the scene by stealing the vehicle in Tokyo's Arakawa Ward. (Japan Today)

Since he first shocked fans with news of his retirement in 2013, Studio Ghibli director and beloved animator Hayao Miyazaki has been back in the studio numerous times, whether it's just out of habit, to work on his next short animated film, or to prepare for one more full-length animated feature. (Japan Today)

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike's new regional party and allies scored a landslide victory in Sunday's metropolitan assembly election. (NHK)

The city of Brookhaven, Georgia, on Friday unveiled a statue dedicated to the "comfort women," becoming the first location in America's Deep South to install a controversial memorial to the women and young girls forced to work in Japan's wartime military brothels. (Japan Times)

The Japanese underworld loves gold --- it has been the analog bitcoin of crime syndicates in recent years. The origins of gold are difficult to trace, and the material is easy to convert into cash and store. Crime syndicates are increasingly smuggling it, stealing it or robbing it from other smugglers who don't have ties to gangs. (Japan Times)

There’s a saying in Japan, Nama byoho wa kega no moto. That is, Half-baked knowledge of the martial arts is the cause of great injury. (thedailybeast.com)

Japan's Meteorological Agency says 2 major earthquakes have hit about an hour apart. One struck the northern island of Hokkaido and the other was in the southern island of Kyushu. (NHK)

Voters are going to the polls Sunday to choose representatives for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. (NHK)

A type of highly venomous ant has been detected at a container storage area in Nagoya port, central Japan. (NHK)

The Justice Ministry is considering immigration procedures for Japanese passengers using automated gates equipped with a facial recognition system for identity verification at major airports from next fiscal year, according to sources. (the-japan-news.com)

Japan's Defense Minister Tomomi Inada has apologized for what she called a misleading remark in her speech supporting a candidate in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election. (NHK)

Japanese motorists are seeing a rollout of new bilingual road signs. The program by traffic authorities comes amid a rise in foreign tourist numbers. (NHK)

The Japanese government has abolished taxes on online purchases of virtual currencies. (NHKã‚“)

The climbing season started on the Yamanashi Prefecture side of Mount Fuji early on Saturday. (NHK)

A new ordinance to regulate dating services pairing up men with teenage schoolgirls came into force Saturday in Tokyo. (Japan Today)

Police in Tokyo said Thursday they have arrested an unemployed 20-year-old man on a charge of forcible obstruction of business after he posted a message on the 2channel online bullet board, in which he said a bomb was set to go off at Shibuya Station in Tokyo. (Japan Today)

A Bank of Japan policymaker praised Adolf Hitler's economic policies on Thursday, but said they enabled the Nazi dictator to do "horrible" things to the world. (Japan Times)

Three former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), the company that operates the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, pleaded not guilty Friday as they stood trial for their alleged failure to prevent the nuclear meltdown disaster triggered by the 2011 tsunami. (Japan Today)

Prosecutors on Thursday charged a policeman with murdering his wife earlier this month at their home in Ogori, Fukuoka Prefecture, where their two children were also found dead. (Japan Today)

An advisory panel to education minister Hirokazu Matsuno recommended Thursday that the enrollment limit at 12 private universities in Tokyo's densely populated 23 wards be allowed to increase overall by 2,183 in fiscal 2018 from the previous year. (Japan Times)

Japan is targeting independence in space-based information. In doing so, the country certainly has an eye on security at home and the wider East Asia-Oceania region. It also has one eye on the future standing of its formal ally, the United States. (forbes.com)

Japan's space agency has proposed to a government panel a plan to send Japanese astronauts to the moon after 2025. (NHK)