The severed head of a cat was found on the grounds of an elementary school in Saitama city on Friday. Police said the cat’s head was found at around 7 a.m. at the school in Minami Ward. (Japan Today)

A 35-year-old man who shot fireworks over a crowd at Tokyo’s famous Shibuya scramble crossing last year has been sent to prosecutors. (Japan Today)

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged Wednesday to boost Japan's budget for child-rearing to 4 percent of the country's gross domestic product to tackle the falling birthrate, but he did not elaborate on how to secure the costs. (Kyodo)

Police on Monday referred a man, indicted for murdering former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to prosecutors for allegedly making a gun and damaging a building by test-firing it, according to investigative sources. (Kyodo)

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida decided Monday to skip a planned speech in the afternoon after undergoing endoscopic surgery for nasal congestion late last week, a government official said. (Kyodo)

Food prices will continue to soar in Japan in the first four months this year, with prices on more than 10,000 items set to rise due to high material and logistic costs, according to a recent survey by a credit research company. (Kyodo)

Just as star players from overseas have improved the quality of Japanese domestic rugby, Japan's League One is hoping to do the same with its refereeing standards by importing top officials from other countries. (Kyodo)

A Japanese man accused of causing the death of his 1-year-old son in 2018 by leaving him frail from severe malnutrition, refusing him medical treatment and shooting him multiple times with an air gun was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Thursday. (Kyodo)

Police in Izumi, Osaka Prefecture, have arrested a 40-year-old unemployed woman on suspicion of killing her 39-year-old boyfriend and stashing his body inside a freezer at her house. (Japan Today)

A volcano on Sakurajima in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, erupted Wednesday, with a local weather observatory warning those within a 2-kilometer radius against pyroclastic flows and falling rocks. (Kyodo)

Tokyo police on Tuesday arrested a polyamorous 74-year-old man and one of his ex-wives for allegedly brainwashing an adolescent girl with a view to sexually assaulting her. (Kyodo)

Rising prices are hurting Japanese consumers, especially young people, and around 64 trillion yen ($498 billion) in excess savings accumulated over the COVID-19 pandemic years have done little to support consumption, the Cabinet Office said Friday. (Kyodo)

Japanese education minister Keiko Nagaoka on Thursday expressed the hope that students will be allowed to attend their graduation ceremonies in the spring without having to wear face masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (Kyodo)

A winter festival featuring about 30 ice sculptures has been drawing many tourists to a hot spring resort in Japan's northern prefecture of Hokkaido. (NHK)

Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara lost the women's doubles final at the Australian Open on Sunday, falling short in their quest to become the first all-Japanese pair to win a Grand Slam. (Kyodo)

A pharmaceutical advisory body for Japan's health ministry on Friday expressed no objection to the manufacturing and marketing of an abortion pill, bringing the medication a step closer to becoming the first of its kind to gain approval in the country. (Kyodo)

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday struck a cautious tone about legally recognizing same-sex marriage in line with other Group of Seven countries that have already adopted the practice. (Kyodo)

Archaeological workers in western Japan have unearthed a shield-shaped mirror and a long sword at an ancient burial mound. (NHK)

The Japanese government on Wednesday downgraded its economic outlook for the first time in 11 months, reflecting a fall in exports amid a recent surge in COVID-19 cases in China. (Kyodo)

A former worker at a host club in Tokyo's Kabukicho nightlife district has been arrested on suspicion of coercing a female customer into prostitution so she could pay off her bills, police said Monday. (Kyodo)

The Japanese government on Monday issued an administrative guidance to the Unification Church demanding it comply with the law amid allegations that it has arranged for child adoption between believers' families without authorization. (Kyodo)

Japan's electric scooter users will no longer require a driver's license from July, though minors under 16 will be banned from riding them, the National Police Agency said Thursday, Kyodo reports. (KazInform)

An ex-boyfriend was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of fatally stabbing a woman on a street in the southwestern Japanese city of Fukuoka earlier this week, police said. (Kyodo)

Police in Tokyo have arrested a 31-year-old unemployed woman on suspicion of theft after she allegedly took a 34-year-old female acquaintance’s apartment key from her handbag during dinner and gave it to an accomplice to rob her apartment. (Japan Today)

A female inmate awaiting execution in Japan after being convicted of murdering two men in the western prefecture of Tottori in 2009 died Saturday of asphyxiation after choking on food, the Justice Ministry said Sunday. (Kyodo)