The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has started cracking down on cyclists violating traffic laws due to a series of fatal accidents from reckless bicycling. (Japan Today)

Japan will cut household electricity bills by about 20 percent early next year as an inflation-relief step under a broader economic package that will entail nearly 30 trillion yen ($204 billion) in government spending, sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday. (Kyodo)

Police in Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture, have arrested a 27-year-old man on suspicion of parental neglect after he left his four-year-old daughter unattended in a car parking lot at night. (Japan Today)

Japan on Tuesday began coronavirus vaccinations for children aged six months to four years at a hospital in Tokyo, expanding the eligibility criteria for inoculation to almost all age groups. (Kyodo)

The Japanese government will extend a gasoline subsidy to curb rising energy costs until the first half of the next fiscal year, the Kyodo news agency reported on Wednesday (Oct 26). (CNA)

Police in Tokyo have arrested a 26-year-old man on suspicion of assault and attempted robbery after he tried to steal a police officer’s gun in a koban (police box) at Shibuya Station. (Japan Today)

A four-year-old boy fell to his death from an apartment building where he lived in Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward on Saturday. (Japan Today)

Kei Komuro, the husband of Japanese former princess Mako Komuro, has passed his New York state bar examination on his third attempt, a source familiar with the matter said Friday. (Kyodo)

A Tokyo court on Thursday ordered ruling party lawmaker Mio Sugita to pay Shiori Ito, a journalist and symbol of Japan's #MeToo movement, 550,000 yen ($3,700) in damages for clicking "like" on several tweets she said defamed her. (Kyodo)

Police in Hidaka, Saitama Prefecture, have arrested a 37-year-old unemployed man on suspicion of assault and trespassing after he entered the grounds of a junior high school and injured three students with a bamboo sword. (Japan Today)

The yen's rapid and one-sided depreciation is "negative" for the Japanese economy, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said Wednesday after the currency hit a fresh 32-year low versus the U.S. dollar. (Kyodo)

A cross-party group of around 90 Japanese lawmakers on Tuesday visited the war-linked Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo for its fall festival, a move expected to irritate some Asian neighbors who view it as a symbol of Japan's past militarism. (Kyodo)

Keita Nakagawa singled in the winning run in the ninth inning as the Pacific League champion Orix Buffaloes advanced to the Japan Series with a 3-2 walk-off win over the SoftBank Hawks on Saturday. (Kyodo)

A long-awaited theme park featuring beloved characters and scenes from Studio Ghibli’s hit animations is set to open Nov. 1 in central Japan’s Aichi Prefecture, treating fans to the wonders and secrets of Ghibli films such as “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Castle in the Sky.” (Kyodo)

An Israeli resident of Japan who was being held at a detention center near Tokyo after being charged in 2020 for smuggling drugs into the country has died, his lawyer said Tuesday. (Kyodo)

The Tokyo metropolitan government on Tuesday began accepting applications from sexual minorities to have their partnerships publicly recognized, ahead of the program's launch on Nov. 1. (Kyodo)

A 53-year-old man was arrested Monday on suspicion of abandoning the body of a female university student at his home in Sapporo, Hokkaido, over the weekend. (Kyodo)

The prefecture of Miyagi in northeastern Japan plans to grant government workers leave to take care of their grandchildren as part of efforts to help child-rearing parents. (Kyodo)

Japan's Megumi Horikawa won the women's 63-kilogram division at the judo world championships on Sunday in Tashkent for her first world title. (Kyodo)

A body found recently in a river in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, has been confirmed as that of a 7-year-old girl who went missing in late September, investigative sources said Thursday. (Kyodo)

Japan's health ministry on Wednesday granted special fast-track approval to U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc.'s updated coronavirus vaccine tailored to protect against the now-prevalent BA.5 subvariant. (Kyodo)

North Korea fired two ballistic missiles early Thursday from near Pyongyang toward the Sea of Japan, the sixth round of launches since late September, after a U.S. aircraft carrier was redeployed to the waters, the Japanese government and the South Korean military said. (Kyodo)

The iPhone 14 launched by Apple Inc. in September was cheaper in Japan than 36 other major countries and regions in the world, a survey showed Wednesday. (Kyodo)

A court has granted a temporary injunction on an immigration agency decision to strip a Japanese language school of its certification over an incident in which a former staff member physically restrained a Vietnamese student last October, the agency said Wednesday. (Kyodo)

A Japanese court on Friday upheld the denial of a long-term residence visa to an American man who married his same-sex Japanese partner in the United States. (Kyodo)