Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga vowed Saturday to press forward with reconstruction efforts for areas devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, as he visited the Fukushima nuclear power plant crippled by the disasters. (Japan Today)

Thursday marks the start of the Bon holidays in Japan, when Buddhists honor the spirits of their ancestors. (NHK)

Ammonia is a pungent, corrosive and highly toxic chemical but by the year 2030 it should provide more than 1 per cent of Japan’s total electricity supply, according to a consortium of leading players in the industry. (ft.com)

Would you buy a $7,000 peach? A fruit so juicy, so sweet, so perfect you just don't care about the sticky nectar dribbling down your face? (abc.net.au)

The number of corporate officers in Japan earning at least 100 million yen ($930,000) annually fell for the first time in eight years in fiscal 2019 as the coronavirus pandemic eroded performance-based compensation packages. (Nikkei)

The suicide rate in Japan fell by 20% in April compared with the same time last year, the biggest drop in five years, despite fears the coronavirus pandemic would cause increased stress and many prevention helplines were either not operating or short-staffed. (News Time)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is set to roll out an ¥800 billion relief package in response to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, a figure that far exceeds what was seen in the capital during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis or the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent nuclear disaster in March 2011. (Japan Times)

FUKUSHIMA – After nine long years, service on the Joban Line is fully back on track. (Japan Times)

At 2:46 p.m., a siren sounded to mark the exact time the quake struck ... as people across Japan paused to observe a moment of silence for the thousands lives lost nine years after a major earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident struck the country's northeast. (NHK)

A legal change this week will allow Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to declare a state of emergency to address the new coronavirus outbreak if he deems it necessary. (Japan Today)

Japan on Wednesday lifted an evacuation order for parts of Futaba, one of two towns where the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is located, ahead of an Olympic torch relay in the region. (Japan Times)

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics torch relay will start on March 12, 2020, and end on July 24, 2020. Olympics organizers will lit up the torch in Olympia, Greece and take it to Athens after one week. Sports enthusiasts can get the latest sports news about the Olympics at Betway. (newsonjapan.com)

East Japan Railway Co. conducted trial operations on Wednesday on a section of the Joban Line in Fukushima Prefecture that has been closed since the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. (Japan Times)

Some Japanese lawmakers giggled this week during a drill to practice the use of disaster prevention helmets, at least one of which was put on backwards, prompting Twitter users to question if they were making light of a life-and-death matter. (Japan Today)

A nuclear power plant reactor that was damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster and idled under stricter safety standards following the Fukushima crisis won approval from the nuclear watchdog on Wednesday for operations to resume. (Japan Times)

The industry ministry said Monday it would be safe to release water contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster into the ocean, stressing that on an annual basis the amount of radiation measured near the release point would be very small compared to levels to which humans are naturally exposed. (Japan Times)

Major Japanese railway and utility companies expect a recent series of typhoons to hit their business hard. (NHK)

The government's response to Typhoon Hagibis dominated Tuesday's debate in the Diet. (NHK)

A Japanese district court has found all three former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company not guilty in the only criminal prosecution stemming from the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima. (NHK)

New Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, a rising political star in Japan, said Wednesday he will encourage increased innovation in the country in the fight against human-driven climate change. (Kyodo)

The operator of the nuclear plant wrecked by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami said Wednesday that it will decommission four more reactors in northeastern Japan in addition to those already being scrapped. (Japan Today)

A supermarket has opened in the town of Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, which was devastated by the nuclear disaster in 2011. It is the first supermarket to operate in the town since the accident. Evacuation orders were partially lifted two years ago. (NHK)

Exports of agricultural products produced in Fukushima Prefecture rose about 2 percent in fiscal 2018 to a record 217.8 tons, according to the prefectural government. (Japan Times)

Passengers on an exclusive cherry-blossom tour have ridden buses through a no-entry zone near the site of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. (NHK)

The Japan leg of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic torch relay will start at a soccer facility in Fukushima Prefecture that is considered a symbol of the country's reconstruction from the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori said Tuesday. (Kyodo)