Kyoto's popular Sagano Romantic Train is attracting large numbers of foreign tourists for its final autumn season, with the familiar red-and-black carriages set to retire at the end of 2026 after carrying a cumulative 30 million passengers, making way for new trains scheduled to enter service in 2027.
A king and queen dressed in elaborate traditional Ryukyu costumes appeared at Shuri Castle in Okinawa on November 2 as the annual Shuri Castle Restoration Festival celebrated the former kingdom's cultural heritage and built anticipation for the November 23 public opening of the reconstructed main hall.
Two cars collided at an intersection near the popular Otaru Canal tourist attraction in Hokkaido on November 3rd, leaving one person with minor injuries after one of the vehicles overturned.
Emperor Naruhito presented the Order of Culture to seven recipients at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on November 3rd, Japan's Culture Day, honoring their outstanding achievements and contributions to the country's cultural development.
A medium-sized truck carrying an excavator overturned and crashed into a used car dealership showroom in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, on November 2, apparently after the construction equipment struck a pedestrian overpass and caused the vehicle to lose its balance, police said, adding that no injuries were reported.
Mountains of discarded tires and other waste have accumulated in residential neighborhoods in Tatebayashi, Gunma Prefecture, for more than a decade, prompting authorities to issue cleanup orders after detecting fluoride concentrations up to three times the permitted level, with the prefectural government setting aside 964 million yen for their removal.
A new rest facility featuring the first cafe inside the Imperial Palace opened in Tokyo's East Gardens on November 3, offering visitors a rooftop terrace with panoramic views, exhibits on the Imperial Family, and exclusive souvenirs.
Kyoto City announced plans on November 2nd to introduce tougher regulations on private lodging facilities, including a requirement for staff to be stationed permanently inside the properties or in nearby buildings, as complaints from residents continue to rise over noise and disruptive tourist behavior.
The Museum of the Imperial Collections at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo will reopen on November 3 following a major renovation that has expanded its interior space eightfold, with a series of special exhibitions featuring artworks associated with Japan's Imperial Family, including folding screens depicting scenes from The Tale of Genji and a celebrated painting by Ito Jakuchu.
Tokyo's Shibuya Ward issued 394 fines of 2,000 yen each for littering and street smoking during Halloween celebrations on October 31, while neighboring Shinjuku Ward recorded 498 cases of street drinking and smoking despite efforts to discourage disruptive behavior.
Japan marked the 80th anniversary of the promulgation of its Constitution on November 3rd, with demonstrators gathering outside the National Diet to defend its pacifist principles as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pushes for constitutional revision and an early parliamentary proposal.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi held rare bilateral talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of a G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 30 and 31, raising questions about whether Russian President Vladimir Putin could return to major international summits and how Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi would respond to a possible encounter with the Russian leader.
The foreign ministers of Japan, the United States, Australia and India met in the United States on October 31st, reaffirming their commitment to strengthening cooperation on economic security, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence under the four-nation framework known as the Quad.
Japan by Food and Shizuka head into the mountains of Nagano to explore Karuizawa, a historic highland resort just over an hour northwest of Tokyo, to see if it’s truly Worth The Trip. Join Shizuka as she strolls the iconic street food and rolls up her sleeves to make Nagano soba from scratch! (Japan by Food)
The AI Film Festival Japan 2026, one of Asia's largest international film festivals dedicated to works created using artificial intelligence, held its awards ceremony in Tokyo on November 1, attracting more than 730 submissions from over 60 countries and regions, with short films and animation accounting for the majority of entries.
Scientists at Toyo University have identified a possible weakness in alligator weed, an invasive aquatic plant described as one of the world's worst, raising hopes of finding a way to control its extraordinary ability to regenerate as it spreads through Japan's waterways, threatens agricultural land, and creates growing concerns about flooding.
Japan Post began nationwide sales of New Year postcards for 2027 on November 2nd, with a commemorative ceremony held in Kyoto featuring traditional maiko apprentices and members of the popular idol group NMB48, as the number of postcards issued continued to decline for the 16th consecutive year.
A vacant house in Osaka's Ikuno Ward collapsed in October after standing empty for more than a decade, exposing a loophole in Japan's vacant home legislation that prevents authorities from taking action against deteriorating properties when they form part of a row of connected houses still occupied by other residents.
The Bank of Japan has declared that Japan's underlying inflation rate has reached its long-standing 2% target, marking a milestone in its effort to overcome decades of deflation, even as consumers continue to struggle with food prices rising far faster than the central bank's benchmark.
GMO Internet Group President Masatoshi Kumagai apologized at his first press conference following a cyberattack on the company's investor-oriented cloud service, acknowledging that security vulnerabilities had been identified by specialists within the group two years earlier but that the warnings had not been adequately addressed.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 208.25 points, or 0.33%, to close at 63,081.86 at 3:30 p.m. on November 2, extending its losses for a second consecutive trading session as a sharp decline in memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings and continued uncertainty over US technology stocks outweighed gains in semiconductor equipment manufacturers.