Handheld Fan Sparks Fire in 10-Story Tokyo Building

Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese avant-garde artist whose obsessive dots, nets, pumpkins and mirrored rooms grew from intensely personal visions into some of the most recognizable images in contemporary art, died at a hospital in Tokyo on August 14, 2026, at the age of 97. Her death was announced on August 27 by companies representing the artist, which said she continued painting until her final days.

A Toei bus crashed into a traffic signal in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward on the morning of August 26 after the driver lost control of the steering wheel while trying to shoo away a mosquito, leaving two male passengers injured.

Kanazawa's fire department is asking residents not to straighten or rearrange shoes removed by paramedics during emergency calls, warning that the well-intentioned gesture can delay the transport of patients by around 30 seconds and potentially interfere with medical care.

Two men who stole four luxury watches worth a combined 200 million yen from a store at Tokyo's Nakano Broadway may have carefully planned the 10-second theft, with one suspect renting an electric kick scooter shortly before the crime and investigators examining whether the other man's escape on foot was intended as a decoy.

A series of mysterious illegal dumping incidents involving about 39 kilograms of sliced bread has been reported around Mount Daisen and other parts of Tottori Prefecture in August, with officials investigating whether the food may have been deliberately placed to attract wild animals.

A 23-year-old man died after his car overturned and was badly damaged in Nemuro, Hokkaido, early on August 24, with police investigating whether the vehicle may have collided with a brown bear or another wild animal after black fur was found attached to the wreckage.

An 18-year-old high school student died after being trapped between a large festival lantern and a shopping arcade pillar during a traditional lantern-pushing event in Agano, Niigata Prefecture, on the evening of August 24, raising renewed questions about safety measures at festivals involving large crowds and heavy structures.

Nine people were injured, including two seriously, after a pleasure boat carrying 10 people ran aground near the mouth of the Tama River close to Haneda Airport on the evening of August 24.