KYOTO - A demonstration flight of a "flying car" developed by SkyDrive was held on Thursday at the Osaka-Kansai Expo, ascending to a height of about four meters and hovered for approximately three minutes.
The flying car also moved forward and backward over a distance of around 50 meters.
Unstable atmospheric conditions are expected to bring widespread clouds, sudden showers and thunderstorms across eastern Japan on Saturday, with residents advised to carry umbrellas even when skies appear calm.
Japan is likely to face increasingly long and dangerously hot summers as global temperatures continue to rise, with advanced climate simulations also pointing to more frequent torrential rain, rising seas and accelerating ice loss by the end of the century.
Japan's revised Imperial House Law was enacted after clearing the House of Councillors with majority support, allowing female members to retain royal status after marriage and male-line descendants of former imperial family branches to enter the Imperial Household through adoption.
A tropical depression near the Truk Islands is expected to strengthen into a typhoon within 12 hours, but forecasters say it is unlikely to have any direct impact on Japan.
A protest against Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was held in Tokyo's Shibuya district on July 16 as public concern grew over a bill that would impose criminal penalties for damaging the Japanese flag.
Fires involving lithium-ion batteries, including those used in mobile battery packs, are occurring at a record pace in Japan this year, with 179 incidents reported by the end of May, according to the Tokyo Fire Department.
JAXA successfully landed a small experimental vehicle for a reusable rocket on July 11, marking a step toward technology that could increase the frequency of space launches while helping reduce costs.
Japan is facing renewed questions over how to secure electricity while dealing with mounting nuclear waste, as power demand is expected to rise with the spread of generative AI and the government considers replacing as many as five nuclear reactors by the 2040s.
JAXA's Hayabusa2 probe made its closest approach to the asteroid Torifune on July 5, passing at high speed about 800 meters from the asteroid's center while conducting a flyby survey to examine its shape and surface materials.
A fossil discovered in Osaka has led to Japan’s first finding of its kind, raising the possibility that a giant marine predator believed to have swum in the seas around the Kansai region about 70 million years ago was a previously unknown species.
Researchers around the world are turning their attention to mitochondria, the energy-producing structures inside cells, as new discoveries suggest they may hold important clues to slowing aging, preventing disease and extending healthy life.
Strong earthquakes have continued to shake parts of Japan in recent weeks, with 11 temblors measuring lower 5 or above on the Japanese seismic intensity scale recorded across the country since April 2026.
Japan is set to begin its first clinical trial of xenotransplantation involving the transplant of pig kidneys into human patients, in a step that could open a new option for people with kidney failure.
