Japan's first 360-degree projection mapping show will open at the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts on October 10, transforming the historic building into an immersive world of light, music, and seasonal imagery, with organizers hoping the attraction will also help stimulate the city's nighttime economy.

Japan's prolonged period of rising prices is continuing to squeeze households and businesses, driven by the weak yen, higher raw material costs and rising wages, forcing consumers to change how they shop and cook while companies search for ways to contain costs without losing customers.

The Asia-Pacific gaming market has been having a pretty serious moment.

A first-of-its-kind sleep competition was held in Tokyo on October 5, with contestants competing for a 2.22 million yen top prize by trying to achieve the deepest, fastest and most stable sleep during a 90-minute session.

Entertainer Tamori and two other prominent figures were named Honorary Citizens of Tokyo on October 1 in recognition of their contributions to the capital's development and the lives of its residents, with an award ceremony held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government headquarters on Tokyo Citizens' Day.

Performers at Universal Studios Japan are raising concerns about demanding working conditions behind the Osaka theme park's colorful shows and character appearances, with some describing the work as an example of employers taking advantage of workers' enthusiasm for jobs they once dreamed of doing.

Japanese director Tomoki Misato's stop-motion animation Candy Caries has won the Grand Prize in the children's category for ages 7 and up at the Ottawa International Animation Festival in Canada, one of the world's three major animation festivals.

Makoto Usui, the composer of "Shiawase Hakoberu Yoni," a song written in the aftermath of the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake that has become a symbol of hope for disaster survivors across Japan and overseas, died in July at the age of 65, leaving behind a musical legacy that his former students are determined to carry forward.

Japan's overnight trains are attracting renewed attention as railway companies introduce special services that combine affordable travel with exclusive experiences, highlighted by the country's first overnight Shinkansen service, which carried passengers from Osaka to Tokyo during the Silver Week holidays on September 22.

Police in Tokyo's Shibuya district are dealing with a steady stream of thefts, drunken altercations and late-night accidents, including a 17-year-old boy who stole a sleeping man's bag on a whim, a dispute outside a karaoke bar and an injured man who lost his memory after a night of drinking.

While millions of people across Japan enjoyed this year's five-day Silver Week holiday, workers at Kyoto's Toei Uzumasa Eigamura film studio theme park and a 24-hour smartphone repair service faced packed schedules, with some working late into the night to keep holidaymakers entertained and respond to emergencies.

Both cryptocurrency and online casinos have developed huge audiences in Japan. Research from 2025 estimated that more than three million adults have wagered online, while Japan also has an established crypto sector that is supported by millions of exchange accounts.

Japan's oldest record company is turning to artificial intelligence to reshape one of the country's most traditional musical genres, unveiling an AI-generated enka singer as part of a new label combining the technology with the distinctive vocal style of Japanese ballads.

Tokyo stocks rose on September 17, with the Nikkei 225 closing at 64,136, up 213.25 points, as investors bought selected technology, pharmaceutical, insurance and consumer-related shares after the Federal Reserve’s rate hike, though gains were capped by a stronger dollar, renewed yen weakness and caution before the Bank of Japan’s policy decision.

Tsunaki Mihara, a guitarist who rose to fame in the 1960s with the Group Sounds band Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets and remained active in music for decades, died of kidney cancer at a Tokyo hospital at 9:02 a.m. on September 11. He was 80.

Switching from an iPhone to an Android device, or playing on both at different times, turns something as simple as buying PokéCoins into a surprisingly confusing errand.

The Osaka prefectural and municipal governments said on September 14 that they have set a minimum sale price of 92.113 billion yen for the second-phase development area on Yumeshima, the site of the Osaka-Kansai Expo.

In this video, we cover the performances taking place this month at the Kabuki-za theatre in Tokyo!

Japanese pop culture has had fans around the world for decades, but social media has completely changed the way people discover it.

Women now make up a growing share of customers at Akihabara maid cafes, reflecting a shift in Japan's "oshi-katsu" fan culture as visitors increasingly seek not only someone to support, but also a sense of two-way connection with the maids they admire.

Hirokazu Koreeda's "Look Back" received more than 12 minutes of applause following its official screening at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival in Italy.

Tokyo police detained 39 minors during a two-day nighttime operation around the "Toyoko" area of Kabukicho in Shinjuku, with 17 of them, or roughly 40%, found to have previously overdosed on medication.

Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto's film Nelson, Did You Kill Anyone?, which is competing for the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival in Italy, received a standing ovation lasting about eight minutes following its official screening on September 4.

Night trains are making a comeback across Japan, with railway operators introducing new overnight services and even experimenting with overnight Shinkansen trains as demand grows for alternatives that combine transportation, accommodation and the experience of traveling through the night.

Nearly 60% of Japanese high school students consider learning about different cultures "very important," the highest proportion among Japan, the United States, China and South Korea, according to a survey released by the National Institution for Youth Education.