A shopping street in Gifu City was the scene of an unusual theft when a man stole six anime-related novels from a café storefront in just 20 seconds.
Although most people visiting cemeteries during the autumn equinox in Japan are accustomed to cremation as the standard form of burial, a growing number of sites are now offering traditional ground burials. The shift reflects rising demand, particularly from foreign residents, and increasingly from Japanese as well.
A will left by Kosuke Nozaki, the wealthy businessman known as the 'Don Juan of Kishu,' declaring that his entire estate of about 1.3 billion yen be donated to Tanabe City has again been recognized as valid, with the Osaka High Court upholding the earlier ruling against claims by his relatives that the document was forged.
Monkeys are running wild in Yugawara, one of Kanagawa Prefecture’s best-known hot spring towns, raiding homes, attacking dogs, and eating whatever they please, from bananas to bread.
The Ise Grand Shrine in Mie Prefecture held the Ofunashiro Festival on September 17th, a ritual in preparation for the 2033 Shikinen Sengu, the periodic rebuilding of its sanctuary. The ceremony involves felling sacred timber used to make the vessel known as the Ofunashiro, which holds the sacred container called the Mihishiro for enshrining the deity.
A brown bear has been captured in Sunagawa City, Hokkaido, where warnings had been issued after repeated sightings, with video footage showing the animal extending its long, sharp claws through a fence and attempting to intimidate the camera.
Three men, including the manager of an adult entertainment business, were arrested on suspicion of arranging prostitution for Chinese tourists in Osaka Prefecture.
The Okinawa Island-wide Eisa Festival, the largest event of its kind in the prefecture, is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year after growing from its postwar origins into one of Okinawa’s most representative cultural events.