Fifteen days after the Kumamoto earthquake, restoration of electricity and transport infrastructure is progressing, but thousands of people are believed to remain outside official shelters, while rising construction costs and interest rates are creating new challenges for rebuilding homes and restoring livelihoods.
A mysterious red light stretching vertically across the night sky over Kanagawa Prefecture has been identified as a rare "sprite," a brief luminous phenomenon that occurs high above thunderclouds at roughly the same time as powerful lightning strikes.
Street performances began across Tokushima on August 12 as the city's Awa Odori festival entered its second day, with leading dance groups showcasing graceful routines after months of practice.
Two teenage boys from Tokyo's Adachi Ward have been arrested on suspicion of stealing a motorcycle and firing aerial fireworks toward police officers at two police boxes, telling investigators they were annoyed that a new police box had opened in the area.
Hiroko Saito was 19 years old when she left Japan for North Korea in June 1961 with her Korean husband and their one-year-old daughter, persuaded by assurances that they were heading to a "paradise on earth" and that she could return to Japan after three years. Instead, she would spend four decades in North Korea, enduring chronic hunger, the deaths of her husband and children and a desperate struggle to survive before finally escaping and returning home in 2001.
A fire broke out late on August 11 at Daido Steel's Chita Plant in Tokai, Aichi Prefecture, burning through an outdoor area containing scrap metal and other materials, with no injuries reported and no flames spreading to nearby buildings.
Tokyo stocks ended nearly unchanged on August 12, with the Nikkei 225 at 66,988.82, as gains in energy and financial shares offset weakness in electronics and pharmaceuticals while investors weighed higher crude oil prices, a weaker yen and growing expectations for another Bank of Japan rate increase.
Sony Group and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. announced on August 11 that they have formally agreed to jointly produce next-generation image sensors, with total investment expected to reach about 1 trillion yen and mass production scheduled to begin in Kumamoto Prefecture in 2029.
Japan's street-level economic sentiment improved for a third consecutive month in July, supported by sharply hotter weather after the end of the rainy season and the start of the summer vacation period, with stronger sales of products including men's parasols and air conditioners.
Tokyo stocks rose on August 10, with the Nikkei 225 closing at 66,376.25, up 1.2%, as investors bought electronics, metals and artificial intelligence-related shares, while fresh signs of a more hawkish Bank of Japan debate kept attention on the yen, bond yields and the timing of the next rate increase.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited Etorofu Island, marking his first trip to the Russian-held islands claimed by Japan as the Northern Territories, according to the Kremlin.
Eighty-one years after the end of World War II, a newly donated book and the testimony of a man who moved to Manchuria as a child are preserving the history of a Japanese settlement known as Hamamatsu Village, whose residents fled advancing Soviet forces after years spent pursuing the promise of a more prosperous life.
New research is reshaping long-held assumptions about Tyrannosaurus rex, including suggestions that the giant predator may have lived to around 40 years rather than 28, while advances in fossil analysis are also offering new clues about dinosaur growth, posture and even color.
Japanese companies delivered stronger-than-expected earnings for the April-June quarter, with artificial intelligence-related demand lifting a broad range of businesses while instability in the Middle East and higher resource prices emerged as key headwinds.
Teqball, a sport combining elements of soccer and table tennis, will make its Asian Games debut when the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games open in September, giving Japan's players a major opportunity to raise the profile of a discipline that has so far attracted relatively little attention domestically.
Climate change is reshaping Hokkaido's fishing and agricultural industries, contributing to declining salmon and pink salmon catches while allowing crops such as sweet potatoes, once considered unsuitable for large-scale production in Japan's far north, to take root.
Professional video workflows depend less on generating a striking image than on preserving decisions, isolating changes, and handing each shot to the next stage in a form that remains usable.
The average circulation of Weekly Shonen Jump fell below 1 million copies for the first time since official figures began, marking another milestone in the long-term decline of Japan's print manga magazine market.
Feel the heat this August, with the dazzling adventure of THE RIBBON HERO, and new weekly episodes of anime delivering action, discovery, and romance!
Cosplayers representing 10 countries and regions visited Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura and Nagoya Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa on July 29 ahead of the World Cosplay Summit, one of the world's largest cosplay events, which opens in Nagoya on July 31.
A 23-year-old Mexican national has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to smuggle endangered lizards into Japan after customs officers at Haneda Airport discovered about 200 reptiles concealed inside 22 pairs of socks.
Street performances began across Tokushima on August 12 as the city's Awa Odori festival entered its second day, with leading dance groups showcasing graceful routines after months of practice.
A large new typhoon formed near the Ogasawara Islands on August 12 and could approach Honshu around the end of the Obon holiday period, while the remnants of Typhoon No. 15 continue to bring unstable weather and a risk of heavy rain across a wide area of Japan.
Typhoon No. 15 continued moving west across central Japan on August 12, but heavy rain, strong winds and thunderstorms remained a threat far from the storm's center, with intense rainfall reported in parts of Tokyo and damage including fallen and broken trees in Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures.