A car rammed into a police officer during a traffic violation crackdown in Kishiwada, Osaka, on January 7th, with the vehicle continuing to drive while the officer clung to the hood, prompting police to investigate the case as attempted murder.
A photograph of a Samoyed dog taken against the backdrop of Mount Fuji has been drawing widespread attention on social media, with the striking image earning more than 48,000 likes.
Graffiti has been discovered on a bamboo grove near Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto, a popular area that draws large numbers of tourists to the shrine’s famed Senbon Torii gates.
Otoshidama, the New Year cash gifts traditionally given to children in Japan, is undergoing a noticeable transformation as the spread of cashless payments and persistent inflation begin to affect even this long-standing custom.
The way people pay respects at family graves in Japan is undergoing rapid change, driven in part by shifting lifestyles and difficult realities surrounding grave maintenance.
An elderly woman died in Tokyo after choking on mochi during the first three days of the New Year, according to the Tokyo Fire Department.
The annual New Year “Karuta Hajime” ceremony was held on January 3rd at Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto’s Higashiyama Ward, where women known as “karuta-hime,” dressed in elegant Heian-period court robes, performed the opening match of the Hyakunin Isshu classical poetry card game.
Nearly three decades after the end of World War II, one man finally returned to Japan. He was Hiroo Onoda, known as the last Japanese soldier, who had remained hidden in the jungles of the Philippines for 29 years after the war ended.