A series of mysterious illegal dumping incidents involving about 39 kilograms of sliced bread has been reported around Mount Daisen and other parts of Tottori Prefecture in August, with officials investigating whether the food may have been deliberately placed to attract wild animals.
An 85-year-old couple have donated a combined 400 million yen to Osaka City with a request that the money be used to create a giant Myaku-Myaku statue about 20 meters tall at the former site of the Osaka-Kansai Expo, envisioning a landmark that could become a lasting symbol of the event and of renewed prosperity for Kansai and Japan.
An 18-year-old high school student died after being trapped between a large festival lantern and a shopping arcade pillar during a traditional lantern-pushing event in Agano, Niigata Prefecture, on the evening of August 24, raising renewed questions about safety measures at festivals involving large crowds and heavy structures.
Nine people were injured, including two seriously, after a pleasure boat carrying 10 people ran aground near the mouth of the Tama River close to Haneda Airport on the evening of August 24.
Four teenage boys have been arrested in Tokyo on suspicion of stealing ketchup and other goods from a supermarket before splashing the ketchup on the face and body of a woman in her 70s, with one suspect telling police he had targeted around 10 people in similar attacks.
Aichi Prefecture is seeking private-sector ideas for a vast mountain property in Nishio that has remained unused for 27 years after the prefecture spent 5.5 billion yen to buy the land for a project linked to the construction of Chubu Centrair International Airport.
Haneda Airport has unveiled a new boarding area at Terminal 1 that will begin operations in September, featuring extensive wood interiors and self-driving transportation within the facility.
A new 220-meter pedestrian suspension bridge has been completed at Biwako Valley in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, offering visitors sweeping views of Lake Biwa from mountains about 1,100 meters above sea level.
Police have established a temporary police post in the whaling town of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, ahead of the September 1 opening of the annual drive hunt for whales and dolphins.
Air travel in Okinawa is beginning to be disrupted by the approach of Typhoon No. 18, with All Nippon Airways canceling 119 flights and more than 20,000 passengers expected to be affected.
Prime Minister Takaichi said the government will continue using subsidies to keep the nationwide average gasoline price at around 170 yen per liter, drawing on reserve funds set aside to respond to developments in the Middle East.
The Japanese government plans to reuse low-radioactivity soil generated by decontamination work after the Fukushima nuclear accident at government office complexes in Saitama and Sendai, marking the first such reuse outside Tokyo.
Japan's GX Promotion Organization has invested about 3 billion yen in two startups developing nuclear fusion and plastic recycling technologies, with combined public and private investment expected to reach around 20 billion yen as the government seeks to accelerate the commercialization of advanced decarbonization technologies.
Production of Asahi Ponzu, a popular seasoning that has been a fixture on Kansai dining tables for decades, has been suspended for the first time in the product's roughly 60-year history as a severe shortage of sudachi citrus exposes a deepening crisis in Tokushima Prefecture, which accounts for 98% of Japan's shipments.
Around 1,500 competitors from across Japan gathered in Yamatokoriyama, Nara Prefecture, for the National Goldfish Scooping Championship, testing their skills in three-minute contests to determine the country's best goldfish scoopers.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed have agreed on plans to build three theme parks near Paris, including one based on the popular Japanese anime Dragon Ball, with total construction costs expected to reach about 6 billion euros, or roughly 1 trillion yen.
A photo exhibition documenting the devastation caused by the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake and subsequent heavy rain disasters is being held in Osaka.
Japan's traditional neighborhood public baths are struggling with rising fuel, labor and operating costs, but unlike most businesses they cannot freely raise prices because admission fees remain regulated under a postwar price-control law introduced in 1946.
Tokyo stocks fell on August 24, with the Nikkei 225 closing at 65,528.09, down 488.27 points, or 0.74%, as global bond-yield pressure and caution ahead of Nvidia’s earnings triggered selling in artificial intelligence and semiconductor-related shares, even as the broader TOPIX edged higher.
Suzuki has unveiled a prototype of its first kei-class electric vehicle, the e SKY, which is scheduled to go on sale during the current fiscal year with a driving range of 310 kilometers, among the longest offered by a domestically produced kei EV.
Following the fare revision, a labor union representing taxi drivers in the prefecture and other groups held a news conference calling for the proportion of operating revenue paid to drivers to be raised from its current level to at least 60%.