Jul 29, 2021 (Al Jazeera) - “It is a mountain that is an object of worship.” Hikers are flocking back to Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji as the active volcano’s symmetrical slopes reopen to the public after being off-limits for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Typhoon No. 25 was moving westward over waters south of the Ogasawara Islands as of noon on September 18 and is expected to bring heavy rain and stormy weather to the islands, Kanto, the Izu Islands and eastern Shizuoka Prefecture during the first half of Japan's five-day Silver Week holiday, before conditions improve across much of the country later in the break.
A black bear has been spotted near one of the most popular hiking trails on Mount Takao in western Tokyo, prompting authorities to urge visitors to take precautions ahead of the five-day Silver Week holiday and the approaching autumn foliage season.
Starbucks is considering selling a majority stake in its Japanese business, potentially valued at as much as $3 billion, or about 470 billion yen, as the U.S. coffee chain seeks to concentrate management resources on its struggling North American operations.
Japan's Halloween Jumbo Lottery went on sale nationwide on September 16, offering a combined top payout of 400 million yen for the first prize and its adjacent-number prizes.
A new top-tier "Supreme Class" offering fully private compartments above the level of Green Car service will debut on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen on October 1, with passengers able to experience the new seating at a demonstration booth at Shin-Osaka Station.
A luxury mansion in Bangkok described as resembling a palace was being used as a base for a specialized fraud operation targeting Japanese people, with Thai authorities detaining 14 people, including four Japanese men.
Copper roofing has been stripped from Shinano-no-miya Shrine in Oshika Village, Nagano Prefecture, leaving the wooden structure exposed in the latest of a series of similar thefts reported at shrines across the prefecture.
A popular Tokyo nightclub hostess and influencer known as Yamatorino, who says she generated more than 200 million yen in sales during a single month, has been arrested on suspicion of possessing cocaine with her boyfriend at their home in Roppongi.
A second-year high school student was arrested at the scene after allegedly releasing tear gas spray inside a classroom at Osaka University of Commerce Sakai High School on September 16, leaving 24 students complaining of coughing, throat pain and other symptoms.
Police have arrested a 26-year-old man suspected of acting as a top-level planner in an anonymous, fluid criminal group known as a "Tokuryu," with investigators believing he was involved in a series of theft-related crimes in Kyoto and other areas between December 2025 and March 2026.
A 37-year-old man was arrested at Chubu Centrair International Airport after allegedly injuring a police officer who warned him about walking two toy poodles without leashes inside the airport complex.
The number of people aged 100 or older in Japan has exceeded 100,000 for the first time, reaching a record 107,677 as of September 1, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
A 29-year-old man accused of killing his pregnant former girlfriend, a nail artist in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, admitted the charges at his first trial on September 14, with prosecutors saying he used tracking tags to locate the woman after deciding he wanted to kill her and "reset" his life to before their relationship.
