Japan News

All six high school students representing Japan at the 59th International Mathematical Olympiad have won medals including a gold, the education ministry said Friday. (Jiji)

On Rishiri Island in the northern Japan prefecture of Hokkaido, people are on alert after a brown bear has recently been spotted for the first time in 106 years, ahead of the summer tourism season. (Jiji)

Meat, mackerel and other foods are being increasingly promoted as substitutes for "kabayaki," or grilled, eels ahead of the midsummer Day of the Ox in Japan. (Jiji)

People in western Japan are contending with scorching heat as they pick through the debris left by record rain, flooding and landslides. (NHK)

Five people died and more than 1,500 others were taken to hospitals for heat exhaustion, as a heat wave covered Japan on Saturday, a Kyodo News tally showed. (Japan Today)

Japan's university entrance examination system is scheduled for an overhaul in 2020. The planned changes in English-language testing are a particular target of attention. (nippon.com)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 22-year-old male resident of Yokohama who is alleged to have repeatedly molested a female university student across two municipalities earlier this year, reports TBS News (tokyoreporter.com)

A 22-year-old man who went on a rampage on a shinkansen (bullet train) last month, fatally stabbing one man and injuring two women, began a psychiatric evaluation on Friday. The Yokohama District Court ordered the examination to determine if the man is mentally competent to stand trial. (Japan Today)

More than three-quarters of Japanese women of prime age to start families are now in the workforce, signaling a break from the long-running trend of mothers quitting jobs to care for newborn babies. (Nikkei)

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko have cancelled their planned summer retreat north of Tokyo following last weekend's deadly torrential rain in western Japan, the Imperial Household Agency said Friday. (Japan Today)

A government panel gave the green light Friday for public broadcaster NHK to start simultaneous online streaming of its television programs amid surging popularity of streaming video services. (Japan Today)

The issue of hygiene has become paramount now that floodwater has receded in the downpour-hit Mabi district of Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. (Jiji)

Law enforcement has accused a married couple of cultivating marijuana and possessing a special form of the same banned drug at their residence in the town of Tobetsu, reports the Hokkaido Shimbun. (tokyoreporter.com)

Yokozuna Hakuho, who was seeking to extend his record championship haul to 41, pulled out of the ongoing Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament on Wednesday due to a right knee injury. (Kyodo)

A woman stabbed by a male Filipino national at her residence in Hamura City earlier this week has died, police said on Wednesday, reports NHK (tokyoreporter.com)

AKB48, the mega-group that kicked off the modern idol era, has once again demonstrated that it wears the sparkly crown of the idol industry, as its newest single, "Teacher Teacher," has now sold three million copies. (soranews24.com)

A small eruption has been confirmed on an uninhabited island in the Pacific around 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo, the weather agency said Thursday. (Kyodo)

The torch relay for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will start in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on March 26 of that year, the organizing committee of the games announced on Thursday. (Jiji)

NHK has learned that scientists now believe the asteroid Ryugu was likely formed from a collection of asteroid fragments. (NHK)

Japan's Fair Trade Commission has accused the Japanese unit of global tech-giant Apple of possibly violating the anti-monopoly law by forcing major mobile service providers to give discounts on their iPhones. (NHK)