As the number of foreign visitors to Japan continues to rise, two uniquely Japanese cultural phenomena — food replicas and capsule toys, known as gacha — are drawing growing attention as unexpected tourist attractions and potential new souvenir staples. (News On Japan)

A 48-year-old woman who works as a lecturer at an Osaka prefectural high school was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a man in Osaka, with the man later confirmed dead at the hospital where he was taken. (News On Japan)

Motors are embedded in countless electronic devices, from home appliances and robots to automobiles, quietly generating the power that underpins modern life, and now a Japanese startup is challenging long-held assumptions by developing a next-generation motor that delivers both high efficiency and high output while eliminating the need for rare earth materials. (News On Japan)

The Konomiya Hadaka Festival, an unusual Shinto ritual dating back more than 1,250 years in which men wearing only loincloths collide violently with one another, was held on March 1st at Konomiya Shrine in Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture, drawing around 10,000 participants who surged toward a designated “sacred man” believed to absorb misfortune through physical contact. (News On Japan)

The main rites of the Buddhist practice known as "Shunie," widely referred to as "Omizutori," began on March 1st at Nigatsudo Hall of Todaiji in Nara, marking the arrival of spring in the ancient capital. (News On Japan)

A man in his 50s died after falling while ice climbing in Gero, Gifu Prefecture, on March 2nd, after a report was made shortly after 9 a.m. from a person at the scene in Osakacho stating that he had fallen along with a sheet of ice and become trapped beneath the collapsed mass. (News On Japan)

As price hikes spread from fast food to daily necessities and households grapple with rising living costs, the steady depreciation of the yen has emerged as a central driver of inflation, with multiple indicators showing that the currency’s purchasing power has fallen to roughly one-third of its mid-1990s peak, underscoring how three decades of economic stagnation, prolonged monetary easing and renewed fiscal expansion have left Japan far more vulnerable to imported inflation than other major economies. (News On Japan)

An AI startup that emerged almost overnight, Akari had long been known only to insiders due to its limited media exposure, but after receiving investment from Mitsubishi Electric at the end of January and seeing its corporate valuation surge past 100 billion yen, the Tokyo-born venture has rapidly positioned itself as a leading unicorn candidate in Japan’s AI sector. (News On Japan)

Honda announced on February 26th that it will introduce a new model of its SUV, the CR-V, with prices starting at 5,122,700 yen. (News On Japan)

Mizuho Financial Group has decided on a policy to improve operational efficiency through the use of artificial intelligence, aiming to reduce administrative work equivalent to as many as 5,000 employees over the next decade. (News On Japan)

The name of a Japanese figure involved in a national government project has appeared more than 8,000 times in investigative records related to the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged with sex trafficking and other crimes, sparking controversy and raising concerns over the future of the state-backed initiative. (News On Japan)

A man indicted on murder charges over the killing of a 31-year-old nailist in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, is suspected of attaching a location-tracking “lost-item tag” to the victim’s car, investigative sources said, with police planning to rearrest him on March 2nd on suspicion of violating the anti-stalking law. (News On Japan)

I finally tried the newly revived hovercraft (HOVERDRIVE) in Oita, Japan. It was absolutely worth a ride. I'm not saying it was comfortable, though! (Solo Travel Japan)

Yōkōkan Teien is a traditional Edo-period stroll garden (kaiyū-shiki teien) located in Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture. (Japanese Garden Collection)

The number of foreign visitors staying at accommodation facilities across Japan reached a record 177.87 million guest nights last year, marking the highest level ever recorded and highlighting a continued shift toward regional destinations. (News On Japan)

A bearded American man was arrested after allegedly stealing a truck in central Tokyo on February 14th and repeatedly fleeing crash scenes, with one victim saying the driver appeared to be laughing as he sped away. (News On Japan)

The assembly of a massive shield machine for tunnel construction at the Kanagawa Station site of the Linear Chuo Shinkansen has been completed, with the site opened to the media as excavation prepares to move forward toward Nagoya. (News On Japan)

The Japan Tourism Agency announced in its accommodation travel statistics survey that both the number of guests and total overnight stays at lodging facilities across Japan increased in 2025, with some prefectures posting striking gains driven by unexpected promotional efforts. (News On Japan)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has submitted to the metropolitan assembly Japan’s first ordinance proposal that would in principle ban the installation of new utility poles, but how far has the effort to remove poles from above ground across the capital actually progressed? (News On Japan)

In February, a male university student who climbed onto drift ice along the coast of Koshimizu in Hokkaido’s Sea of Okhotsk region was swept out to sea and later rescued, prompting experts to issue fresh warnings that such actions carry life-threatening risks. (News On Japan)