SoftBank Corp will soon downsize its Silicon Valley offices, people with knowledge of the matter said, signaling the company won't revive efforts to buy T-Mobile U.S. Inc. (Japan Today)

Documents stolen from Sony Corp. by hackers include detailed and identifiable health information on more than three dozen employees, their children or spouses - a sign of how much information employers have on their workers and how easily it can become public. (Japan Times)

Days after a cockroach in frozen fried noodles sparked a mass recall in Japan, a noodle maker has shuttered its operations after claims a cooked bug was found inside a meal. (Japan Today)

Fast Retailing is offering duty-free sales to foreigners shopping in Uniqlo stores in Tokyo, expanding the service beyond airports for the first time. (Nikkei)

Oscar-winning producer Scott Rudin apologized Thursday for calling Angelina Jolie a "spoiled brat" and making racially offensive jokes about President Obama's presumed taste in movies. (Japan Today)

Fujifilm Holdings Corp. has requested that the Chinese government investigate a major Chinese drugmaker, claiming the firm is producing a copycat drug of Avigan - an antiflu drug globally expected to be useful as treatment for Ebola - without permission from the Japanese firm holding the drug patents, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Wednesday. (The Japan News)

Hundreds of thousands of frozen pasta meals were being recalled in Japan on Wednesday after a cockroach was found inside a packet. (bangkokpost.com)

Sony Corp. said Wednesday it has no plans to release "The Interview" in Japan, a controversial comedy about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (Japan Times)

Nothing compares to the warm hug of a real person, but when there's no one else around, this nifty little Japanese invention can do the job quite well. It's called the 'tranquility chair' - its back is shaped like a giant human doll with a friendly face and long arms that can wrap around you in an affectionate embrace. (odditycentral.com)

Struggling Skymark Airlines Inc. is planning to seek assistance from All Nippon Airways Co. in the form of code-sharing and other tie-ups, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday. (Kyodo)

A flurry of deregulation will help cut the cost of building hydrogen stations in Japan by half, prompting many companies to offer fuel for fuel cell vehicles. Seven-Eleven Japan, for one, is moving to open convenience stores annexed to such filling stations. (Nikkei)

Police have arrested a Chinese man on suspicion of illegally accessing a server operated by NTT Communications Corp.'s Internet service provider OCN, it was learned Tuesday. (The Japan News)

Apple Inc will build a large research and development facility in Japan, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo said on Tuesday, local media reported. (Reuters)

Fast-food company Yoshinoya Holdings Co. said Tuesday it will raise the price of its signature beef bowl dish - long a symbol of the deflationary economy - for the first time in 24 years due to higher import costs. (Japan Times)

Honda Motor says it will recall about 5.4 million vehicles in the United States due to potentially defective airbags. (NHK)

Weren't a fan of Hollywood's recent effort? Want to see Japanese filmmakers bring the country's most famous kaiju back to the silver screen? Well, you're in luck. Toho Studios is releasing a new Godzilla film in 2016. (Kotaku)

North Korea released a statement Dec. 7 that clearly relished a cyber attack on Sony Pictures, which is producing an upcoming film that depicts an assassination plot against Pyongyang's supreme leader. (Asahi)

Imported fruit juice ingredients are getting more expensive, with the spot price for orange, pineapple and apple juice up by between 10% and 40%. (Nikkei)

A conservative Japanese daily on Saturday apologized for carrying an advertisement for books by an author who claims Jewish people were behind the country's 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster. (Japan Today)

Restaurants in Japan are rushing to secure supplies of french fries after shipment delays from the U.S., with one chain readying to airlift 200 tons of chips. (Japan Today)