The earthquake that struck western Japan on Monday morning battered the region's infrastructure, revealing the fragility of utility lifelines and transportation networks in one of the country's most densely populated areas. (Nikkei)

More than 20 tremors believed to be aftershocks of Monday's major earthquake have rattled the western Japanese prefecture of Osaka. (NHK)

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 hit western Japan on Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. (Japan Today)

More than 2,000 venomous fire ants have been discovered in a shipping container from China that arrived at a port in Osaka Prefecture earlier this month, leaving two people hurt, government officials said. (Japan Today)

An earthquake shook Gunma Prefecture, north of Tokyo, on Sunday afternoon. No major damage has been reported. (NHK)

The U.S. naval hospital ship Mercy arrived Saturday in Japan, which is considering building such floating hospitals to provide medical care after disasters like the 2011 catastrophe. (Kyodo)

A nuclear reactor at a trouble-hit complex in southwestern Japan restarted operations Saturday for the first time in more than six and a half years amid lingering safety concerns. (Japan Today)

The Cultural Affairs Council recommended on Friday that a stratum in Chiba Prefecture, eastern Japan, be designated as a natural monument, citing its significance as a representing observation point for the beginning of a geological period that could be called "Chibanian." (Jiji)

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. <9501> will start discussions to decommission all four nuclear reactors at its Fukushima No. 2 power plant, President Tomoaki Kobayakawa said Thursday. (Jiji)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, has released new images of the Ryugu asteroid taken by its probe Hayabusa-2. (NHK)

Japan's nuclear watchdog on Wednesday approved a plan to scrap a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant northeast of Tokyo over a 70-year period with the cost projected at 1 trillion yen ($9 billion). (Kyodo)

Japan has put another satellite into orbit to gather intelligence for national security purposes. (NHK)

昨今のバイオテクノロジーは、画期的な製品開発や奇病の治療に取り組む研究者を鼓舞してきました。バイオテクノロジーの進歩によって、環境負荷の減少や作物収量の増加させ、これによって飢餓に苦しむ人々に食料を与える事や、よりクリーンなエネルギー利用を可能にしました。バイオテクノロジーは産業製造の過程においても改革を起こし、ますます安全でクリーン、そして効果的になっています。 (newsonjapan.com)

Delegates from Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have agreed to set up a conference that would look into tighter restrictions on eel catches. (NHK)

Japanese experts have estimated for the first time the long-term economic damage caused by a possible mega-quake along the Nankai Trough, off the Pacific coast of central and western Japan, or in the Tokyo metropolitan area. (NHK)

It's the hands-free experience you never knew you needed - a Japanese company has developed a drone-powered parasol it says can hover over users, protecting them from the sun. (Japan Times)

Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai and 2 crewmembers have returned to Earth after completing their mission at the International Space Station. (NHK)

The National Astronomical Observatory of Japan has started up the world's fastest supercomputer for astronomy to simulate phenomena that cannot be observed by telescope. (NHK)

Sashimi slices of fresh bonito from waters around Japan are a seasonal fixture of spring and early summer at fish stores across the nation. (Jiji)

A quake with a magnitude of 5.2 struck Nagano Prefecture on Friday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, adding that no tsunami warnings were issued. (Japan Today)