The "47 ronin" samurai who inspired the long-loved saga of loyalty and honor eulogized in films, books and plays are fighting a new kind of battle in urban Japan. (AP)

Southern All Stars vocalist Keisuke Kuwata, leader of the legendary pop rock band, offered an apology Thursday for performances at the end of last year that were widely taken as a swipe at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (Japan Times)

Police in Fussa, Tokyo, said Thursday they have arrested a 21-year-old man after he stomped on an 11-year-old boy, breaking his leg, in a park. (Japan Today)

Tokyo police have disclosed for the first time records of police communications immediately after the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system. (NHK)

The number of people who committed suicide in Japan in 2014 fell for the fifth straight year, returning to the level before the financial crisis in the late 1990s, preliminary data from the National Police Agency showed Thursday. (Jiji Press)

Kanagawa prefectural police said Thursday they have arrested a 34-year-old man over the murder of his 26-year-old ex-girlfriend whose body was found in the Sagami River in Hiratsuka last November. (Japan Today)

Some rather peculiar, sticker-altered street signs have been popping up in Osaka or Kyoto over the last month. (rocketnews24.com)

Six Thai surrogate mothers of babies fathered by a Japanese man have filed lawsuits against him and Thailand's Social Development and Human Security Ministry to reclaim their children, a senior ministry official said Wednesday. (Japan Times)

Back in June 2013, RocketNews24 ran an article about the threats of attack on Fukuoka's Hakata Station. The perpetrator was subsequently caught and sent to a juvenile detention center, but now less than two years later, he's back to making YouTube videos of himself stealing from stores and destroying merchandise. (rocketnews24.com)

A 24-year-old Japanese man has sued the Thai government for the return of children born between him and surrogate mothers, a senior Thai government official said Tuesday. (Japan Times)

Police in Kyoto said Tuesday they have charged a 17-year-old youth with murder after he admitted to setting four buildings on fire, one of which killed two elderly occupants. (Japan Today)

A 42-year-old man was stabbed by an unknown man while he was riding a bicycle Kosai, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Monday. (Japan Today)

Police in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, on Monday arrested a 76-year-old man on suspicion of beating his 73-year-old wife to death at their home. (Japan Today)

Osaka Prefectural Police on Monday arrested a bureau chief of the Kobe Newspaper for allegedly picking up a teenage prostitute one year ago, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Jan. 12). (Tokyo Reporter)

Today, January 12th, is a national holiday in Japan... Coming-of -Age Day. One day earlier, young men and women who turn 20 flew a giant kite in Higashiomi City, in the central part of the country. (NHK)

The National Police Agency says that there were more than 2 million calls made to 110 last year across Japan, which were not categorized as being an emergency. (Japan Today)

Seppuku, a highly ritualized form of suicide that involved cutting one's own stomach, was once part of the bushido samurai code, and considered an honorable way to die and, until the 20th century, was quite common. So what happened? Why did this practice die out? (io9.com)

A court dismissed again Friday a plea by a death-row inmate for a retrial on a wine poisoning case in which five women were killed in Nabari in the central prefecture of Mie in 1961. (The Japan News)

A female college student who filed a suit last year against a television station that had deemed her work history unacceptable for employment as an announcer has reached a settlement with the network, it was learned on Thursday, reports Nikkan Sports (Jan. 9). (Tokyo Reporter)

A 51-year-old company executive was found collapsed in front of his home, bleeding from multiple stab wounds to his neck, in Mizuho, Gifu Prefecture, on Thursday night. (Japan Today)