Police and rescue personnel on Saturday called off their search for three missing snowboarders on a mountain in Yuzawa, Niigata Prefecture, due to heavy snow. (Japan Today)

Archers in Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, fired their first arrows of 2015 on Saturday at a New Year's event to pray for improved skills. (NHK)

Police in Yokohama have arrested a 22-year-old man for stabbing his parents at their home on Friday afternoon. (Japan Today)

Police arrested three Indians for allegedly gang raping a 22-year-old Japanese research scholar near a Buddhist pilgrimage center in eastern India, police said Friday. (AP)

Princess Kako, the second daughter of Prince Fumihito, made her debut at an annual New Year's greeting event held for the public at the Imperial Palace on Jan. 2. (Asahi)

Police said three suspicious fires were reported Thursday night and early Friday morning in Saitama Prefecture. (Japan Today)

When millions of Japanese get their customary New Year's greeting cards on Thursday, the sheep that's on the postage stamps will have finished knitting the scarf it began 12 years ago. (Japan Today)

A small fire broke out inside the Yasukuni Shrine compound in Tokyo on Wednesday and police arrested a 25-year-old man in connection with the incident. (Japan Times)

An 18-year-old Korean man drowned after jumping into the Dotombori River during New Year's Eve celebrations early Thursday. (Japan Today)

Visitors at a hot spring resort at the foot of Mount Fuji had the rare pleasure of seeing Japan's highest peak bathed in the glow of the year's first sunrise. (NHK)

Japan's population slid for the 8th straight year in 2014, marking the sharpest decline after World War Two. (NHK)

Japan's Emperor wishes the coming year will bring happiness to the people of Japan and the world. (NHK)

Police on Monday arrested a 57-year-old man over the death of a 59-year-old woman in her apartment in Koganei, Tokyo. (Japan Today)

A policeman apparently committed suicide in a koban in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, police officials said Sunday. (Japan Today)

A 67-year-old woman died after her car went off a rooftop car park in Fuchu, Tokyo, on Sunday. (Japan Today)

Police in Konan City, Kochi Prefecture, have arrested a 27-year-old woman and her 23-year-old female friend over the death of the woman's 3-year-old daughter by suffocation. (Japan Today)

A 26-year-old man was arrested Friday on suspicion of attempted murder over an attack earlier this month on an elderly couple at their home in Maebashi, police said on the day. (The Japan News)

A 41-year-old man, who was arrested in August for abusing his 14-year-old stepson, on Thursday denied coercing the boy to commit suicide. (Japan Today)

A 45-year-old woman was stabbed by another woman at the entrance to her home in Minoo, Osaka Prefecture, on Thursday morning. (Japan Today)

While Japanese cool hunters might lament the lack of pop cultural exports in recent years - all the more conspicuous when compared to K-Pop's successful forays westward - kawaii (cute) culture has quietly permeated into global consciousness with all the effortless grace of singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu farting out a rainbow. (Japan Times)