A coordinated police crackdown on pedal-equipped electric bikes known as mopeds was carried out in Osaka’s Minami district, where traffic violations involving the increasingly popular vehicles have been spreading. (News On Japan)

A woman in her 40s who was scheduled to perform at a live house in Akasaka was stabbed in the abdomen and other areas on November 16th, leaving her seriously injured, and new information indicates that the man who attacked her had changed his shoes near the scene roughly two hours before the assault. (News On Japan)

A man who hid his face from cameras as he was escorted by police at the Tokorozawa Police Station in Saitama was among the suspects arrested on suspicion of theft. Police say he and three others allegedly broke a window and entered a vacant home in Hitachi City in August 2025, where they stole wristwatches and other items valued at about 15,000 yen. (News On Japan)

Japan’s nationwide consumer price index excluding fresh food rose 3.0 percent in October compared with the same month a year earlier, according to data released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, extending the streak of price increases to 50 consecutive months since September 2021 as the pace of inflation quickened from September’s 2.9 percent gain on the back of continued food price hikes. (News On Japan)

China’s backlash to Prime Minister Takaichi’s comments on a Taiwan contingency has intensified day by day, with the Chinese military now uploading a series of satirical illustrations to social media depicting a figure believed to be Takaichi. (News On Japan)

A series of arrests involving Japanese nationals overseas is drawing renewed attention to the expansion of special fraud rings, with on-the-ground reporting in Cambodia revealing the presence of hidden power brokers whose influence is believed to extend into the country’s political establishment. As scam groups establish bases across Southeast Asia, new details are emerging about how these networks operate and why Japanese citizens have become prime targets. (News On Japan)

Osaka prosecutors have decided not to indict a 21-year-old man from Shizuoka Prefecture in a case where the body of a Russian woman was discovered in a multi-unit residence in Osaka City in July, concluding on October 18th that the evidence did not warrant pursuing charges. (News On Japan)

Childcare workers in Saitama, a prefecture popular among families for its convenient access to central Tokyo, are increasingly leaving for jobs in the capital due to a growing wage gap, creating deep concern in communities that border Tokyo. (News On Japan)

Osaka City’s proposal to halt new applications for so-called special-zone minpaku at the end of May next year has been approved by the government as noise, waste management issues, and other disturbances continue to draw complaints from local communities. (News On Japan)

Workers began cutting bamboo along the famous Arashiyama Bamboo Grove in Kyoto on November 19th as the city moved to halt a surge in graffiti damage that has spread across the popular tourist path, where at least 350 stalks have already been defaced. (News On Japan)

Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has announced that the country’s main crop rice harvest for the 2025 season is expected to reach 7.468 million tons, marking an increase of 676,000 tons from the previous year and representing growth of roughly 10 percent. (News On Japan)

The Real Estate Companies Association of Japan has drafted a policy that would prohibit the resale of condominium units before they are handed over to buyers, an effort aimed at curbing speculative short-term flipping that has been cited as one factor behind the sharp rise in condominium prices. (News On Japan)

Core machinery orders — a leading indicator of private-sector capital investment — rose in September, with the Cabinet Office reporting that orders excluding ships and electric utilities climbed 4.2 percent from the previous month to roughly 920 billion yen. It marked the first increase in three months. (News On Japan)

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has decided to introduce routine vaccination for pregnant women as early as April 2026 to protect newborns from the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which can lead to severe symptoms in infants. (News On Japan)

China’s Communist Party–affiliated Global Times reported on its front page this morning that it had “demanded a clear explanation from the Japanese side” regarding the discussions held on the previous day, underscoring Beijing’s position that Tokyo must address the issue directly. (News On Japan)

A light aircraft carrying three people that departed from Saga Airport on the morning of November 19th was found crashed in the mountains of Hoshino Village in Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture, where emergency crews recovered three bodies whose identities and genders have yet to be confirmed. (News On Japan)

Okinawa Hotel in Naha received a commemorative bronze plaque from the Agency for Cultural Affairs after being designated as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property by the national government. (News On Japan)

Toyota’s experimental urban prototype Woven City, built in Shizuoka Prefecture as a large-scale test site, has entered its second month since opening in September, with the city’s early operations beginning to take visible shape as on-site demonstrations expand and new technologies are trialed across the community. (News On Japan)

Hokkaido hosted a company briefing session in Sapporo aimed at students and career changers on November 19th as part of an effort to energize the region’s space-related industries. (News On Japan)

Nagoya’s November session of the city assembly opened with members receiving a new ordinance proposal that would prohibit the unauthorized removal of aluminum cans and other recyclable materials placed out for collection, a move prompted by a sharp rise in scavenging as soaring material prices increase the value of recovered aluminum. (News On Japan)