Princess Aiko, the eldest daughter of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, attended a performance of the traditional Japanese court music art known as gagaku. (News On Japan)

Bear sightings are surging across northeastern Japan in an unusually early spring trend, prompting the fastest issuance on record of bear alerts in multiple prefectures including Aomori and Iwate. Incidents have already left a police officer seriously injured and a member of the Self-Defense Forces attacked. (News On Japan)

A male employee of Asahiyama Zoo in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, has told investigators that he disposed of his wife's body in the zoo's incinerator and burned it for several hours, police said, as officers continued voluntary questioning of the man in his 30s, according to sources close to the investigation. (News On Japan)

Japan is often known for its culture, safety, and high trust society, but behind the scenes, it also has one of the strictest immigration systems in the world. (Paolo fromTOKYO)

Read about the continent’s best footballers in the 1xBet review! (News On Japan)

A 41-year-old pediatrician was arrested on suspicion of trespassing after allegedly entering the ceiling space above an on-call room at a hospital in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, police said. (News On Japan)

Don Quijote has opened the first outlet of its new grocery-focused retail format, Robin Hood, entering an increasingly competitive supermarket market where major players are racing to attract cost-conscious consumers. (News On Japan)

The planned extension of the Hokkaido Shinkansen to Sapporo has come under renewed scrutiny after Japan's Finance Ministry said the project had reached a level at which it should, in principle, be canceled. (News On Japan)

The Nara Prison Museum, created from the former Nara Prison, a nationally designated Important Cultural Property built in the Meiji era, will open to the public on April 27. (News On Japan)

Temporary container housing being developed at Nagoya Port’s Garden Pier as an accommodation base for athletes competing in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, which open in September, was unveiled to the media on April 23. (News On Japan)

Japan has enacted a revised Passport Act that will sharply reduce passport application fees from July 1, as the government seeks to encourage more citizens to obtain passports. (News On Japan)

Japan's House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill to establish a National Intelligence Council aimed at strengthening the government's intelligence-gathering and analytical capabilities. (News On Japan)

Honda said it expects to post its first net loss since going public in the fiscal year ending March 2026, underscoring the heavy cost of its abrupt retreat from electric vehicle expansion. (News On Japan)

All Nippon Airways is considering introducing a fuel surcharge on domestic flights as early as the next fiscal year, amid surging fuel costs driven by tensions in the Middle East. (News On Japan)

Japan is turning to foreign workers to address a deepening shortage of bus drivers that has led to route suspensions and reduced services nationwide, including in Tokyo. With the industry projected to face a shortfall of 36,000 drivers by 2030, operators are beginning to recruit and train overseas talent as a short-term solution to keep public transport running. (News On Japan)

Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on April 22 presented a draft outline of key issues to an expert panel examining protections for minors on social networking services, taking a cautious stance toward blanket age-based access restrictions that have been increasingly introduced overseas. (News On Japan)

The Emperor and Empress hosted the annual Spring Garden Party on April 17 at Akasaka Imperial Garden in Moto-Akasaka, Tokyo, welcoming around 1,400 guests including gold medalists from the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, distinguished figures from various fields and local government representatives. (News On Japan)

Three members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force were killed in a tank shell explosion during a live-fire exercise at a training ground in Oita Prefecture, with the force now planning to examine radio communications at the time of the accident. (News On Japan)

Fraud cases involving criminals impersonating police officers are increasing across Japan, with a new tactic emerging in which fake arrest warrants are mailed directly to victims' homes. (News On Japan)

Wakayama Prefecture held talks with local fisheries cooperatives after concerns grew that fishing boats may be unable to put to sea because fuel supplies have been disrupted by tensions in the Middle East. (News On Japan)