All Nippon Airways said on August 12 that it will lower fuel surcharges added to international airfares for tickets issued from September, following a temporary easing in fuel prices after a sharp rise linked to worsening conditions in the Middle East. (News On Japan)

Street performances began across Tokushima on August 12 as the city's Awa Odori festival entered its second day, with leading dance groups showcasing graceful routines after months of practice. (News On Japan)

A 23-year-old Mexican national has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to smuggle endangered lizards into Japan after customs officers at Haneda Airport discovered about 200 reptiles concealed inside 22 pairs of socks. (News On Japan)

A mysterious red light stretching vertically across the night sky over Kanagawa Prefecture has been identified as a rare "sprite," a brief luminous phenomenon that occurs high above thunderclouds at roughly the same time as powerful lightning strikes. (News On Japan)

Fifteen days after the Kumamoto earthquake, restoration of electricity and transport infrastructure is progressing, but thousands of people are believed to remain outside official shelters, while rising construction costs and interest rates are creating new challenges for rebuilding homes and restoring livelihoods. (News On Japan)

Two teenage boys from Tokyo's Adachi Ward have been arrested on suspicion of stealing a motorcycle and firing aerial fireworks toward police officers at two police boxes, telling investigators they were annoyed that a new police box had opened in the area. (News On Japan)

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi held a telephone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on August 12, urging an early easing of military tensions in the Middle East while stressing the importance of free and safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz without additional costs. (News On Japan)

Typhoon No. 15 approached the Kinki region on the morning of August 12 before weakening into a tropical depression over the Sea of Japan, but authorities are warning that sudden thunderstorms and heavy rain remain possible across the region. (News On Japan)

Hiroshi Okuda, a former president of Toyota Motor who helped lay the foundation for the automaker's emergence as one of the world's leading manufacturers, died of old age on August 8 at the age of 93. (News On Japan)

Tokyo stocks ended nearly unchanged on August 12, with the Nikkei 225 at 66,988.82, as gains in energy and financial shares offset weakness in electronics and pharmaceuticals while investors weighed higher crude oil prices, a weaker yen and growing expectations for another Bank of Japan rate increase. (News On Japan)

A large new typhoon formed near the Ogasawara Islands on August 12 and could approach Honshu around the end of the Obon holiday period, while the remnants of Typhoon No. 15 continue to bring unstable weather and a risk of heavy rain across a wide area of Japan. (News On Japan)

A fire broke out late on August 11 at Daido Steel's Chita Plant in Tokai, Aichi Prefecture, burning through an outdoor area containing scrap metal and other materials, with no injuries reported and no flames spreading to nearby buildings. (News On Japan)

Eighty-one years after the end of World War II, a newly donated book and the testimony of a man who moved to Manchuria as a child are preserving the history of a Japanese settlement known as Hamamatsu Village, whose residents fled advancing Soviet forces after years spent pursuing the promise of a more prosperous life. (News On Japan)

New research is reshaping long-held assumptions about Tyrannosaurus rex, including suggestions that the giant predator may have lived to around 40 years rather than 28, while advances in fossil analysis are also offering new clues about dinosaur growth, posture and even color. (News On Japan)

Teqball, a sport combining elements of soccer and table tennis, will make its Asian Games debut when the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games open in September, giving Japan's players a major opportunity to raise the profile of a discipline that has so far attracted relatively little attention domestically. (News On Japan)

Sony Group and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. announced on August 11 that they have formally agreed to jointly produce next-generation image sensors, with total investment expected to reach about 1 trillion yen and mass production scheduled to begin in Kumamoto Prefecture in 2029. (News On Japan)

Two weeks after the Kumamoto earthquake, the spread of malicious fake images has emerged as a problem in disaster-hit communities, with one resident saying the manipulation feels like an insult to everyone in his area. (News On Japan)

Hiroko Saito was 19 years old when she left Japan for North Korea in June 1961 with her Korean husband and their one-year-old daughter, persuaded by assurances that they were heading to a "paradise on earth" and that she could return to Japan after three years. Instead, she would spend four decades in North Korea, enduring chronic hunger, the deaths of her husband and children and a desperate struggle to survive before finally escaping and returning home in 2001. (News On Japan)

Summer festivals are in full swing across Japan, with distinctive local dances ranging from long-established traditions to unusual routines born at fishermen's banquets and even performances set to the music of American rock band Bon Jovi. (News On Japan)

Typhoon No. 15 continued moving west across central Japan on August 12, but heavy rain, strong winds and thunderstorms remained a threat far from the storm's center, with intense rainfall reported in parts of Tokyo and damage including fallen and broken trees in Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures. (News On Japan)