Around 1,500 competitors from across Japan gathered in Yamatokoriyama, Nara Prefecture, for the National Goldfish Scooping Championship, testing their skills in three-minute contests to determine the country's best goldfish scoopers. (News On Japan)

Kyoto is stepping up efforts to capture Japan's growing nighttime economy, with Toei Kyoto Studio Park extending its hours to 9 p.m., a new theater drawing visitors near Kyoto Station and nighttime tours expanding in Gion as the city seeks to encourage tourists to stay out longer and explore more areas after dark. (News On Japan)

The whistle of a steam locomotive still echoes through the mountains of Engaru in northeastern Hokkaido, where the historic Amemiya No. 21 continues to run through a region once sustained by forestry. (News On Japan)

Aichi Prefecture is seeking private-sector ideas for a vast mountain property in Nishio that has remained unused for 27 years after the prefecture spent 5.5 billion yen to buy the land for a project linked to the construction of Chubu Centrair International Airport. (News On Japan)

A 39-year-old woman from Taiwan has been arrested on suspicion of pouring an oil-like liquid on the national treasure Buddha Footprint Stone at Yakushiji Temple in Nara in April, police said. (News On Japan)

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake centered in southern Ibaraki Prefecture shook a wide area of the Kanto region at around 2 a.m. on August 23, registering a maximum intensity of lower 5 on Japan's seven-level seismic scale in parts of Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba and Tokyo. (News On Japan)

A foreign tourist was injured after being attacked by a bear near an observation deck on the shore of Lake Towada in Towada, Aomori Prefecture, on August 22, suffering a bite to his right arm and a bruised right shoulder. (News On Japan)

A 46-year-old woman employed at a chemical-related company has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after allegedly giving a muffin containing the designated deleterious substance acrylamide to a 30-year-old male acquaintance in Kyoto, police said on August 22. (News On Japan)

A 56-year-old woman who was swept away by a flash flood while climbing a mountain stream in Minakami, Gunma Prefecture, was rescued alive on August 17 after surviving eight days in the remote mountains with a broken heel, relying on food she had brought with her, stream water and her knowledge of the area until anglers found her sitting on a forest road. (News On Japan)

The measures were introduced in response to concerns over reckless climbing, including attempts to reach the summit without staying overnight at a mountain hut or taking sufficient rest. Under the current system, climbers who do not have reservations are restricted from beginning their ascent after 2 p.m., helping discourage people from climbing through the night without adequate preparation. (News On Japan)

Princess Aiko made her first visit to Shiga Prefecture on August 21, touring facilities previously visited by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, viewing exhibits at the Lake Biwa Museum and trying the Paralympic sport of boccia for the first time. (News On Japan)

A cognitive trait known as aphantasia, in which people are unable to voluntarily form images in their minds despite knowing what objects look like, may affect about 4% of people, highlighting significant differences in how individuals experience memory, imagination and everyday tasks. (News On Japan)

China's exports of rare-earth magnets to Japan fell by more than half in July from a year earlier, while shipments of tungsten carbide remained at zero for a sixth consecutive month, according to trade data released by Chinese customs authorities. (News On Japan)

Japan's nationwide core consumer price index rose 1.8% in July from a year earlier, with the pace of inflation accelerating for a second consecutive month as higher food prices and a rebound in energy costs outweighed a sharp decline in rice prices. (News On Japan)

An unofficial website that allows South Koreans to check whether their ancestors were considered collaborators during Japan's colonial rule is rapidly gaining users, fueling online scrutiny of family histories and attacks on descendants even as public sentiment toward Japan has reached its highest level since surveys began. (News On Japan)

Japan's Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry has begun considering reductions in postal services, including fewer mailboxes and less frequent deliveries, as the country's postal business continues to suffer losses following a prolonged decline in letters and New Year's cards. (News On Japan)

Another serious accident has occurred on a steep, prolonged downhill stretch of Prefectural Route 95 in Kobe, where authorities have repeatedly warned drivers about the risk of brake fade, a potentially dangerous loss of braking power that can affect ordinary passenger cars as well as large trucks. (News On Japan)

A Nepalese vocational school student found dead in a river in Fukuoka city had multiple injuries on her arms believed to have been sustained while trying to protect herself, leading police to suspect she was attacked repeatedly with a strong intent to kill. (News On Japan)

Japan executed 58-year-old death row inmate Sunao Takami on August 21 for setting fire to a pachinko parlor in Osaka in 2009, killing five people and injuring 10 others, in the first execution carried out under the Takaichi administration. (News On Japan)

Russia has conducted missile exercises around the Northern Territories, including what appears to have been a launch from one of the disputed islands, prompting Japan's foreign minister to call Russia's growing military presence there unacceptable. (News On Japan)