A prized early-season melon from Hokkaido's Iburi region fetched 300,000 yen for five pieces at the season's first auction held on the morning of May 13th in Sapporo. (News On Japan)

A deer was repeatedly sighted in central Sapporo on the morning of May 13th, prompting police to patrol the area and urge caution. (News On Japan)

The opening race of the Kyojo Cup, a women-only motorsport competition, was held on May 12th at Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture, where Okinawa-born driver Ongane Miki claimed a podium finish. (News On Japan)

A growing number of credit card fraud cases in Japan has been linked to a shadowy underground labor network, where Chinese nationals are suspected of stealing Japanese consumers' card data. (News On Japan)

A new matcha product priced at 4,320 yen for just 30 grams is drawing attention amid a global boom in Japanese green tea, as surging demand has made matcha increasingly difficult to procure even within Japan. (News On Japan)

A century after the 1925 Kita-Tajima Earthquake, the city of Toyooka is hosting a special exhibition to preserve the memory of the disaster and its aftermath. (News On Japan)

Nissan Motor has decided to cut nearly 20,000 jobs globally as it struggles with worsening business performance. (News On Japan)

Japan has traditionally not practiced tipping, but signs of change are emerging amid an unprecedented boom in inbound tourism. (News On Japan)

A 30-year-old Vietnamese man has been arrested for allegedly stealing 22 high-end bonsai trees worth a total of 670,000 yen from a garden center in Akishima, Tokyo. (News On Japan)

Hyogo Governor Motohiko Saito and senior prefectural officials have participated in an anti-power harassment training session aimed at fostering a more open and communicative workplace environment. (News On Japan)

Shizuoka Prefectural Police have launched a new initiative offering gasoline discount coupons to promote the use of their crime prevention app. This is the first such campaign in Japan to tie fuel discounts to public safety app downloads. (News On Japan)

The current global standard for measuring time is based on the oscillation of cesium atoms. Its margin of error—just one second every 60 million years—might seem sufficiently precise, but for one Japanese physicist, it is not enough. (News On Japan)

A male worker cleaning Reactor Unit 3 at the Genkai Nuclear Plant in Saga Prefecture was found to have suffered internal radiation exposure, marking the first such confirmed case at Kyushu Electric, the company announced on Sunday. (News On Japan)

A total of 12,269 people from across Japan performed together in a massive marching band at the "Ring" venue of the Osaka-Kansai Expo, setting a new Guinness World Record. (News On Japan)

The Sano International T20I Tri-Series 2025 concluded on May 11 at the Sano International Cricket Ground in Japan, with Thailand emerging as the tournament champions. (News On Japan)

Japan recorded a current account surplus of 30.3771 trillion yen in fiscal 2024, according to the Ministry of Finance, continuing a long-standing trend of strong income from trade and overseas investment. (News On Japan)