The six-month Expo 2025 Osaka-Kansai, themed "Designing Future Society for Our Lives," featuring participation from 158 countries and regions, will come to a close on Monday, with total attendance surpassing 25 million people. (News On Japan)

A 26-year-old man died after being run over by a traditional yagura float during a procession in the Okada district of Sennan, Osaka, on the morning of October 11, with emergency services receiving a call shortly after 7 a.m. reporting that he had been struck by the wheels during the local Yagura Festival. (News On Japan)

The Japan Meteorological Agency announced that satellite images from the Himawari-9 weather satellite are currently unavailable due to a communication failure. While some functions have been restored through the backup satellite Himawari-8, key nighttime observation data such as infrared imagery remain inaccessible. (News On Japan)

Join me as I provide detailed feedback on a beautiful sunset landscape painting by Misaki-san from Kumamoto. She shared how she and her children were captivated by the ever-changing colors of the evening sky, exclaiming "Beautiful! Beautiful!" This heartwarming story inspired today's critique session. (Watercolor by Shibasaki)

A 23-year-old woman was arrested on the afternoon of October 12th in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, after she allegedly slashed the neck of an 83-year-old man with a knife inside a residential home, leading to his death shortly after. (News On Japan)

The abrupt collapse of the long-standing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)–Komeito coalition ahead of the upcoming prime ministerial vote has thrown Japanese politics into flux, complicating the path for Takaichi to take office and intensifying behind-the-scenes maneuvering among all major parties. Takaichi, who visited the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) headquarters earlier this week, was met with criticism over remarks describing an opposition figure as “damaged goods,” a sign of heightened tensions just two days before Komeito’s dramatic departure from the coalition. (News On Japan)