Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako visited Ehime Prefecture on May 16th ahead of the National Tree-Planting Festival scheduled for May 17th, touring Japan’s only aquarium operated by high school students as part of an extracurricular club activity. (News On Japan)

Japan announced its 26-man squad on May 15th for the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be held across the United States, Canada and Mexico, with several key selections drawing attention as injuries continue to affect the national team ahead of the tournament. (News On Japan)

The Sanja Festival at Asakusa Shrine in Tokyo’s Taito Ward, one of the capital’s signature early summer events, reached its peak on May 16th as nearly 100 mikoshi portable shrines from 44 local neighborhood associations paraded through the downtown streets, filling the area with excitement and energy. (News On Japan)

A 400-meter race in which participants sprinted up a ski jump slope with a maximum incline of 37 degrees and an elevation difference of 130 meters was held on May 16th at the Okurayama Ski Jump Stadium in Sapporo. (News On Japan)

Free roll-type plastic bags once available to shoppers at supermarkets are being removed one after another as shortages of naphtha, a petroleum-derived raw material used in plastic production, spread across Japan amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East. (News On Japan)

Executives from U.S.-based AI company Anthropic, which developed the artificial intelligence system "Claude Mythos" that has raised concerns over potential misuse in cyberattacks, visited the headquarters of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party on May 16th for discussions on possible cooperation. (News On Japan)

A graceful procession made its way through the streets of Kyoto on May 16th as the "Roto no Gi," the main highlight of the Aoi Festival, got underway in Kyoto City. (News On Japan)

Part of the ceiling at 'Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena' in Nagoya's Minato Ward, which is scheduled to host squash events during the upcoming Asian Games, collapsed on May 11th, raising concerns over whether the venue will be ready in time for the international sporting event opening in September. (News On Japan)

Luis Enrique has achieved the impossible by combining dominant ball possession with lightning-fast counterattacks and intense pressing in the Parisians’ style of play. (News On Japan)

We revisit our two popular videos about Japanese Public and Private Elementary school lunches and brought them together in one video so you could see the contrast between the two. (Japanese Food Craftsman)

Kagome announced on May 14th that it will temporarily redesign several ketchup products by reducing printed packaging areas and adopting mostly transparent labels as worsening tensions in the Middle East continue to disrupt supplies of white ink and other petroleum-based packaging materials across Japan. (News On Japan)

JR Hokkaido is moving ahead with discussions over a so-called "vertical separation" system for railway lines the company says it can no longer maintain on its own. (News On Japan)

ENEOS Holdings announced that a tanker operated by one of its group companies has successfully passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East. (News On Japan)

A mysterious object floating softly through the air has captured widespread attention online, with researchers at Nagoya University developing an ultra-lightweight material that appears to behave like a real-life “flying carpet.” (News On Japan)

Aichi Financial Group, which owns Aichi Bank, and Mie Prefecture-based Sanjusan Financial Group announced that they have reached a basic agreement toward a management integration. (News On Japan)

I have often thought that the true rhythm of a city like Tokyo is best understood not from the high-rise lobby of a luxury hotel, but from the quiet side streets where the local vending machines hum through the night and the scent of a neighborhood bakery begins to drift at dawn – a perspective that is becoming increasingly attractive as we all try to navigate through (and at times, away from) a more and more complicated digital world. (News On Japan)

Figure skater Kaori Sakamoto held a retirement press conference in her hometown of Kobe, where she also revealed that she married in May. (News On Japan)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s subsidy program for “painless childbirth” has received far more applications than expected within its first six months, leading to significant delays in payments, it was revealed on May 14th. (News On Japan)

Nissan Motor announced its financial results for the year through March 2026 on May 14th, reporting a net loss for the second consecutive year as the company continues efforts to rebuild its business. (News On Japan)

The Osaka High Court upheld the acquittal on May 12th of Hiroshi Nakata, the 67-year-old head of the Yamaken-gumi faction, who had been charged with shooting and seriously injuring a member of a rival crime syndicate in Kobe in 2019. (News On Japan)