A toy trade fair was held in Osaka ahead of the year-end shopping season, bringing together 84 manufacturers from Japan and abroad who showcased products ranging from educational toys to collectibles. (News On Japan)

A 24-year-old entrepreneur is drawing attention with a new business model that relies on goats to provide weed control, a service that could also help sustain life in depopulated communities. (News On Japan)

Seven Bank has announced plans to replace all 16,000 ATMs currently installed in FamilyMart stores nationwide through agreements with E-Net and Japan Post Bank with its own machines. (News On Japan)

Japan's National Tax Agency announced on Friday that the average annual salary for private-sector employees in 2023 rose to 4.78 million yen, the highest level since the survey began, marking the fourth consecutive year of increases. (News On Japan)

While corporate profits continue to reach record highs, employee wages remain stagnant, leaving a growing segment of Japan’s workforce struggling. Since the collapse of the bubble economy, non-regular employment has steadily increased, creating a widening gap between regular and non-regular workers. Today, 15.4% of the population earns less than half the median standard of living, the second-highest proportion among the G7 countries after the United States. (News On Japan)

Tokyo consumer prices rose 2.5% in September compared with a year earlier, with the index excluding fresh food—often subject to sharp fluctuations—reaching 110.0 across the capital’s wards, while the pace of growth remained unchanged from the previous month. (News On Japan)

Panasonic Holdings will begin soliciting early retirement applications next month at one of its core operating companies as part of broader restructuring efforts. (News On Japan)

Japan counts only eight unicorns -- unlisted startups valued at over 150 billion yen -- compared with 690 in the United States, and has yet to produce a single 'hectocorn,' the term for companies worth more than 100 billion dollars such as ByteDance’s TikTok, OpenAI, or SpaceX. (News On Japan)

Japan and Saudi Arabia announced a new memorandum of understanding for economic cooperation on September 24th at the Osaka-Kansai Expo, with a strong emphasis on expanding entertainment and content industries. (News On Japan)

Residents in Settsu City, Osaka Prefecture, have decided to file for pollution mediation against chemical manufacturer Daikin Industries, whose plant is located in the area, after groundwater was found to contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), some of which are suspected of being carcinogenic. (News On Japan)

Ferrari Japan unveiled the new plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHV) ‘849 Testarossa’ in Tokyo on September 24th, carrying forward the name of the legendary Testarossa. (News On Japan)

As the Tokyo Stock Exchange undergoes reforms with the introduction of new listing maintenance standards, attention is turning to how investors can identify promising growth stocks. (News On Japan)

Is high quality a curse? Reports in South Korea that Hitachi is considering selling its white goods business have drawn attention, raising questions about the future of Japanese appliances. (News On Japan)

Spa Resort Hawaiians, a sprawling tropical-themed facility in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, has long been cherished as “Japan’s Hawaii.” The indoor resort, which features Japan’s tallest water slide with a 40-meter drop, attracts about one million visitors each year as a family-friendly theme park. (News On Japan)

The practice of supporting one’s favorite idols or characters, known as 'oshikatsu,' has grown into a massive market in Japan, with private research estimating spending to have reached 3.5 trillion yen this year. As demand expands, a wide range of specialized goods is driving the trend, with transparent tote bags -- known as 'ita-bags' -- emerging as a standout product. (News On Japan)

Long-term interest rates in Japan, which influence fixed mortgage rates, rose to their highest level in 17 years as the yield on 10-year government bonds briefly reached 1.665 percent in trading on September 22nd, the highest since 2008. (News On Japan)

Frozen tuna stored at minus 60 degrees Celsius are now being used as a new tool in electricity demand control. By temporarily shutting down refrigeration units and using the fish itself as a cooling agent to maintain storage temperatures, companies are beginning to reduce power consumption. (News On Japan)

The Consumer Affairs Agency announced that Ajinomoto and Inglewood are suspected of engaging in stealth marketing practices in connection with their frozen home-delivery meal brand, "Aete." The companies allegedly asked individuals to post on social media in exchange for free products and later republished those posts on sales sites. (News On Japan)

Sales of the "Halloween Jumbo Lottery," which offers a top prize of 500 million yen including supplementary prizes, began nationwide on September 19th. (News On Japan)

Seven-Eleven Japan has completed a large-scale overhaul of the store system used by about 21,000 outlets nationwide, five years after the project was conceived. The new system represents a major step in digital transformation, replacing the company’s traditional infrastructure with a cloud-based model designed to enhance efficiency and service. (News On Japan)