A man who repeatedly harassed his neighbors in a residential area of Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture, has been ordered to leave his home following a ruling by the Osaka High Court on June 4th. (News On Japan)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested four individuals, including Nobumasa Daigo, a director of an ivory sales company, on suspicion of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Act. The group is accused of falsely labeling elephant ivory as mammoth tusk—a material not subject to trade restrictions—and selling it via online auctions. (News On Japan)

The number of babies born in Japan in 2024 fell below 700,000 for the first time since recordkeeping began in 1899, highlighting the nation’s accelerating demographic crisis. According to population statistics released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on June 4th, the number of births dropped to 686,061—down more than 40,000 from the previous year. (News On Japan)

A woman involved in cat rescue activities in Kumamoto City was found to have kept the remains of around 100 cats at her residence, raising concerns over a breakdown in multi-animal care. (News On Japan)

Two Japanese men were killed in Dalian, northeastern China, last month, according to an announcement by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (News On Japan)

A 34-year-old woman has been arrested in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, on suspicion of harboring a man who fled the scene after a car crash that left two children behind. The incident occurred on June 1st when a car veered off a municipal road and fell onto the Tōmei Expressway in the city’s Chūō Ward. (News On Japan)

A woman in her 20s and her two young daughters were found dead in their apartment in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, on the morning of June 2nd, while the body of the father was discovered on a nearby road. Police suspect the man killed his family before taking his own life in a case of murder-suicide. (News On Japan)

As the number of groping incidents tends to rise in the summer months, maid café workers and local students gathered in front of JR Akihabara Station in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward to raise awareness and call for the elimination of such crimes. (News On Japan)

A joint patrol was conducted in Okinawa City by local police and the U.S. military over the weekend, the second such operation following a similar patrol in April, as part of efforts to prevent further incidents after a U.S. serviceman was arrested in connection with the assault of a woman. (News On Japan)

A man has been arrested on suspicion of unlicensed driving and other offenses after fleeing the scene of a car accident in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, where a vehicle plunged from a city road onto the Tōmei Expressway. (News On Japan)

A Japanese woman working with Doctors Without Borders has delivered a harrowing account from Gaza, where severe food shortages and relentless Israeli airstrikes have pushed local hospitals and residents to the brink of collapse. (News On Japan)

A female employee was fatally stabbed at a child welfare facility in Saga City on May 31st. Police arrested a 28-year-old woman at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder. (News On Japan)

Japan has officially abolished both penal servitude and imprisonment without labor, replacing them with a newly introduced 'custodial sentence' system. This marks the first major reform of the country's penal code since it was established in 1907. (News On Japan)

Okinawa resident Sueko Urasaki, who appeared as a trembling child in a U.S.-filmed recording of the Battle of Okinawa, has spoken publicly for the first time in 80 years about her harrowing experience, expressing a heartfelt plea for peace to future generations. (News On Japan)

Mako Komuro, the eldest daughter of the Akishino family and now living in the United States, has given birth to her first child, the Imperial Household Agency announced on May 30th. The agency stated that the birth was disclosed during a press conference after some media reports surfaced, despite their intention to allow Komuro to live in a quiet environment following her departure from the Imperial family. (News On Japan)

The body of an 87-year-old man who served as the chairman of a civil engineering and construction firm was found buried beneath a pile of soil at a materials storage yard in Kitakyushu on May 20th, prompting an ongoing investigation that now includes possible murder charges. The police arrested the chairman’s son the following day, and on May 23rd, also arrested a woman acquainted with the son, believing the two had conspired to abandon the body. (News On Japan)

A gas cylinder recovered from the scene of an explosion in Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward bore a stamp indicating it was manufactured in November 1964, according to investigative sources. The blast, which occurred on May 27th at a construction site, injured 10 people. (News On Japan)

A visiting family in Tokyo’s Asakusa district was left shaken after witnessing a sudden outburst by a foreign tourist who punched their car and made aggressive gestures in the middle of the road. (News On Japan)

A trial opened on May 29th at the Osaka District Court for 28-year-old Kazuya Nagaya, who is accused of seriously injuring a man by kicking him from behind and stealing his bag in Takatsuki City, Osaka Prefecture. Nagaya admitted to the charges, stating, "No doubt, it’s exactly as you said." (News On Japan)

Japan’s largest known cluster of horizontal tombs lies in the southeastern Osaka city of Kashiwara, where more than 160 cave tombs have been confirmed in what is now known as Takai Horizontal Tomb Park. Including uninvestigated areas, the total may exceed 200 burial chambers. (News On Japan)