Police are investigating after a custom-made chili pepper-shaped lantern worth more than 200,000 yen was smashed outside a restaurant in Kyoto's Gion district, with security camera footage capturing a person striking and destroying the shop's distinctive symbol. (News On Japan)

A 77-year-old man charged with attempted murder has gone missing after apparently leaving a hospital in Hakodate, Hokkaido, where he had been admitted for medical treatment, prompting prosecutors and police to search for him. (News On Japan)

A fire broke out at Sairinji temple in Saga city on the morning of August 18, engulfing the building in flames and prompting the dispatch of 10 fire engines and two ambulances, with no injuries reported so far. (News On Japan)

A Turkish national has been arrested on suspicion of performing illegal drift driving on a public road in Yatomi, Aichi Prefecture, as police prepare to strengthen enforcement around facilities linked to the Asian Games and Asian Para Games. (News On Japan)

A 77-year-old hunter from Sunagawa, Hokkaido, who won a Supreme Court ruling overturning the revocation of his firearms license, filed a damages lawsuit against the national government and Hokkaido on August 17 after discovering that one of four seized hunting rifles had been destroyed years earlier without being returned to him. (News On Japan)

A 12-year-old British girl who disappeared while visiting Japan with her family was found safe in Yokohama on Saturday night, about 59 hours after leaving their private lodging in Tokyo, with police saying there was no indication that she had been involved in a crime. (News On Japan)

Osaka's Nishinari Ward, long known as a working-class neighborhood that accepted people from diverse backgrounds, is being rapidly reshaped by Chinese-led property development and a surge in special-zone private lodgings, bringing new business and tourism while displacing some longtime elderly residents. (News On Japan)

The death toll from record-breaking torrential rain in Chiba Prefecture has risen to 10, with 29 people injured, more than 1,500 homes damaged and one person still missing three days after the disaster. (News On Japan)

A fire that broke out in grassland at a fishing port in Tomamae, northern Hokkaido, spread to an adjacent warehouse and workshop on August 15, burning for about six hours before being brought under control. (News On Japan)

Young people continue to gather at "Gurishita" in Osaka's Minami entertainment district despite persistent risks of drug abuse, prostitution and violent crime, while a nearby support center is operating around the clock during the summer vacation period to help those with nowhere else to turn. (News On Japan)

A 39-year-old father was taken to a hospital in cardiac arrest on August 15 after entering the sea to rescue his two young sons who appeared to be in difficulty off the coast of Toyoura, Hokkaido. (News On Japan)

An Akita prefectural official has been suspended for six months and demoted two ranks after an investigation found he had joined an online media interview from a love hotel while with a woman who was not his wife, despite initially claiming he was at home because he was unwell. (News On Japan)

A 12-year-old British girl visiting Japan on a family trip has been reported missing after surveillance footage showed her leaving a private lodging facility alone in Tokyo's Ota Ward on the morning of August 13. (News On Japan)

Two pet pythons measuring about 2 meters in length escaped from an apartment in Kawasaki's Tama Ward early on August 13, prompting police and firefighters to search the surrounding residential area and warn local residents. (News On Japan)

Fifteen days after the Kumamoto earthquake, restoration of electricity and transport infrastructure is progressing, but thousands of people are believed to remain outside official shelters, while rising construction costs and interest rates are creating new challenges for rebuilding homes and restoring livelihoods. (News On Japan)

Two teenage boys from Tokyo's Adachi Ward have been arrested on suspicion of stealing a motorcycle and firing aerial fireworks toward police officers at two police boxes, telling investigators they were annoyed that a new police box had opened in the area. (News On Japan)

A fire broke out late on August 11 at Daido Steel's Chita Plant in Tokai, Aichi Prefecture, burning through an outdoor area containing scrap metal and other materials, with no injuries reported and no flames spreading to nearby buildings. (News On Japan)

Two weeks after the Kumamoto earthquake, the spread of malicious fake images has emerged as a problem in disaster-hit communities, with one resident saying the manipulation feels like an insult to everyone in his area. (News On Japan)

Hiroko Saito was 19 years old when she left Japan for North Korea in June 1961 with her Korean husband and their one-year-old daughter, persuaded by assurances that they were heading to a "paradise on earth" and that she could return to Japan after three years. Instead, she would spend four decades in North Korea, enduring chronic hunger, the deaths of her husband and children and a desperate struggle to survive before finally escaping and returning home in 2001. (News On Japan)

Osaka Prefectural Police searched an office linked to the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, on July 29 as part of an investigation into suspected receipt of money obtained through special fraud. (News On Japan)