More people are struggling with what to do about family graves, as the number of people choosing to close ancestral burial plots continues to rise across Japan. (News On Japan)

The Imperial Family welcomed the New Year on January 1, with the Emperor releasing a message through the Imperial Household Agency expressing his hopes that the year ahead will be one in which people in Japan and around the world can move forward with hope. (News On Japan)

Nearly three decades after the end of World War II, one man finally returned to Japan. He was Hiroo Onoda, known as the last Japanese soldier, who had remained hidden in the jungles of the Philippines for 29 years after the war ended. (News On Japan)

Three men broke into a card shop in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward on the night of December 31, stealing Pokemon cards and other items worth about 30 million yen before fleeing the scene, according to police. (News On Japan)

A man has been arrested in connection with the stabbing of a female esthetic salon manager in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward on August 29, with investigators revealing that the suspect had previously used the salon multiple times and had been involved in a dispute over unpaid fees. (News On Japan)

North Safari Sapporo, a zoo located in Minami Ward, Sapporo, which closed in September, reached its deadline on December 26 to remove illegal structures from the site. (News On Japan)

A five-year-old boy died after becoming trapped in an outdoor belt-type escalator at a ski resort in Otaru, Hokkaido, on Sunday morning. (News On Japan)

In Edo period Japan, one of the most erotic parts of a woman's body wasn’t the melons, the peaches, or the buns fresh from the bakery. No, it was the neck. Specifically, the back of it. (News On Japan)

A wolf that escaped from its enclosure at Tama Zoological Park in Hino, western Tokyo, was captured on December 28, prompting the zoo to close temporarily and bring its operations for the year to an early end. (News On Japan)

A multiple‑vehicle collision involving 67 cars and trucks on the Kan‑Etsu Expressway in Minakami, Gunma Prefecture left two people dead and 26 others injured in snowy conditions on the evening of December 26. (News On Japan)