News On Japan

Officials at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo say their giant panda Shin Shin has been showing what may be signs of pregnancy. (NHK)

Residents in mountainous areas of Aomori and Akita prefectures are being warned by authorities to be on the lookout for bears. (Japan Today)

Japan said Friday it scrambled fighter jets after a Chinese vessel sailing in disputed waters launched a drone, the latest bout of tension in a longstanding territorial row. (Japan Today)

New university graduates in Japan are enjoying the best job market on record. (NHK)

The estimated number of foreign visitors to Japan this year exceeded 10 million on Saturday, crossing the threshold at the fastest pace on an annual cumulative basis, Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Akihiko Tamura said Friday. (Jiji)

Japan topped the 2017 world skiing destination rankings, replacing New Zealand, Australia's International Traveller magazine has said. (Jiji)

A female stork, a species designated as a special national treasure, was killed Friday as a hunter shot it by accident in Shimane Prefecture, police and a local education board said Friday. (Japan Today)

A US Department of Defense official says that a second aircraft carrier will be sent to the waters near the Korean Peninsula. (NHK)

Legendary Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki has come out of retirement from making feature-length films. (NHK)

Work to restore the main tower of Kumamoto Castle was shown to media on Friday, about one year after a series of earthquakes struck Kumamoto City, western Japan. (NHK)

A painting by the late Jean-Michel Basquiat was sold to Yusaku Maezawa, president of Japan's Start Today Co., which operates online fashion mall Zozotown, for 110,487,500 dollars at a Sotheby's auction in New York Thursday. (Jiji)

A Japanese shoe shop known for holding a "store-closing sale" for more than 20 years finally went bust, a credit research agency said Friday. (Japan Today)

A 35-year-old man was arrested for disrupting railway operations on the Keihin Tohoku line on Thursday night, after he jumped onto train tracks following trouble with another passenger on the train, police said Friday. (Japan Today)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested one man and five boys in the beating of another male youth at a park in Arakawa Ward after the victim did not show them respect, reports TV Asahi. (tokyoreporter.com)

NHK has learned that US tech giant Apple and other investors will contribute to a fund being set up by Japanese telecom firm Softbank Group. (NHK)

People across Japan sweated it out in summer-like conditions, with temperatures on Saturday surpassing 30 degrees Celsius in some areas. Most observation points recorded their highest temperatures of the year. (NHK)

Kanagawa Prefectural Police working off a tip have arrested two male dentists for allegedly possessing marijuana at their residences, reports Nikkan Sports. (tokyoreporter.com)

North Korea launched an apparent medium-range ballistic missile Sunday in what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe termed a "challenge to the world." (Japan Times)

Tourists were given a rare treat Sunday when Kyoto's Nishi Honganji Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site, opened its centuries-old Karamon gate for the first time in 34 years. (Japan Times)

Ministers from Japan and 10 other signatories to the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal, excluding the United States, which has pulled out of the pact, adopted at their meeting in Hanoi on Sunday a joint statement showing their intention to aim for the TPP's early entry into force. (Jiji)

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