News On Japan

The organizing committee of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics has unveiled the names of the mascots for the Games. (NHK)

Sweltering heat continues to shroud most of Japan. Temperatures reached nearly 40 degrees Celsius in some places on Sunday. (NHK)

A vehicle crashed into the front of a cafe in the Roppongi entertainment area of Minato Ward on Saturday night, causing two injuries, police said, reports Nippon News Network (tokyoreporter.com)

One of Japan’s top policymakers has indicated that the government will continue to resist U.S. efforts to create a bilateral free trade agreement between the two nations. (Japan Times)

The Defense Ministry has newly estimated that the price tag of two land-based missile batteries Japan aims to deploy could cost around ¥400 billion ($3.6 billion), double the initial quotation, according to a government source. (Japan Times)

The first official shop selling goods for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games has opened in the Japanese capital. (NHK)

The highest-ever temperature in Japan has been recorded in Kumagaya City, Saitama Prefecture, amid an extreme heat wave that continues to plague wide areas of the country. (NHK)

Japanese officials issued new warnings Monday as a deadly heatwave blankets the country, producing record high temperatures in Tokyo just two years before the city hosts the 2020 Summer Olympics. (Japan Today)

Japan's Defense Ministry has decided to postpone a procedure to deploy a new missile defense system due to opposition from candidate host communities. (NHK)

The Tokyo Skytree was lit up in the five Olympic colors on Tuesday, with exactly two years to go until the 2020 Tokyo Games. (Jiji)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is putting in motion a plan to allow more foreign workers into Japan from next April. (NHK)

A Japanese industry ministry panel set Tuesday the goal of having all new vehicles to be sold in Japan in 2050 powered by electric motors. (Jiji)

The extreme heat that is affecting much of Japan has prompted some foreign media outlets to express concern about the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (NHK)

自動運転車はさらに安全な運転を目指していますが、まだ完璧ではありません。Discoperiにより開発された「アイ」システムは全ての自動車で使用できるスマートデバイスです。このデバイスは道路状況を識別し、危険な場面を警告し、毎年30万の命を事故から守ることができます。 (Discoperi)

Okinawa Prefectural Police have arrested a male employee at a hotel over the alleged theft of women’s underwear from a laundromat in Uruma City earlier this year, reports the Okinawa Times (tokyoreporter.comt)

A 20-year-old Japanese national denies supplying marijuana to international school students in custody on drug-related charges, Tokyo Metropolitan Police said on Tuesday, reports TV Asahi (tokyoreporter.com)

Japan's so-called sharing economy, including "minpaku" private lodging businesses, totaled 470 billion to 525 billion yen in 2016, according to Cabinet Office estimates released on Wednesday. (Jiji)

Miyazaki Prefectural Police arrested a 34-year-old man over the fatal slashing of his father at the residence they share in the town of Kawaminami early Wednesday, reports TBS News (tokyoreporter.com)

The Japanese government has agreed with Vietnam to invite 10,000 nursing caregivers from the Southeast Asian country by the summer of 2020 to counter a serious manpower shortage in the industry. (Nikkei)

A typhoon moving over the Pacific Ocean south of Japan could approach and make landfall on the country's main island of Honshu on the weekend, the weather agency said Wednesday. (Kyodo)

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