Japan’s municipalities began on Friday to send notices showing 12-digit identification numbers to all residents in the nation under a new number system for tax and social security purposes called “My Number”.

The president of Asahi Kasei Corp. on Tuesday apologized for a subsidiary’s involvement in faulty piling work and data fabrication for a tilting condominium building in Yokohama.

More than 10,000 people gathered in front of the Diet building in Tokyo on Monday to protest national security bills that the Prime Minister aims to enact this week.

Japan’s police have gone on high alert amid reports the nation’s biggest organized crime syndicate based in the western city of Kobe has split into different factions.

The president of Toyota Motor Corp. issued an apology on Friday for the arrest of its top female executive, a 55-year-old American, who was suspected of importing illegal drugs.

Japan’s aquariums decided on Wednesday to stop acquiring dolphins caught in controversial drive hunts off the town of Taiji in western Japan after a global zoo body criticized the practice as cruel.

A zoo in southwestern Japan decided not to change the name of a monkey on Friday despite being flooded with complaints from the public over naming her Charlotte after Britain’s newborn princess.

A poll by a major Japanese newspaper showed that 52% of those surveyed support a plan by a ward in Tokyo to issue partnership certificates to gay couples, compared to 27% who disagree.

While the heinous murder of journalist Kenji Goto by ISIS militants on Sunday drew condemnation from the international community, the Japanese Prime Minister vowed not to give in to terrorism.

Police arrested a 19-year-old boy found inside a train on Sunday on suspicion of trespassing in connection with YouTube videos depicting him shoplifting and tampering with food packages at stores.

Japan is suffering from a serious butter shortage nationwide, raising concerns among consumers that they will have to spend Christmas without cream and strawberry sponge cakes.