Osaka’s Minami district, one of the busiest entertainment areas in Kansai, is grappling with a worsening garbage problem as the sharp increase in foreign visitors coincides with a rise in litter throughout the area, and when the reporting team walked through the neighborhood last week they found trash piling up in abandoned bicycle baskets and food containers tossed into alleyways just off the main shopping streets. (News On Japan)

The Japanese government is preparing to release a new damage projection for a major earthquake striking directly beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area by the end of the year, and interviews with officials familiar with the assessment indicate that in the worst-case scenario the death toll could reach 18,000, while economic losses are estimated at 83 trillion yen. (News On Japan)

Toyota unveiled its new GR GT supercar on December 5th at Woven City, the next-generation technology testbed located in Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, marking the model’s world debut as the automaker targets a release around 2027, positioning the vehicle as the pinnacle of its GR sports-car lineup and its first true supercar since the Lexus LFA launched in 2010. (News On Japan)

A growing number of families across Japan are choosing to close ancestral graves, and concerns over long-term upkeep have become a widespread source of anxiety. Now, even one of the country’s most storied lineages has begun confronting both the end of its line and the closure of its grave. (News On Japan)

Umeda’s Chayamachi district, located on the east side of central Osaka, is undergoing a noticeable shift as major retailers including Loft and ZARA have closed or relocated this year, even as large-scale developments such as Grand Green Osaka continue to open elsewhere in the area, raising questions about whether the district is transforming from a youth-oriented fashion hub into a center for subculture; to understand what is driving the changes, we spoke with Takanobu Okahara, president of Tsubasa Asset Partners and an expert on Osaka’s real estate trends. (News On Japan)

A volcano education center at the base of Showa-Shinzan is facing an existential threat as aging facilities and deteriorating materials put decades of invaluable records at risk. (News On Japan)

A mass of cold air on December 4th brought midwinter-level temperatures across Hokkaido, sending the entire region below freezing and prompting warnings of heavy snow and blizzard conditions along the Sea of Japan coast. (News On Japan)

Archaeological surveys conducted in Gose City, Nara Prefecture, have uncovered additional burial remains that, when combined with previously excavated sites in the area, have revealed what is now understood to be the largest communal cemetery ever found in the prefecture. (News On Japan)

The long-term interest rate briefly reached its highest level in 18 and a half years when the yield on the newly issued 10-year Japanese government bond rose to 1.910 percent on the Tokyo bond market on December 4th, reflecting speculation that the Bank of Japan will move toward an additional rate hike sooner rather than later while concerns over fiscal deterioration under the Taichi administration’s expansionary spending continue to drive selling of government bonds. (News On Japan)

The amount of property left behind by deceased individuals with no legal heirs and subsequently transferred to the state reached a record 129.1 billion yen in fiscal 2024, highlighting a steady rise in unclaimed estates as Japan’s population ages. (News On Japan)

Nissan is considering a plan to compensate employees who transfer from its Oppama plant in Kanagawa to the company’s Kyushu factory by paying in advance the equivalent of five years’ worth of reduced monthly wages, according to reporting obtained by JNN. (News On Japan)

Tokyo’s Tsukiji Outer Market has taken the unusual step of asking tourists not to visit in December as operators move to prevent crowd-related accidents during the busy year-end shopping season, with local officials also confirming that Shibuya’s New Year’s Eve countdown will be canceled for the sixth consecutive year. (News On Japan)

A former teacher accused of secretly filming women by placing miniature cameras in a high school changing room and restroom faced sentencing at the Utsunomiya District Court on July 12th, with prosecutors demanding 1 year and 6 months of imprisonment. (News On Japan)

Abe Akie appeared at the Nara District Court on December 3rd for the lay judge trial of the shooting that killed former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, marking the first time she has attended proceedings in person. Akie arrived in the courtroom shortly after 1 p.m. wearing a navy jacket and bowed toward the gallery as she entered, while the court continued a scheduled witness examination of Sakurai Yoshihide, a religious scholar and specially appointed professor at Hokkaido University. (News On Japan)

Kobe welcomed a new waterfront destination this year as the redevelopment of the former Shinko No. 2 Pier area gave rise to TOTTEI, a spacious coastal district designed to connect the city more closely with the sea while offering visitors a range of leisure attractions that highlight the port city’s unique blend of ocean and mountains. (News On Japan)

A surge in prices is hitting local festivals across Japan, with the centuries-old Chichibu Night Festival, one of the nation’s three major float festivals, reducing its traditional fireworks program by 200 shots after pyrotechnic costs soared, as the Highashi administration rolls out inflation countermeasures that aim to support households but have prompted concerns that they may end up accelerating inflation instead, raising questions about how these policies will ultimately affect everyday life. (News On Japan)

As Japan enters what many now call the “100-year life era,” the question of how to finance a much longer old age has become unavoidable, with rising living costs and modest pensions leaving many seniors struggling to make ends meet and searching for ways to supplement their income. (News On Japan)

Police have arrested a man in his 30s after he allegedly entered a banquet hall at Hotel MiraCosta inside Tokyo DisneySea on December 1st while carrying what appeared to be a knife before fleeing the scene, with authorities locating him the following day in Kawasaki City. (News On Japan)

A bear was caught on camera intruding into a residential property in Yamagata on November 30th, underscoring how reports of bear damage continue even as the winter season takes hold and conditions grow colder. (News On Japan)

Living organisms require protein synthesis as one of their processes to enable the cells to produce the needed proteins for their structure. It also helps with repairs and various other functions, and any interruption can cause different cellular responses. (News On Japan)