NTT’s next-generation optical communications infrastructure, known as IOWN, is moving toward global standardization as the company steps up efforts to promote the technology in Europe. (News On Japan)

All Nippon Airways held a press conference to announce a change in leadership, with Executive Vice President Hisaichi Hirasawa set to assume the role of president on April 1st, stating that sweeping reforms to the airline’s struggling domestic operations are urgently needed as profitability continues to deteriorate. (News On Japan)

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called on Iran to exercise restraint during a Lower House Budget Committee session on March 2nd, as tensions escalated following attacks on Iran by the United States and Israel, underscoring Japan’s commitment to diplomatic efforts aimed at calming the situation in the Middle East. (News On Japan)

Kyoto City significantly raised its lodging tax from March 1st, increasing the maximum charge per person per night from 1,000 yen to as much as 10,000 yen, in a move aimed at tackling overtourism and funding the preservation of cultural assets, even as questions remain about its impact on visitors and the local economy. (News On Japan)

A site supervisor at Fuji-Q Highland in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture, was referred to prosecutors on March 2nd over a fatal accident in February 2025 in which an employee died during maintenance work. (News On Japan)

A former emergency responder and foreign tourists worked together to rescue a woman in her 80s who was trapped inside an overturned light vehicle in Hakuba Village, Nagano Prefecture. (News On Japan)

Japan is known for keeping tradition amidst modernization. While travelers visit temples that date back centuries, they will also see modern day neon skyscrapers. (News On Japan)

As the number of foreign visitors to Japan continues to rise, two uniquely Japanese cultural phenomena — food replicas and capsule toys, known as gacha — are drawing growing attention as unexpected tourist attractions and potential new souvenir staples. (News On Japan)

The admission fee for the World Heritage-listed Himeji Castle in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, was revised on March 1st for the first time in 11 years, introducing a dual pricing system that significantly raises costs for visitors from outside the city. (News On Japan)

A 48-year-old woman who works as a lecturer at an Osaka prefectural high school was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a man in Osaka, with the man later confirmed dead at the hospital where he was taken. (News On Japan)

Motors are embedded in countless electronic devices, from home appliances and robots to automobiles, quietly generating the power that underpins modern life, and now a Japanese startup is challenging long-held assumptions by developing a next-generation motor that delivers both high efficiency and high output while eliminating the need for rare earth materials. (News On Japan)

The Konomiya Hadaka Festival, an unusual Shinto ritual dating back more than 1,250 years in which men wearing only loincloths collide violently with one another, was held on March 1st at Konomiya Shrine in Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture, drawing around 10,000 participants who surged toward a designated “sacred man” believed to absorb misfortune through physical contact. (News On Japan)

The main rites of the Buddhist practice known as "Shunie," widely referred to as "Omizutori," began on March 1st at Nigatsudo Hall of Todaiji in Nara, marking the arrival of spring in the ancient capital. (News On Japan)

An avalanche struck an advanced-level course at Madarao Kogen Ski Resort, which spans Niigata and Nagano prefectures, on February 28th, leaving four people injured, including two family members. (News On Japan)

A man in his 50s died after falling while ice climbing in Gero, Gifu Prefecture, on March 2nd, after a report was made shortly after 9 a.m. from a person at the scene in Osakacho stating that he had fallen along with a sheet of ice and become trapped beneath the collapsed mass. (News On Japan)

As price hikes spread from fast food to daily necessities and households grapple with rising living costs, the steady depreciation of the yen has emerged as a central driver of inflation, with multiple indicators showing that the currency’s purchasing power has fallen to roughly one-third of its mid-1990s peak, underscoring how three decades of economic stagnation, prolonged monetary easing and renewed fiscal expansion have left Japan far more vulnerable to imported inflation than other major economies. (News On Japan)

An AI startup that emerged almost overnight, Akari had long been known only to insiders due to its limited media exposure, but after receiving investment from Mitsubishi Electric at the end of January and seeing its corporate valuation surge past 100 billion yen, the Tokyo-born venture has rapidly positioned itself as a leading unicorn candidate in Japan’s AI sector. (News On Japan)

Honda announced on February 26th that it will introduce a new model of its SUV, the CR-V, with prices starting at 5,122,700 yen. (News On Japan)

Mizuho Financial Group has decided on a policy to improve operational efficiency through the use of artificial intelligence, aiming to reduce administrative work equivalent to as many as 5,000 employees over the next decade. (News On Japan)

The name of a Japanese figure involved in a national government project has appeared more than 8,000 times in investigative records related to the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged with sex trafficking and other crimes, sparking controversy and raising concerns over the future of the state-backed initiative. (News On Japan)