u/SkyInJapan

[Please refrain from racist comments]

At around 1 o’clock in the morning on May 3, a 23-year-old Chinese tourist set out from the fifth station of the Fujinomiya Trail, located half-way up Mt. Fuji. From there, he and two acquaintances hiked through the pre-dawn darkness, reached the summit, and began making their descent. On their way down, near the ninth station, the man sat down to rest, but lost his balance and slipped down an embankment, suffering abrasions to his right hand and left arm in the process. He was able to continue under his own power back down to the fifth station, but once there asked one of his companions to call 110, Japan’s phone number for emergency services, and have an ambulance come pick him up.

Mt. Fuji is officially closed to hikers for most of the year, with an official climbing season of around two months that starts in midsummer. We’re still far enough away from this year’s Fuji trail openings that their dates haven’t even been announced yet, but for reference last year the Fujinomiya Trail opened on July 10.

A series of viral videos showing students assaulting their peers has triggered police investigations, school interventions and a surge of online abuse, highlighting the growing risks of violence amplified by social media.

The succession of incidents eventually prompted a response at the national level. On March 3, the education ministry released video materials aimed at bullying prevention and information ethics education. Education boards across the country have been notified and encouraged to use the materials in schools.

Experts say the rapid spread of these videos reflects broader changes in how bullying occurs and is exposed.

Japan's agriculture ministry plans to buy back up to 150,000 metric tons of rice in fiscal 2026 from the 590,000 tons it released from stockpiles on an emergency basis in 2025 following nationwide shortages.

Estimates as of the end of January showed private-sector rice inventories in 2027 are expected to significantly exceed the benchmark of 2 million tons set by the government, reaching a record high. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries believes buying back rice it released will not disrupt market supply, but it will assess actual supply and demand before making a decision.

The government has been releasing stockpiled rice since March 2025, after the onset of the "Reiwa-era rice upheaval" the previous year. It plans to buy back the 590,000 tons in stages over the coming years. While the timing of the buyback had not previously been disclosed, it has now been revealed that related expenses were included in the fiscal 2026 budget.

The appropriate level for government stockpiled rice is set at approximately 1 million tons, but the current level stands at just 320,000 tons. As the stockpile system was originally intended as a buffer against disasters and poor harvests, the government will repurchase rice from a food security perspective as well.

Separately from the buyback of the 590,000 tons, the ministry also resumed purchases of stockpiled rice from producers and others in April, totaling 210,000 tons, for the first time in about two years. While efforts are being made to optimize stockpiled rice levels, declines in the amounts of rice on the market could lead to rising prices and potentially trigger a backlash from consumers.

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) issued a wanted notice April 30 for Teruyuki Takabayashi, 44, on suspicion of attempted murder in a hammer attack on a high school boy the previous day.

According to investigators, around 7:15 to 7:25 a.m. on April 29, Takabayashi allegedly struck the 17-year-old boy in the face with a hammer in a parking lot of a "yakiniku" barbecue restaurant near the suspect's home in Fussa, Tokyo.

Police said that seven young people, including the student, had been talking outside when Takabayashi came out of his house and attacked two of them. After returning home, he sprayed an unknown chemical from a pesticide sprayer at police officers who arrived at the scene in response to an emergency call, then exited through the back door of his house before they noticed. The officers continued standing guard at the front entrance, unaware that he had escaped.

The Iwate prefectural federation of medical workers' unions conducted the poll on working conditions targeting about 3,000 nursing personnel in the prefecture in February both online and in writing. Nursing personnel included public health nurses, midwives, nurses and assistant nurses, and 997 people responded. Regarding the results, the federation says nursing staff are at their physical and mental limits because of labor shortages and is calling for improvements in their working conditions, including staff increases and wage hikes.

A man who barricaded himself inside his home in Tokyo after allegedly striking a high school student on the head with a hammer and spraying an unknown substance at multiple police officers was no longer inside the residence once officers entered on Wednesday, police said.

The incident occurred at around 7:20 a.m. on a street in Fussa, a suburban area in western Tokyo. The man, believed to be in his 40s, then barricaded himself inside the home. Police have launched a search for the man.

MISAKI, Okayama -- This depopulating and aging western Japan town has been undergoing drastic reforms as it pursues "smart downsizing" by letting go of 83 public buildings and introducing residents' self-governance.

In October of 2016, video game developer Square Enix, makers of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises, opened the Square Enix Cafe in Tokyo’s Akihabara district. A space for themed food and merch celebrating both new and classic games, the Square Enix Cafe moved to a different location within the neighborhood in 2020, but sadly closed in the spring of 2025.

Now, though, Square Enix has announced that a brand-new Square Enix Cafe will be opening this spring in Tokyo, and also that America will be getting its very first permanent Square Enix Cafe, in Los Angeles.

The Japanese government and oil wholesalers have been trying to secure oil from alternative routes to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

In addition to the United States, the government will also be procuring oil from other sources such as South America and Central Asia.

Japanese police are questioning a zoo worker on suspicion of leaving a woman's body in an incinerator at the animal crematorium at Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido, an investigative source said Friday.

The man has told investigators that he put the body of his wife in the incinerator, the source said. However, as no such body has been found there, police are looking into whether it may have burned to ash.

The man is a city employee in his 30s working at the popular zoo in Asahikawa on the northern main island, according to the source. A person close to a woman in her 30s contacted police this month after being unable to reach her since around late March.