Spotting shoplifters, but what else?

After travelling for three-and-a-half years, the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa-2 this week makes its final approach to the asteroid Ryugu. The probe will release landers on the space rock's surface later this year, bring back a precious sample to terrestrial labs in 2020, and it is already giving planetary scientists their closest-ever view of a mysterious kind of asteroid. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) last week released grainy pictures from a distance of around 300 km away, revealing that Ryugu — an asteroid of a common but little-studied type — looks similar to a spinning top.

Resplendent in shocking pink, a sleek "Hello Kitty" bullet train, complete with special carriages festooned with images of the global icon from Japan, has been unveiled before it chugs into service this week. The special shinkansen or bullet train will run for the next three months between the western cities of Osaka and Fukuoka from Saturday, the West Japan Railway firm said, hoping that one of the country's most famous exports will boost tourism.

The government and the police are discussing the idea of developing a computer system that can predict street crime by utilizing big data and artificial intelligence. They hope such a system will be able to show them where and how to take greater measures to prevent crime. Street crime prediction “has already achieved results in Europe and the United States,” said Mami Kajita, who established the data-analysis company Singular Perturbations Inc. last year in hopes of developing a Japanese version of the methods used in the United States.

Japan has told the United States it is ready to dispatch experts to North Korea to help the country dismantle nuclear facilities toward the “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula, government sources repeated. If Washington and Pyongyang agree to demolish North Korea’s graphite-moderated reactor at Nyongbyon in the northwest, Tokyo would offer knowledge gained from decommissioning a similar reactor in eastern Japan, the sources said Friday.

Japan’s commitment to addressing its dismal record on work-life balance has been called into question after a civil servant was punished for “habitually” slipping away from his desk a few minutes early to buy a bento lunch. The 64-year-old, an employee of the waterworks bureau in the western city of Kobe, was fined and reprimanded after he was found to have left his desk just three minutes before the start of his designated lunch break on 26 occasions over a seven-month period.

At around 2:10 p.m. on 14 June, the Nozomi No. 176 Superexpress Shinkansen headed to Tokyo from Hakata made a regular stop at Kokura Station in Kyushu’s northernmost city of Kitakyushu, where a large crack on its bonnet was discovered. Despite the damage, the train continued on its journey, travelling over the Kanmon Strait to the main island of Honshu, where the vehicle underwent a more thorough inspection at Shin-Shimonoseki Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

TOKYO — The U.S. military says an Air Force F-15C fighter jet has crashed in waters south of Okinawa in southern Japan.

The city of Sapporo began issuing cards serving as proof of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender partnerships on Friday, responding to calls from couples seeking portable evidence they can present in emergencies and other situations. The city in Hokkaido started authenticating partnership oaths submitted by sexual-minority couples in June last year, but had only issued a certificate in the form of an A4-size (21 cm by 29.7 cm) document.

BBC

Japanese research vessels harpooned, killed and necropsied 333 Antarctic minke whales during an annual hunt last summer — and 122 of those whales were pregnant.

This might be the one time in your adult life when it’s appropriate to say “Nice melons” to a stranger. Over the weekend, a pair of Yubari melons sold for a record-breaking ¥3.2 million (US $29,436) at an auction held in the city of Sapporo. The two melons were bought by Shinya Noda, the president of a fruit and vegetable packing company.

Coca-Cola has launched its first alcoholic drink, a lemon flavoured alcopop, in Japan in a bid to tap new markets and consumers. In a global first for the US drinks giant, three fizzy lemon drinks went on sale on Monday. The product aims at a growing market of young drinkers - especially women.

It is a scene that plays out each weekday morning across Tokyo. Suit-clad office workers, gaggles of schoolchildren, and other travelers gamely wend their way through the city’s sprawling rail stations. To the casual observer, it is chaos; commuters packed shoulder-to-shoulder amid the constant clatter of arriving and departing trains. But a closer look reveals something more beneath the surface: A station may be packed, yet commuters move smoothly along concourses and platforms.

TOKYO (AP) — One of Japan's most prominent former leaders, Yasuhiro Nakasone, has turned 100, fitting in a country known for longevity.

On April 1, 2018, Japanese toy-maker Bandai announced a new lineup and innovative figurines. Nekobusou, or “Armored Cats” in English, were essentially adorable kitty transformers that could wrap themselves with lethal killing machines.

West Japan Railway Co. said Friday it will begin operating a Hello Kitty-themed shinkansen bullet train on June 30. The interior and seats of the 500-series shinkansen to be used for daily-round trips between Shin-Osaka Station in Osaka Prefecture and Hakata in Fukuoka Prefecture will feature Sanrio Co.'s Hello Kitty character, the company said.

Japan has notified the World Trade Organization that it reserves the right to take countermeasures against U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.