The Japanese city of Osaka on Monday imposed a smoking ban on public streets as part of efforts to become more visitor-friendly ahead of this year's World Expo.

Smoke rises from a fire site at a commercial building near a famous tourist landmark Tsutenkaku Tower, in Osaka, Japan, January 21, 2025. Kyodo/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. JAPAN OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN JAPAN.

It was difficult to meet new people while staying in Japanese capsule hotels. Hostels were more social.

Video taken on Jan. 21, 2025, shows smoke rising from a building near Osaka's landmark Tsutenkaku Tower in the Shinsekai area of the western Japan city.

TOKYO : A large fire broke out in a commercial building near a famous tourist landmark, Tsutenkaku Tower, in Osaka in western Japan, local TV footage showed today.

While Naomi Osaka is busy competing — and winning — at the Australian Open, she needed to send someone to retrieve her 1 1/2-year-old daughter’s birth certificate from their California home in case it got caught up in the wildfires ravaging the greater Los Angeles area.

Ethiopia’s Workenesh Edesa successfully defended her title at the Osaka Women’s Marathon, a World Athletics Platinum Label road race, on Sunday (26). The course record-holder, who ran 2:18:51 when winning last year, this time clocked 2:21:00 to take top spot ahead of Japan’s Kana Kobayashi and Yuka Suzuki, who both ran big PBs.

Thailand is set to make a grand debut at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, highlighting the country’s commitment to becoming one of the global leaders in medical and wellness services. In line with the Expo’s theme “Designing Future Society for Our Lives,

On January 29, CM Yadav will again hold a one-to-one discussion with investors and industrialists in the morning, followed by meetings with prominent industrialists and organizations of Japan. After that, the Chief Minister will also visit the tourist places of Tokyo.

Two-time Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka has stopped playing because of an injury after dropping the opening set of her third-round match against Belinda Bencic.

From April, the wider Osaka region will prohibit smoking in eateries with seating areas larger than 30 square meters, although lighting up in a separate space, such as a smoking room, is allowed. Current national laws ban smoking in establishments with dining areas over 100 square meters.

We've listed our five most read stories on The Mainichi news site, from top to bottom, that were published between Jan. 18 and 26. The first story was