New Zealand becomes latest nation to face claims of abuse from gymnasts
Gymnastics New Zealand has launched "urgent inquiries" into allegations of systemic psychological and physical abuse of its athletes, media reports said, echoing similar complaints in other countries. Stuff Media and the New Zealand Herald reported on Saturday that club and elite gymnasts had complained of ...
As Japan opens doors wider, firms confront reality of workplace racism
As Japan opens its doors to more and more foreign workers, the problem of racial harassment in the workplace is under renewed scrutiny. While racial harassment — including slurs, jokes or the targeting of a person due to their race or ethnicity — is considered ...
Student's death reveals dark side of Bhutan-Japan exchange program
A year has passed since the lifeless body of a Bhutanese exchange student was discovered hanging from a tree in a public park in Fukuoka. Sonam Tobgay, 24, was a student in the Learn and Earn Program, an exchange program created by the Bhutanese labor ...
Childhood in Japan is certainly not getting any easier
The girl was 15, the teacher in his early 30s. He recognized her ability, encouraged her, befriended her, seduced her. He took her to a love hotel and said, "This is what grown-ups do." The story appeared in the Asahi Shimbun last month in a ...
Japanese students and professors push for end to sexual harassment of job-seekers
A group of university students and professors on Monday called for drastic steps by the government, companies and universities to stamp out sexual harassment of job-hunting students, a problem they say lurks in the shadows because victims fear to speak out. Although the labor ministry ...
The transition from Heisei to Reiwa came at a relatively peaceful time, with the nation's crime rate falling to a postwar low in 2018, an annual white paper released Friday by the Justice Ministry has shown. But the paper also said the 30-year Heisei Era ...
Japan eyes stronger law to protect women from sexual exploitation
The welfare ministry is considering crafting a new law to strengthen the protection of women, including schoolgirls, from sexual exploitation, according to sources. The law would provide the legal basis for prefectural consulting centers for women, a role currently played by a law that deals ...
Transgender worker sues Osaka hospital after supervisor told colleagues she transitioned to female
A woman sued the operator of an Osaka hospital where she works on Friday, claiming she suffered undue emotional distress after her boss revealed to colleagues she had transitioned some years earlier due to her gender dysphoria. In a damages lawsuit filed with the Osaka ...
Guilty ruling finalized for Chiba mother complicit in fatal abuse of 10-year-old daughter
A Chiba court said Friday a guilty verdict for a woman who was complicit in her husband's fatal assaults on their 10-year-old daughter has been finalized. Nagisa Kurihara, 32, did not appeal the ruling by Wednesday's deadline. The Chiba District Court sentenced her in late ...
Newly created Aichi fund provides foster children with access to higher education
A fund set up by the Aichi Prefectural Government in March is providing financial aid to students from children's homes seeking to enter higher education. "I want to realize my dream and live up to the expectations (of my supporters)," said a 19-year-old Aichi student ...
Chiba mother gets suspended sentence for role in father's alleged fatal abuse of daughter
A 32-year-old woman was sentenced to a 2½-year jail term, suspended for 5 years, for assisting her husband in assaulting their daughter and contributing to the child’s death.
A 31-year-old woman in Niigata Prefecture was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of killing her 3-month-old daughter by repeatedly dropping her on the floor, police said. Noriko Ito, a Nagaoka city official in charge of promoting gender equality, admitted the allegation to police after her daughter, ...
