Chiba agency pair arrested for arranging baby's adoption for profit
The first such arrests in Japan come as the central and local governments are introducing stricter rules to prevent entities from exploiting the adoption system.
Confronted with hard questions about why they felt the need to adopt, the O'Briens chose to raise Sam, a child with Down syndrome.
Lack of parental consent preventing hundreds of orphans from being adopted, survey finds
Nearly 300 orphans in Japan could not be put up for adoption over the past two years because their parents’ consent could not be obtained, the welfare ministry says.
Resorting to adoption to avoid inheritance tax
Revisions to the inheritance tax went into effect in 2015, and related statistics for that year were recently made public by the National Tax Agency. The main change had to do with the basic deduction. Before 2015 the deduction equaled ¥50 million plus ¥10 million ...
Could easier adoptions stem child abuse in Japan?
The national news has recently reported a number of stories about young children dying at the hands of their parents or guardians, either from neglect or direct physical violence. It's hard to say if these tragedies constitute a trend since detailed child abuse statistics ...
A nonprofit organization in Osaka recently launched what it touts as an easy-matching adoption website, triggering criticism from experts that adoptions should be made more carefully. The group posts the age, job, place of domicile, annual income and assets of prospective parents on the website ...
Child welfare law revised but tens of thousands remain institutionalized in Japan
A baby lies in a metal-bar cot drinking from a bottle perched on his pillow in a Tokyo orphanage. There's no one to hold and feed him or offer words of comfort. The director of the institution, nurses scurrying busily around him, says he would ...
Archbishop of Canterbury learns his father was secretary to Churchill
Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, has discovered his biological father was the former private secretary to Britain's war-time leader Winston Churchill, he said in a statement Friday. "In the last month I have discovered that my biological father is not Gavin Welby, but in ...
Seeking Japanese courses for mature students; reconnecting with a lost mother
A British reader is keen to come to Japan and learn the language, and a woman in the U.S. hopes to get in contact with her Japanese birth mother.
Fewer than 60% of child centers mediated 'special' adoptions in fiscal 2013, report shows
Fewer than 60 percent of child consultation centers in Japan mediated "special" adoptions of children aged below 6 in fiscal 2013 due to staff shortages, a health ministry report showed Thursday. A major purpose of the centers is to allow abused children or children who ...
