Tag - children

 
 

CHILDREN

The Saitama Prefectural Police headquarters. A motorist plowed into a group of elementary school students in the city of Misato, Saitama Prefecture, on Wednesday afternoon, injuring four boys before fleeing.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 15, 2025
Four elementary students injured in Saitama hit-and-run
Four 11-year-old boys were injured in the incident on Wednesday, with one of them believed to have suffered a fractured leg, leaving him in serious condition.
According to a survey, some 70% of children from Japanese households with an annual income of less than ¥3 million take no after-school private lessons.
JAPAN / Society
May 15, 2025
Children from low-income families take fewer after-school private lessons
The proportion of children who take after-school private lessons and the frequency of doing so are higher as household income increases, a survey shows.
The government should "design a specific system by around fiscal 2026 to make standard childbirth expenses free of charge,” an expert panel said, as the aging nation seeks to reverse its declining population and shrinking pool of tax-paying workers.
JAPAN
May 15, 2025
Expert panel suggests Japan’s government make childbirth free
The proposal follows a child care policy package adopted in 2023 to reverse Japan’s declining birthrate by supporting families with young children.
Student bookbags lay in front of a school building damaged in a airstrike carried out by Myanmar's military at the Ohe Htein Twin village in Tabayin township, Sagaing Region, on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 15, 2025
'Children are innocent': Myanmar families in grief after school airstrike
The airstrike in central Myanmar occurred during a purported truce and killed 20 students and two teachers, witnesses said.
Japan ranked 14th out of 36 developed countries in the latest child well-being survey, improving from 20th place in the previous survey released in 2020, a report by a UNICEF research institute showed Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 14, 2025
Japan ranks 14th in UNICEF child well-being survey
Top positions in the latest overall rankings were held by the Netherlands, Denmark and other European countries.
New research by a U.S. climate scientists’ group reveals that extreme heat has increased the risks of preterm births and other pregnancy complications in Japan, nearly doubling the number of days that are harmfully hot for pregnant women over the past five years.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 14, 2025
Harmfully hot days for pregnant women in Japan nearly doubled over past five years
Heat stress can raise the risks of stillbirths, miscarriages, preterm births and low-weight births, as well as congenital abnormalities for the babies.
Bill Gates, who pledged on Thursday to give away almost his entire personal wealth in the next two decades and said the world's poorest would receive some $200 billion via his foundation, during an interview in New York City, on Thursday
BUSINESS
May 9, 2025
Bill Gates says Musk is 'killing' world's poorest children by cutting aid
Bill Gates has pledged to give away $200 billion via his charitable foundation by 2045.
The government is looking into measures to address a situation in which online advertisements with sexual content are posted on websites that may be accessible by children.
JAPAN / Media
May 7, 2025
Regulation of online ads with sexual content draws mixed views in Japan
While advocates seek measures to better protect children, critics worry they might infringe on freedom of expression.
Ahead of Children’s Day, a survey of kids entering elementary school in Japan found their top dream job was cake shop and bakery worker, followed by police officer and athlete.
JAPAN / Society
May 4, 2025
Cake shop workers and police officers high on dream job list in Japan
Cake shop and bakery worker topped the overall rankings covering both boys and girls, chosen by 11.7% of the respondents.
The proportion of children in Japan's overall population came to a record low of 11.1% as of April 1, dropping for 51 years in a row.
JAPAN / Society
May 4, 2025
Japan's child population falls for 44th straight year
The country's child population hit the lowest level since comparable data became available in 1950.
Osaka police arrested Yuki Yazawa for attempted murder after he allegedly plowed his car into elementary school children in Osaka on Thursday. 

 department is investigating how and why the 28-year-old suspect,
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 4, 2025
Suspect who hit Osaka children with SUV said he disliked people living without hardship
The Osaka Prefectural Police Department is investigating how and why the 28-year-old suspect, Yuki Yazawa, committed the assault.
Osaka Prefectural Police officers check the vehicle of a 28-year-old man who allegedly rammed into schoolchildren on a street in the city of Osaka on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 1, 2025
Man arrested in Osaka after suspected car attack on children
Yuki Yazawa, an unemployed resident of Tokyo who was driving the vehicle, was arrested by the Osaka Prefectural Police on the spot on suspicion of attempted murder.
A USB-type charging connector of a laptop was burned during charging due to foreign objects also being in the charging port.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2025
Technology institute warns of digital device accidents amid a series of fires
The warning comes as some students interact with electronic devices for the first time under the "giga school" initiative of distributing information devices to every student.
Students practice dance during a project activity at Hotei Junior High School in Konan, Aichi Prefecture.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Apr 28, 2025
'Voluntary' school clubs face reform amid excessive burdens
Club activities have long been a standard part of junior high and high school life in Japan, but some schools now struggle to form teams.
AI-generated content — including those made using pictures of real people, which are known as “deepfakes” — is not explicitly covered under Japan's current legal framework, nor are human-drawn illustrations that depict child abuse.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Apr 27, 2025
Japan struggles with gray zone of AI deepfakes exploiting children
AI-generated content is not explicitly covered under the country's legal framework, nor are human-drawn illustrations that depict child abuse.
A 21-month-old artist who goes by the name "Thumbelina" uses a brush to paint alongside her mother at the family's home in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 24, 2025
Thumbelina's bedtime is before 8. Her exhibition runs till 5 a.m.
A toddler’s solo art show lights up Tokyo’s nightlife, even though she’s asleep before her first guests arrive.
Of the 721,000 childbirths reported in 2024 in Japan, 13.8% involved the use of an epidural, according to the Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 22, 2025
Cases of epidural use in labor rise in Japan alongside concerns
More demand for epidurals may place a strain on the nation's anesthesiologists, who are already facing staffing shortages.
A sidewalk where a Japanese schoolboy was stabbed in Shenzhen, southern China, in September last year. China has executed a man, Zhong Changchun, over the fatal stabbing, it was learned Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2025
China executes man over fatal 2024 stabbing of Japanese boy in Shenzhen
The 10-year-old boy was stabbed as he was walking to a local Japanese school in September.
Yumi Watanabe (right), head of the residents' association of the Tsubamesawa public housing complex in Sendai, delivers a meal to a resident.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Apr 21, 2025
Disaster public housing complexes in Sendai work to boost interactions
Residents are working with volunteers to organize a children’s cafeteria and other events.

Longform

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