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September 06, 2025
 

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CHILDREN

On Jan. 22 last year, the education ministry called on prefectural boards of education across the country to instruct schools to conduct annual checkups by, in principle, having students wear gym clothes or underwear during examinations and holding them separately for boys and girls under the supervision of teachers of the same gender.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2025
School doctors still risk complaints from parents over health checkups
A survey shows many physicians do not want to be involved in schools' annual checkups out of concern that parents do not want their children's bodies to be shown to doctors.
Elementary and junior high school students study online at Free School Mirai in the city of Nagano.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Mar 17, 2025
Schools face challenges in evaluating students not attending classes
There is concern that assessing students through grades may run counter to supporting those who cannot attend school.
By type of social media, crimes against children in which they were targeted through their use of social media took place most frequently through Instagram for the first time, at 461 victims, followed by X at 398 victims, and TikTok, at 82 victims.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 13, 2025
Children targeted for crime through social media fell 10.8% in 2024
The total was the lowest in the past 10 years and fell for the fifth consecutive year, the National Police Agency said.
A layer of smog hangs over Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Mar 13, 2025
Mongolia's children choke in toxic pollution
The toxic smog that settles over the Mongolian capital every winter has been a suffocating problem for more than a decade.
Hiroko Nagano, a former member of the assembly of Tokyo's Toshima Ward, speaks during an interview in Tokyo in January.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 7, 2025
Female assembly members with children seeing better work conditions
As of July 2024, there were 5,187 female municipal assembly members in the country, or only 17.9% of the total, however.
A sign shows directions to a public toilet. Saitama police have arrested a nursery school director for urinating in a student’s water bottle.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 6, 2025
Saitama nursery school staff arrested for urinating in student's water bottle
School director Toshifumi Miura, 24, said he was “trying to scare the boy into obeying” him.
Clinic director Oleksandr Feskov poses for a photo in one of the operating rooms at the Feskov clinic in Kharkiv on Feb. 17. Many more Ukrainian civilians are freezing their sperm and eggs — procedures that were rare before the war — with demand rising every time the war takes a turn for the worse.
WORLD / Society
Mar 6, 2025
Ukrainians waiting for peace before having children
New legislation means that Ukrainian soldiers can freeze their sperm for free, and many clinics are already offering the service.
Fertility rates remain low across much of Asia, with past policies to curb population growth proving difficult to reverse, while governments explore adaptation strategies like immigration and AI.
COMMENTARY
Mar 5, 2025
It’s time we adapt to low fertility rates
South Korea’s fertility rate saw a slight increase, but experts doubt it signals a long-term reversal. Similar trends are seen in Singapore and Japan.
Noonoo, a chihuahua dressed in a T-shirt that reads "BRAT," takes part in the Halloween Dog Parade in New York last year.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 28, 2025
Brats, rebels and rascals: Finding the right word for mischievous kids
Charli XCX’s idea of “brat” doesn’t translate neatly into Japanese, but there are other words for playful rebellion.
The number of newborns in 2024 fell 5% from the previous year to 720,988, extending a nine-year streak of declines, according to preliminary population data released Thursday by the health ministry.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2025
Japan records fewest births on record, deepening demographic crisis
The number of newborns in 2024 fell 5% from the previous year to 720,988, extending a nine-year streak of declines.
Girls take care of their baby brother before leaving for school in Seoul. South Korea just recorded its first rise in fertility rates in nearly a decade.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 26, 2025
South Korea's policy push springs to life as world's lowest birth rate rises
That shift in societal norms could prove pivotal in a country that has seen its birth rate plummet to the lowest in the world.
Misako Yoshimura looks for a photograph of her father from among several kept in a closet at her home in the town of Yonabaru, Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Feb 24, 2025
Remembering a father who stopped smiling after the war
Misako Yoshimura hated her stern-faced father, but when she learned of what he lost during the Pacific War, the resentment disappeared.
Children do exercises in a hall during a break between classes in an underground school in Zaporizhzhia on Jan. 27.
WORLD / Society
Feb 24, 2025
Ukraine's underground schools helping children feel safe
Such schools allow students to return to in-person learning and socialize with their classmates while keeping them safe from attacks.
Miku Sawada of Gakken, who was in charge of editing the book "Bokura wa Senso wo Shiranai", on Feb. 7 in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2025
War book for students gaining attention in Japan
The 136-page book explains what wars are and why they occur, using Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an example.
About 80% of children in Australia between the ages of 8 and 12 used at least one social media platform in 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 21, 2025
Underage social media users show large Australian breaches
About 80% of children in Australia between 8 and 12 used at least one platform in 2024, a watchdog report has found.
Australia's spy chief, Mike Burgess, called for a greater effort to tackle the threat from extremism, especially among young people.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 20, 2025
Australian spy chief warns of rising role of minors in terror
Almost all foiled terrorist attacks in Australia over the past year involved the radicalization of children, according to the spy chief's annual assessment.
The Osaka District Court sentenced former hospital employee Tomoya Yanagimoto, 28, to life in prison on Tuesday for raping and injuring 10 girls between the ages of 8 and 12 over a six-year period from March 2016.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 19, 2025
Osaka court jails former hospital employee for life for raping 10 girls
Tomoya Yanagimoto, 28, raped and injured the girls — who were 8 to 12 years of age — between March 2016 and May 2022.
Cadets of the Russian patriotic movement Youth Army hold trench candles at a school museum in the town of Istra in the Moscow region on Jan. 24.
WORLD / Society
Feb 17, 2025
Berets, boots and flags: Russia teaches young children to revere army
One pro-military youth group's agenda covers everything from sports competitions to how to handle a Kalashnikov rifle.
One-third of elementary school students in Japan do not like learning English, according to a 2021 poll, an 8% rise since 2013. The pressure of taking proficiency tests is eroding children's engagement with studying English and its benefits.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 17, 2025
Japan’s English-language education doesn’t pass the test
An excessive focus on testing students' English ability is turning language learning into a chore, depriving children of the joy and opportunities of intercultural communication.
The city of Settsu in Osaka Prefecture, which has distributed "randoseru" to elementary schoolchildren for free for 50 years, marked the milestone with a redesign of the school backpack.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 16, 2025
City marks 50 years of free school bag project
The city redesigned the traditional backpack for the first time, increasing its capacity, in the fiscal year that started in April 2024.
Bangladesh is a South Asian time bomb
Many Bangladeshis hoped that the overthrow of long-time leader Sheikh Hasina last year would revitalize the country’s democracy after an authoritarian lurch under the “iron lady.” Instead it has led to proliferating human-rights abuses, intensifying repression and widespread Islamist violence.
Tropical Storm Peipah brings heavy rain to parts of western Japan
Tropical Storm Peipah made landfall in western Japan on Friday, prompting the Japan Meteorological Agency to issue warnings of landslides and other disasters due to heavy rainfall in several areas.
Trump signs order reducing tariffs on Japanese autos
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, shake hands.
Tamagotchi hatches 100 million shipments worldwide thanks to ’90s nostalgia
The latest version of Tamagotchi, called Tamagotchi Paradise, is awarded the best digital toy at Tokyo Toy Show on Aug. 28.
Japan alerting consumers to cash-on-delivery problems
In fiscal 2024 through March this year, the National Consumers Affairs Center received inquiries and gave advice on problems associated with cash-on-delivery services.
London’s calling and sumo’s top division — along with Hello Kitty — are ready to answer
Yokozuna Hoshoryu and Hello Kitty, an ambassador for sumo's upcoming tour to London, at Tokyo's Kokugikan on Tuesday
Resonac creates 27-member consortium to pursue advanced chip developments
Representatives from member companies of JOINT3, a consortium working together on semiconductor-related developments announced by Resonac, pose for a photo in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Haru Nemuri’s radical new album refuses easy listening
Musician Haruna Kimishima, better known as Haru Nemuri, confronts Japan’s politics, nationalism and censorship on her recent output.
Overseas sluggers step up to bat in small-town Hokkaido
The Betsukai Pilot Spirits welcomed new players (left to right) Yuta Yamanaka, Roman Guthrie, Scott Bellina and Leo Jiminian this year, pictured here with Yassir Lachkar of the Ishikari Red Phoenix.
Xi — joined by Kim and Putin — delivers stark warning at military parade
Chinese leader Xi Jinping walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing on Wednesday.

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