NEWSWORTHY
Special celebrations planned for newlyweds on auspicious first day of Japan's new Reiwa era
Local governments are planning something special for those who register their marriage on the first day of the new era, including gifts and commemorative photos, as they prepare for a spike in the number of couples tying the knot on May 1. The start of ...
Japan top court upholds 'sterilization' rule for gender change
Human rights and LGBT activists on Friday denounced a ruling by Japan's Supreme Court upholding a law that effectively requires transgender people to be sterilized before they can have their gender changed on official documents. The court said the law is constitutional because it was ...
On a farm employing a sophisticated technique to develop special bananas in Okayama Prefecture, people with disabilities play a major role in the routine work of watering, fertilizing and removing yellowing leaves from the plants. Every morning, several mentally disabled workers come to the banana ...
Demand for mobile banks, or vehicles offering an ATM, as well as over-the-counter and other financial services, is growing in Japan following a recent series of natural disasters, while high introduction costs are a challenge to their implementation. The vehicles are increasingly important in order ...
Study finds 80% of rescue hashtags were unrelated to emergencies during July deluge
A vast majority of uses of the hashtag #kyūjo — which means rescue in Japanese — posted on Twitter during the deadly flooding last summer were unrelated to calls for help.
Emperor and Empress visit those affected by July rains in Okayama
Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko made a one-day trip to Okayama Prefecture on Friday and met people affected by the deadly downpours in western Japan in July. The Imperial Couple visited areas hit by torrential rains, which caused widespread landslides and flooding that killed more ...
Wooden housing that sheltered Fukushima displaced now relocated for use in rain-hit western Japan
Purpose-built wooden emergency homes constructed using a traditional nail-less building technique and used by people displaced by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis have been relocated to Soja, Okayama Prefecture, which was recently hit by torrential rains. In early August, carpenters in Soja began putting together ...
Okayama Prefecture appeals for more tourists and volunteers to visit with dance video
Local people are calling, through a dance video, for more tourists and volunteers to travel to Okayama, one of the western Japan prefectures that sustained heavy damage in last month's torrential rains. The clip, the first in a planned series of videos designed to support ...
Mobile bookstore donates used books to those affected by west Japan rain disasters
A mobile bookstore, dubbed the "Book Bus" and operated by Value Books, spent three days from Tuesday visiting areas of western Japan that were ravaged by torrential rains last month, and provided free books to those affected by the rain disasters who are now ...
80 percent of residents did not follow evacuation advisories for Typhoon Jongdari: survey
About 80 percent of residents in western Japan did not follow evacuation advisories issued late last month in relation to Typhoon Jongdari because they believed their houses were safe, a recent survey found. The online survey, conducted on Aug. 1 and 2, covered adults in ...
A photo studio in Okayama Prefecture has offered to restore — free of charge — photos damaged by the heavy rains that ravaged western Japan last month, prompting people in the disaster-hit areas to send in tens of thousands of photos. Staffers and volunteers at ...
Typhoon swings toward Honshu, threatening to bring more misery to western Japan
More trouble projected for flood-hit western Japan as Typhoon Jongdari nears on unusual path.
