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October 27, 2025
 

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PARENTHOOD

The cost to raise a child totaled ¥16.32 million through junior high school graduation and ¥21.72 million through high school, according to a survey on mothers nationwide.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 24, 2025
Child-rearing costs in Japan soar when a child reaches junior high school
The total cost to raise a child was ¥16.32 million through junior high school graduation and ¥21.72 million through high school, according to the survey.
Riho Fukuyama (center) and her husband Yoshiki Fukuyama (left) speak to the media with their lawyer (right) outside the Toyama District Court in Toyama on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 21, 2025
Japanese man sentenced to eight years after rare public accusation of rape
Koji Daimon was convicted of raping his daughter Riho Fukuyama in 2016, when she was in high school.
Global birth rates are declining, raising concerns about the impact on society, particularly women, as it exacerbates isolation while creating a need for structural and cultural changes to support motherhood.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2025
Can the world handle having fewer moms?
Fewer women are having children. Those who do are having smaller families than previous generations. This trend transcends the norms of any one culture or place.
Major League Baseball's paternity list system drew attention when Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani used it for his wife's childbirth in April this year.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 15, 2025
Japanese pro baseball to introduce paternity leave
"Such a system is commonplace in society, and we are finally getting it," said Tadahito Mori, head of the Japan Professional Baseball Players Association's secretariat.
Over half of financially struggling pregnant women and new mothers in Japan have no savings, a survey by Save the Children Japan found.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2025
Over half of needy pregnant women in Japan have no savings
An official from Save the Children Japan urged the central and local governments to strengthen their support measures.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said "unjust human rights violations" were committed when sending tens of thousands of children overseas for adoption.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 2, 2025
South Korea president apologizes for overseas adoptions failures
International adoptions began after the Korean War as a way to remove children born to local mothers and American GI fathers from a society that emphasized ethnic homogeneity.
Marriage is rapidly declining in South Korea as rising education and career aspirations collide with traditional gender norms.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2025
South Korea’s baby bust threatens its demographic future
At 1.2 births per woman, Japan is still reproducing faster than South Korea, where the birth rate has dropped to just 0.75 — the lowest in the world.
Save the Children Japan domestic program chief Sonoko Kawakami speaks at a news conference in Tokyo in July. A survey conducted by the group in June has found that over 90% of low-income households with children face food insecurity.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 17, 2025
Over 90% of low-income families in Japan struggling to feed children
A survey conducted by Save the Children Japan has found that single-parent households were among those facing the most dire food insecurity.
Gold medalist Faith Kipyegon celebrates after winning the women's 1,500 meters at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Tuesday.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Sep 17, 2025
Faith Kipyegon cements place as supreme champion and role model for mothers
Kipyegon, a three-time Olympic champion, took her fourth world title at 1,500 meters on Tuesday in dominating fashion.
The number of children who died from abuse totaled 65 in Japan in fiscal 2023, down by seven from the preceding year, according to the government.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 11, 2025
Japan records 65 child abuse deaths in fiscal 2023
The number is down by seven from the preceding year, according to the Children and Families Agency.
Japan previously only allowed preimplantation genetic testing for those who could not get pregnant even after multiple embryo transfers following in vitro fertilization or those who experienced repeated miscarriages and stillbirths.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 9, 2025
Japan expands preimplantation genetic testing eligibility
Eligibility was limited to those who could not get pregnant after embryo transfers following in vitro fertilization or those who experienced repeated miscarriages and stillbirths.
“Swallows” examines the intersections of class and reproductive issues with a focus on its protagonist who is talked into becoming a surrogate for a wealthy couple.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 5, 2025
‘Swallows' untangles the murky ethics of selling motherhood
“Swallows” examines the intersections of class and reproductive issues with a focus on its protagonist who is talked into becoming a surrogate for a wealthy couple.
East Asia’s fertility plunge is driven not just by financial costs but by perfectionist cultural expectations that burden parents with intense educational and social demands.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 5, 2025
‘Confugenics’ and East Asia's demographic crisis
The numbers are staggering when you dig into them. Parents in Japan covered half of higher education costs in 2024 — more than double the OECD average.
The annual number of babies in Japan has been on a downward trend since around 1975, falling below 1 million in 2016, 900,000 in 2019 and 800,000 in 2022.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 29, 2025
Japan births hit fresh low in first half of 2025
The January-June figure, including babies born to foreign nationals living in Japan and Japanese nationals living overseas, stood below 400,000 for the fourth consecutive year.
The Justice Ministry has drafted an ordinance proposing a legally mandated post-divorce child support amount of ¥20,000 per child per month, sources said.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2025
Statutory post-divorce child support to be set at ¥20,000 a month
According to a 2021 welfare ministry survey, only 28.1% of single-mother households and 8.7% of single-father households had actually received child support from the other parents.
Nadia, a military radio operator who served until she was eight and a half months pregnant, with her son Pavlo, 6, at their home in Lubny, Ukraine, on Jan. 28.
WORLD
Aug 28, 2025
Expecting on the front lines: Motherhood in Ukraine’s military
Despite the hardships they face, many pregnant soldiers say they are motivated to serve for the future of Ukraine — and their children.
The Financial Services Agency plans to expand Japan's Nippon Individual Savings Account tax exemption program for small investments, with a focus on supporting families with children.
BUSINESS
Aug 27, 2025
Financial Services Agency eyeing NISA expansion to support child-rearing
The FSA will call for a revision of the age limit for installment-type investments under the NISA program.
Kid carts and strollers were a common sight at the Fuji Rock Festival this year.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 4, 2025
The families that rock together at Fuji
Taking children to Fuji Rock is a rite of passage that should be supported.
The number of children waiting to be accepted into <i>gakudō hoiku</i> after-school care facilities for elementary school students has dropped from a year earlier.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2025
Number of children on after-school care waiting lists drops to 17,000
By prefecture, Tokyo had the largest number of children on waiting lists at 3,375.
China's government will offer subsidies to parents to the tune of $500 per child under the age of three per year, Beijing's state media said on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 29, 2025
China rolls out childcare subsidy to boost birth rate
The assistance is meant as an incentive for young couples wary of rising costs of child-rearing.
Bear kills another person in Japan in record year for fatal attacks
Police investigate the scene of a bear attack that killed one person and injured three others on Friday in the village of Higashinaruse in Akita Prefecture.
Tokyo launches English-language international school database
A screenshot of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's international schools portal site
Strong quake shakes Hokkaido as authorities urge vigilance
Kunashiri Island is seen across the Nemuro Strait, just before sunrise from Rausu, Hokkaido. A strong earthquake struck the area at a depth of about 40 kilometers early Saturday.
New tourism minister calls concentration of tourists in certain areas 'very serious'
Tourism minister Yasushi Kaneko holds a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Florian Wiltschko: ‘Shinto helps me understand and live within Japanese culture’
Florian Wiltschko’s interest in Shintoism began with a trip to Japan in his teens. He now serves as the supplicant priest at the 355-year-old Hisai Hachiman Shrine in Mie Prefecture.
Loss to Wallabies doesn't dampen Japan’s optimism
Japan's Michael Leitch controls the ball during the match against Australia on Saturday.
Stars align for Kim-Trump meeting — but any talks will be on N.K. leader’s terms
A South Korean soldier stands next to a TV broadcasting a news report about a possible summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, at the main railway station in Seoul on Wednesday.
New ‘immigration minister’ post signals Takaichi Cabinet’s priorities
Kimi Onoda, economic security minister and minister for harmonious coexistence with foreign nationals, arrives at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Number of suicide cases among students in Japan hits record high in 2024
The health ministry's Suicide White Paper for 2024 has found that numbers for both men and women peak at age 21, with “concerns over future career paths” being identified as the most likely cause.
The newly formed LDP-JIP coalition may not be as solid as it seems
Ruling Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi and Japan Innovation Party leader Hirofumi Yoshimura sign a policy agreement between the two parties at the Diet in Tokyo on Monday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.
By Thu-Huong Ha and Mike Fu

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