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October 24, 2025
 

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PARENTHOOD

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.
It is recommended that screen time for children should be kept to under two hours a day.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 24, 2025
Study first, screens later: Japanese kids have summer projects to do
From book reports to free research, parents are helping kids build good habits — and grammar — over summer break.
For three key Cabinet posts, Takaichi turns to an eclectic trio
Shinjiro Koizumi — son of a former prime minister and rival to the current one — was appointed defense chief after falling short in his bid for the Liberal Democratic Party presidency earlier this month.
Rare female yakuza walks path to redemption in Japan
Retired yakuza Mako Nishimura sorts fallen leaves during a clean-up activity at the Gifu Gokoku shrine in Gifu Prefecture on Sept. 28.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.
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.
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.
Japan's first female PM promised more women in her Cabinet. She picked two.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi poses with members of the newly formed Cabinet on Tuesday night.
AI-optimized cybercrime increasingly targeting Japan
A recent cyberattack on brewer Asahi Group Holdings resulted in the company suspending shipments.
K-pop idol Chanyeol does J-pop his own way on ‘Hibi’
South Korean singer Chanyeol made his Japanese-language solo debut with the EP “Hibi,” which features six tracks inspired by his love of Japanese music.
In pictures: The day Japan’s glass ceiling finally cracked
Takaichi, surrounded by LDP influencers
London exhibition perhaps sumo's most successful trip abroad
With the recent sumo jaunt to London being essentially a goodwill exercise, <i>rikishi</i> were far more outgoing and relaxed than normal.
Nakatsu keeps its cool as gentrification looms
Shunsuke Takahashi, owner of the cafe Hood by Vargas, says the Osaka neighborhood of Nakatsu feels brighter and calmer with the influx of new businesses.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo
Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

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