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July 26, 2025
 

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PARENTHOOD

Pham Thi Bich Hau (fifth from left) began translating and interpreting for the Vietnamese community in Japan in 2013, when she was working for a trainee management organization. She went on to found the Vietnam Women's Union in Japan, organizing activities like the Tet festival pictured here.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Jul 21, 2025
The mothers holding up Japan's Vietnamese community
Online support groups and in-person events are helping Vietnamese women from all walks of life manage motherhood abroad.
A woman holding a child listens to a stump speech in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on June 25.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 18, 2025
Parties vow measures to tackle falling birth rate
Last year, Japan recorded fewer than 700,000 births for the first time.
One out of every 5,000 births is affected by mitochondrial diseases, which cannot be treated, and include symptoms such as impaired vision, diabetes and muscle wasting.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 17, 2025
World-first IVF trial reduces risk of babies inheriting diseases
The results raise hopes that women with mutations in their mitochondrial DNA could one day have children without passing debilitating or deadly diseases on to the children.
The Osaka District Court ordered the man to have his son appear at a hearing, but the man failed to bring him on all three designated dates.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 11, 2025
Osaka man detained for three weeks under human protection law
It is rare for a person to be detained under the human protection law, which has no clause on a specific period for such detentions, said an expert on Japan's family laws.
Emperor Naruhito (left) visits a special education school in Iruma, Saitama Prefecture, in May and looks at a student attending to a customer at a cafe inside the school.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 9, 2025
Boosting support for parents of children with disabilities in Japan
Businesses and local governments are taking steps to support parents after care programs for their disabled children are discontinued at a certain age.
Yoshiomi Tamai
JAPAN / Society
Jul 7, 2025
Philanthropist Yoshiomi Tamai dies at 90
Tamai was the founder and longtime president of the Ashinaga Foundation, which has supported over 110,000 orphaned students.
A teacher at the Honkawa day care center in the city of Hiroshima puts away disposable diapers delivered by a subscription service provider.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Jul 7, 2025
Use of diaper subscription expands at Hiroshima public day care centers
The service saves parents from having to put their child's name on each diaper and bring them to the day care center.
The share of households with children in Japan slid 1.5 points from the year before to a record low of 16.6%.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 5, 2025
Record 80% of Japanese mothers are employed
The latest survey also found that 58.9% of households felt they were struggling to make ends meet, almost unchanged from the year before.
Expectant parents Masataka and Saki Ohita look at ultrasound images of their unborn twins.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jun 23, 2025
Childbirth facilities disappearing from Fukushima towns
With just 26 facilities in the prefecture that can handle deliveries, there is concern that the trend could accelerate population decline.
A notice sent from the Sendai Municipal Government to those denied entry to an after-school care facility
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jun 16, 2025
Sendai faces growing waitlist at after-school care facilities
The Sendai government has been working to expand the capacity of such programs, but many of them are still full.
A man holding a baby wades through a flooded road following heavy rainfall in Zhengzhou, China, in July 2021.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 13, 2025
Natural disasters may be shaping babies’ brains
The findings signal how new generations of children may be marked by climate crises that occur before they were born.
The Children and Families Agency will conduct a survey in an effort to offer better assistance measures for expectant mothers in trouble.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 9, 2025
Japan to study ways to help more pregnant women in danger
As of January, 23 prefectural and municipal governments have taken part in a program to offer temporary housing, meals and medical services to struggling women and their babies.
Reports claim that children with unusual names were being bullied at school and facing difficulties finding jobs.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 6, 2025
What’s in a name? With new guidelines, the Japanese government wants to know.
Japan now requires official furigana for names in the family register, aiming to limit overly creative "kira-kira" readings.
The total number of births dropped to about 686,000, marking the first time the figure has fallen below 700,000, according to a health ministry release on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2025
Japan’s fertility rate hits record low despite government push
The new low underscores the immense challenge facing the government as it attempts to reverse the trend in one of the world’s most aged societies.
Save the Children Japan in May 2022 began its Hello! Baby Box initiative to provide essential items for newborns, with the aim of reducing the burden of child care costs for women in dire situations.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2025
Most expecting and new mothers in poverty lack funds for basic necessities: survey
State support is often diverted to cover essential day-to-day costs and consumables needed for child-rearing, a survey found.
More Chinese families are clustering in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward, a district renowned for having the finest educational environment in Japan.
JAPAN / Society
May 29, 2025
Chinese parents are fueling Tokyo’s education race
International schools in Tokyo are already witnessing an influx of children from the newly arrived, highly involved Chinese households.
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.
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.
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.
Shohei Ohtani and Mamiko Tanaka announced the birth of their first child on April 19.
BASEBALL
Apr 28, 2025
Shohei Ohtani's example could change Japan's views on paternity leave
The Dodgers star went on MLB’s paternity list for the birth of his daughter. MLB is the only major North American sports league that guarantees paternity leave to its players.
Tokyo is the No. 2 choice for international students
The University of Tokyo. International students are increasingly flocking to Asia, with affordability being a particularly important metric.
Junglia, Japan’s newest theme park, opens in northern Okinawa
In Junglia’s Dinosaur Safari attraction during a media preview on Thursday, a casual drive through a habitat for the prehistoric creatures goes haywire when several Tyrannosaurus rexes break out of containment.
Big unanswered questions follow Japan's big, beautiful deal with the U.S.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday in Washington, the day after he agreed to an 11th-hour trade deal with Japan.
Extreme heat grips Japan, even Hokkaido
The city of Obihiro in Hokkaido amid scorching heat on Thursday
Japan ties with South Korea for second most powerful passport
Japanese passport holders have visa-free access to 190 destinations out of 227 globally.
Hall of Fame always held deeper meaning for Ichiro
Ichiro presents then-Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson with the bat he used to break the single-season hits record in 2004.
Japan leans into homegrown AI amid rising competition
McKinsey’s 2025 Technology Trends Outlook, published Wednesday, says that the use of “sovereign AI” is a trend gaining significant global traction, including in Japan.
JT picks: What not to miss at Fuji Rock 2025
Fuji Rock Festival turns the green slopes of Niigata Prefecture’s Naeba Ski Resort into a summer escape that offers soundtracks for every mood.
Japan’s top brands get tied up in the great sunscreen debate
A coral reef in Okinawa in July 2022. Some jurisdictions around the world have moved to ban certain sunscreens in a bid to protect coral reefs, but some say the impact on reefs is far from clear.
Pentagon looks to unleash ‘military drone dominance’
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hosts a drone demonstration at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on July 10.

Podcast

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

Longform

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The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan
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