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September 06, 2025
 

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PARENTHOOD

Tomomi Bitoh, 33, Japan's top ultrarunner, stretches as she takes part in a workout session around the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 6, 2024
As Japan's birth rate drops, runner freezes her eggs to sustain motherhood dream
Last year Tokyo authorities started offering subsidies of up to ¥300,000 ($1,900) for women aged between 18 and 39 to have their eggs frozen for future pregnancies.
To qualify for the advance payment offered by the city of Saitama, the single parent must reside in the city and fulfill several other criteria.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 6, 2024
Saitama aids single parents with advance child support payments
The city will offer a maximum amount of ¥50,000 per month per child to the affected parent for up to three months, and seek reimbursement from the former spouse.
Legislation on measures to support child-rearing passes during the Upper House plenary session on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 5, 2024
Japan enacts bill to expand measures for tackling low birth rate
To pay for the changes, extra fees will be added to public medical insurance premiums.
The Supreme Court in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. This case will mark the first time for the Supreme Court to rule on a parent-child relationship in a case in which the biological father has a child after transitioning to a woman.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 31, 2024
Top court to rule on recognizing post-transition woman as parent
The Tokyo Family Court rejected the woman's petition in 2022, stating that she did not fit the definitions of a father or a birth-giving mother under the Civil Code.
Legislation was enacted Friday to offer more support to workers raising young children.
JAPAN
May 24, 2024
Japan passes law on flexible work for parents with young children
Firms will be obliged to allow employees with preschoolers age 3 and older to choose from at least two working options, such as remote work or shorter hours.
Some 2,181 morning-after pills were sold at 145 pharmacies across the nation, with Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture recording over 200 sales each.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 20, 2024
Morning-after pill buyers back prescription-free sales following trial
Some 27% of purchases were made on Saturdays and Sundays, when many clinics are closed.
Kuniko Takahashi, whose 24-year-old son Kotaro has cerebral palsy, had not worked for about 30 years before she joined Cafe de Chill Mill in Sendai. She now happily tells her husband that she is going to work whenever he asks her about her plans.
JAPAN / Society
May 20, 2024
Sendai cafe offers work to families of children with medical needs
Staffers at the cafe work when their children are receiving care or attending schools for special educational needs.
The proportion of recent graduates in Japan who have worked as interns have experienced sexual harassment during their internship was 30.1%, according to a labor ministry survey, up 4.6 percentage points from the previous survey in fiscal 2020.
JAPAN / Society
May 18, 2024
Japan survey finds 30% of student interns experience sexual harassment
The proportion of such respondents was 30.1%, up 4.6 percentage points from the previous survey in fiscal 2020.
Legislation that allows the option of joint custody of children after divorce is passed at the Upper House plenary session on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 17, 2024
Japan changes law to allow joint custody after divorce
For decades in Japan, one parent — almost always the mother — has been granted legal custody when a marriage ends.
South Korea, with the world’s lowest total fertility rate, is is pondering a radical solution to fix the probelm — offering a baby bonus that is about twice the nation’s annual per-capita income.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2024
Could a $70,000 baby bonus solve South Korea's fertility crisis?
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to say how much impact the South Korean baby subsidies would have, as there is no precedent.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visits a child care support facility in Hiezu, Tottori Prefecture, in July.
JAPAN / Society
May 12, 2024
Government plans nationwide database to enhance child care support
Child care support measures and ways to apply for them differ according to each municipality.
Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
May 11, 2024
How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan
Five years into the Reiwa Era and the challenges Japan's moms face are unique, though the qualities that help them persevere haven't changed a bit.
A toddler tries to pull an electric kettle cord. Parents can often recognize the dangers within their own home, but may not be as vigilant when visiting new places during the holidays.
JAPAN / Society
May 10, 2024
Indoor child safety warnings issued for caregivers in Japan
Parents can often recognize the dangers within their own home, but may not be as vigilant when visiting new places during the holidays.
Japan’s custody system may soon change with the introduction of joint custody, though issues like a lack of protection against domestic violence and abuse must also be tackled.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 10, 2024
Joint custody alone won’t fix Japan’s flawed system
Japan could be on the verge of adopting joint custody. While to some this is a step in the right direction, it may not be enough to protect families.
Sony employees simulate the physical sensations of pregnancy at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo in February. The simple power of numbers can begin to remake workplace cultures, but many Japanese women still struggle to balance their careers with domestic obligations.
JAPAN / Society
May 8, 2024
It took decades, but Japan’s working women are making progress
Employers have taken steps to change a male-dominated workplace culture. But women still struggle to balance their careers with domestic obligations.
The number of children 14 years old or younger fell for the 43rd straight year to around 14.01 million as of April 1.
JAPAN / Society
May 4, 2024
Japan’s record-low children population weighs on growth
The number of children 14 years old or younger fell for the 43rd straight year to around 14.01 million as of April 1.
Strong family ties act as an insurance against economic and other shocks and can be strengthened by government policies that promote intergenerational solidarity.
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2024
As families change, so must safety nets
Intergenerational family ties act as a form of insurance. Governments like Singapore's are supporting such arrangements and others should follow suit.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Apr 28, 2024
Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.
As with for any single parent, life can present challenges. For those times, you'll need to learn resilience, perseverance and attention to detail.
Members of a group of former second-generation Jenovah's Witnesses speak during a news conference in Tokyo in November.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 26, 2024
Japan finds 47 cases of abuse of 'second-generation followers'
Victims were temporarily taken into protective custody in 19 of the total cases.
Japan has entered an era of full-fledged population decline. If current trends remain unchanged, the nation's population is expected to decline by about half from 124 million in 2023 to 63 million by 2100.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 26, 2024
Japan’s shrinking population is a big problem for the nation
An expert panel sounds the alarm on the nation's declining birthrate and population crisis.
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.
‘Confugenics’ and East Asia's demographic crisis
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.
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.
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.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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