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October 16, 2025
 

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SCHOOLS

Some students avoid using school restrooms altogether because of traditional squat toilets, a survey has found.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2025
For incoming first graders, a major hurdle awaits — Japanese squat toilets
According to one survey by the education ministry, roughly 1 in 4 students said they were unable to use the traditional toilets.
Many families with financial difficulties are cutting down on their living expenses to secure money to buy school uniforms, computers and tablet devices for their children entering school.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 31, 2025
Needy parents eye living expense cuts to fund kids' new school life
They are finding it especially difficult to secure money to buy school uniforms, computers and tablet devices, a survey shows.
A volunteer handles an incoming call at the Tokyo Befrienders call center, a suicide hotline center in Japan's capital.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 28, 2025
School-age suicides in Japan hit all-time high
The number of suicides among elementary, junior high and high school students exceeded 500 for a third consecutive year in 2024 despite a drop in the overall figure.
Students in South Korea sit the annual College Scholastic Ability Test. There is huge pressure on this exam, which determines young people's university choices and, in turn, their job and even marital prospects, leading to a heavy mental health burden.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 26, 2025
Entrance exam wars: A pressure cooker for South Korean youth
South Korea comes to a standstill on the day of the national university entrance exam. But so does students' possibility to determine their future paths beyond a mere test score.
Textbooks carrying QR codes that link to websites with video and audio learning aid materials
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2025
Most Japanese high school textbooks to include QR codes
In response to the rapid progress of digitalization, many of the textbooks include descriptions on information ethics and generative AI.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the White House on Thursday directing the secretary of the Department of Education to take steps to close the agency.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2025
Cutting the department of education is theater, not a plan
Despite all the pomp, Trump is focused on fixing the wrong problem and that presents Democrats with a perfect opportunity.
A eulogy is read during a memorial service for the victims of the Nasu avalanche in Otawara City, Tochigi Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN
Mar 22, 2025
Victims mourned eight years after 2017 deadly Tochigi avalanche
The ceremony, held at Tochigi Prefectural Otawara High School, was attended by about 50 people.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order to shut down the Department of Education.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 21, 2025
Trump signs order aimed at dismantling U.S. Department of Education
With a new executive order, Trump weakens federal oversight of education, taking the first step toward shutting down the department.
A protester stands near the U.S. Department of Education headquarters in Washington on March 12.
WORLD
Mar 20, 2025
Trump will sign order to shut down Department of Education, White House says
Abolishing the Department of Education would be the first attempt by the U.S. president and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk to shut down a cabinet-level agency.
On Jan. 22 last year, the education ministry called on prefectural boards of education across the country to instruct schools to conduct annual checkups by, in principle, having students wear gym clothes or underwear during examinations and holding them separately for boys and girls under the supervision of teachers of the same gender.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2025
School doctors still risk complaints from parents over health checkups
A survey shows many physicians do not want to be involved in schools' annual checkups out of concern that parents do not want their children's bodies to be shown to doctors.
Elementary and junior high school students study online at Free School Mirai in the city of Nagano.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Mar 17, 2025
Schools face challenges in evaluating students not attending classes
There is concern that assessing students through grades may run counter to supporting those who cannot attend school.
Tetsuya Tadano gazes at the school building from the hillside behind Okawa Elementary School on Feb. 7 in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2025
Former students work to turn tsunami-hit elementary school into social hub
One former student felt the school has become increasingly defined solely by the tragedy.
People walk past the Department of Education building in Washington on Feb. 4.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 6, 2025
Trump to order U.S. Education Department abolished, WSJ reports
Trump has repeatedly called for eliminating the department, calling it a "big con job."
Students from Hiroshima Global Academy chat over gyōza dumplings with "island guardian" Koshi Omori at his home in Osakikamijima, Hiroshima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Mar 3, 2025
Model school for global education rooted on small Hiroshima island
The school hopes its well-equipped students will help inspire and bring new energy to the aging island community.
Children do exercises in a hall during a break between classes in an underground school in Zaporizhzhia on Jan. 27.
WORLD / Society
Feb 24, 2025
Ukraine's underground schools helping children feel safe
Such schools allow students to return to in-person learning and socialize with their classmates while keeping them safe from attacks.
Students make speeches in Japanese at Linguist, a school in Irpin, near Kyiv, earlier this month.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2025
Kyiv school seeks peace through language education
In 2024, the Japanese government provided about 1 million textbooks to Ukraine as grant aid through the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Flower bouquets outside the Shenzhen Japanese School following the death of a 10-year-old child who was stabbed by an assailant on the way to the school, in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China, on Sept.19, 2024
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 20, 2025
Death sentence over murder of Japanese boy in China to be finalized
The sentence is expected to be finalized after it is examined by a high court in Guangdong and approved by China's Supreme Court.
Cadets of the Russian patriotic movement Youth Army hold trench candles at a school museum in the town of Istra in the Moscow region on Jan. 24.
WORLD / Society
Feb 17, 2025
Berets, boots and flags: Russia teaches young children to revere army
One pro-military youth group's agenda covers everything from sports competitions to how to handle a Kalashnikov rifle.
Opposition party Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Seiji Maehara suggested his party would accept postponing to fiscal 2026 the abolition of the income cap on financial aid for households with students attending private high schools.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 17, 2025
Nippon Ishin to accept fiscal year 2026 income cap abolition for tuition aid
Making education free is one of Nippon Ishin's conditions for supporting the fiscal 2025 state budget bill.
The city of Settsu in Osaka Prefecture, which has distributed "randoseru" to elementary schoolchildren for free for 50 years, marked the milestone with a redesign of the school backpack.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 16, 2025
City marks 50 years of free school bag project
The city redesigned the traditional backpack for the first time, increasing its capacity, in the fiscal year that started in April 2024.
Hypothermia in the land of the rising Sanae
Amid the election of Sanae Takaichi as Liberal Democratic Party president, and possibly the next prime minister, Japan's economy shows signs of recovery, but weak wages, a conservative corporate culture and currency issues raise doubts about a true economic thaw.
Number of scenarios now on the table for who might be Japan’s next prime minister
Newly-elected leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party Sanae Takaichi (right) celebrates with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after winning the LDP leadership election in Tokyo on October 4.
Could an opposition candidate become Japan's next prime minister?
The lawmaker that secures a majority of votes in the Lower House will become prime minister. If no one gets a majority, the two top contenders will enter a runoff in which the person with the highest number of votes gets elected.
Coalition talks could bring Takaichi closer to being PM
Nippon Ishin no Kai leader and Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura meets with Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Wednesday.
As temperatures drop in Japan, bear attacks shoot up to historic highs
Bear warning signs at the Akita Prefectural Government building
Number of scenarios now on the table for who might be Japan’s next prime minister
Newly-elected leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party Sanae Takaichi (right) celebrates with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after winning the LDP leadership election in Tokyo on October 4.
Pace eyes great strides for Japan’s art market
Pace Japan Vice President Kyoko Hattori, the de facto head of the nation’s business, believes a larger, more lucrative art market will allow Japan to be more attractive for collectors.
A frenetic diplomatic schedule looms for Japan’s next leader — whomever that may be
As horse-trading and speculation surge over who will be elected the next prime minister in parliament — the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Sanae Takaichi or a possible candidate put forward by a unified opposition — Japan’s next leader will be confronted with a quick succession of key diplomatic events.
Ghost of Yotei’s bloodstained fun sidesteps Ainu identity
Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to 2020's smash hit Ghost of Tsushima, is a violent, vengeful and engaging romp through 17th-century Hokkaido that fails to stick the landing on its most sensitive cultural material.
At Osaka Expo, gas giants promote a greener future. But is it a lot of hot air?
The Gas Pavilion had welcomed around 500,000 visitors by the end of August, making it one of the most popular exhibits at the Osaka Expo.

Podcast

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

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building
By Patrick St. Michel

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