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July 02, 2026
 

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CHILDREN

Fourteen-year-old Yevenhelina Tuturiko poses in a corridor of an underground school in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Oct. 16.
WORLD
Dec 22, 2025
Ukraine’s lost generation caught in ‘eternal lockdown’
First there was the pandemic in March 2020, then the invasion — forcing young Ukrainians to spend most of their time in front of the family computer to study and unwind.
“Dai Pinchi Zukan 3” is part of a series of illustrated kids' books; all three books have been immensely popular, selling a cumulative 2.7 million copies in four years.
CULTURE / Books / 2025 IN REVIEW
Dec 21, 2025
Life lessons from bestselling kids’ book about making mistakes
The top-selling book of 2025, “Dai Pinchi Zukan 3,” is a children’s book about a cloddish kid forever falling into mishaps or “big pinches.”
Like clockwork, the Year of the Fire Horse has depressed birth rates in Japan due to a stigma associated with girls born in the year.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 20, 2025
Will Japan’s ‘fire horse’ curse strike again in 2026?
In 1966, the stigma related to the Chinese sexagenary cycle caused birth rates to plummet.
Documented evidence shows schools that implement smartphone-free policies see measurable improvements in academic performance and student well-being, even within a single semester.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 19, 2025
It’s time for Japan to ban smartphones in schools
Excessive screen time creates addiction comparable to substance abuse, but it is more nefarious in that it impacts people in unseen ways, unlike tobacco or alcohol.
Rei Obara, a 22-year-old employee of a dispatch-style sex business in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of dismembering and abandoning the body of her infant.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 19, 2025
Tokyo police arrest 22-year-old woman on suspicion of dismembering her baby
The woman is believed to have dismembered the infant’s body around March and stored the remains in a shared refrigerator until their discovery earlier this month.
The National Police Agency plans to warn against the obscene use of AI at delinquency-prevention lectures at schools and other events.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 18, 2025
Over half of deepfakes of underage victims made by schoolmates, Japanese police say
The National Police Agency for the first time has released information on minors who became victims of sexual deepfakes, or obscene fake images created using generative AI.
Hellen Etiman, 30, stands as her malnourished son, Peter Lokoyen, 4, eats wild fruits outside their thatch hut in Lomolem village, in Turkana County in Kenya, on Oct. 29.
WORLD / Society
Dec 12, 2025
Cuts to U.S. aid under Trump disrupt life-saving treatment for starving children
Before the cuts, the U.S. Agency for International Development funded purchase and distribution of half global food paste supplies for the most undernourished children.
As seen in an increase in suicides, loneliness and isolation became a pressing social problem especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 12, 2025
Nearly half of Japanese have experienced loneliness and isolation
Describing the survey as a “compass,” the government plans to reflect its findings in future policies.
The number of "children's cafeterias" that provide free or low-cost meals mainly to children in need in Japan rose by more than 1,700 from the previous fiscal year, according to a survey by a nonprofit organization.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2025
‘Children’s cafeterias’ in Japan hit record 12,601 sites, survey reveals
The nonprofit organization behind the survey said the rise of more than 1,700 sites from the previous fiscal year reflected efforts to create comfortable spaces for children.
OpenAI has announced changes to make ChatGPT better at recognizing and responding to different ways that people may express mental distress.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 12, 2025
OpenAI and Microsoft sued over murder-suicide blamed on ChatGPT
The case is the first to blame OpenAI for a homicide.
The Metropolitan Police Department’s headquarters in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 12, 2025
Mother of Thai girl in Tokyo sex work case to be returned to Thailand
The mother arrived in Taiwan in September, leaving her daughter in Japan, and was later detained by Taiwanese authorities for her alleged involvement in prostitution.
A child looks at his phone in Melbourne on Nov. 27 ahead of Australia's ban on children under 16 from using social media.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 11, 2025
Australian content creators feel sting of losing young fans to social media ban
Follower counts primarily on Instagram have dropped, creators said, while engagement patterns — likes, comments and views — have also changed.
The government and ruling coalition are considering a ¥6 million cap on tax-free holdings for a new investment program for minors under the revamped NISA framework, sources say.
BUSINESS
Dec 10, 2025
NISA program for minors to have ¥6 million tax-exemption cap
The cap will be introduced to address potential disparities that could arise when the assets are eventually withdrawn.
Young passengers use their smartphones in a train near Central Station in Sydney on Nov. 19.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 10, 2025
Australia begins enforcing teen social media ban in world-first crackdown
Canberra says unprecedented measures are needed to protect children from “predatory algorithms” filling phone screens with bullying, sex and violence.
Otani Junior and Senior High School apologized on Monday after confirming several students stole items from a store in Bali during a school trip.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 10, 2025
Kyoto high school confirms students shoplifted during Bali study trip
A video circulating online appeared to show a group of male Japanese students putting T-shirts into their bags and leaving the store without paying.
Teens watch a TikTok video with their friends in Melbourne, Australia, on Nov. 13. Australia is trying to wean children under 16 off the likes of TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and Instagram with a new law.
WORLD / Society
Dec 8, 2025
‘Not black or white’: Teens worldwide react to Australia social media ban
The move will be closely watched by other countries, which could follow suit with similar laws.
Demonstrators outside the Center for Disease Control headquarters in Atlanta on Thursday
WORLD / Science & Health / ANALYSIS
Dec 8, 2025
Disease prevention has taken a hit from U.S. vaccine advisers, experts say
Since 1991, U.S. health officials have recommended universal vaccination for infants against hepatitis B. The move has cut infections dramatically and saved lives.
Police officers investigate the area around a building in Tokyo's Sumida Ward where an infant's head and limbs were found in a refrigerator on Saturday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 7, 2025
Infant’s head found in fridge in Tokyo
The body parts are believed to be those of an infant around a few months old, but the gender is unknown.
Members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's committee on immunization practices in Atlanta on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 6, 2025
U.S. vaccine panel upends hepatitis B advice in latest Trump-era shift
The move to end the decades-old recommendation is the panel’s latest contentious about-face on vaccine policy.
A nurse sits at the reception desk of a maternity ward in Hoshcha, a rural community that has experienced a declining birth rate, in Ukraine, on Oct. 2.
WORLD / Society / FOCUS
Dec 5, 2025
Ukraine stares down the barrel of population collapse
The country’s war with Russia has left it with the highest death rate and lowest birth rate in the world.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.

Podcast

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

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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