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July 04, 2026
 

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PARENTHOOD

The last two students at Yumoto Junior High School attend their graduation ceremony in Ten-ei Village, Fukushima Prefecture, in March 2023.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 19, 2026
We have to stop discussing Japan’s birthrate like this
Declining Asian fertility is often framed negatively: a backlash against a crushing society. When it happens in the U.S., though, it’s young women taking control over their lives.
Prepare a bento with foods your child will enjoy.
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Mar 18, 2026
Bento basics every parent needs to know
There is no need to think out of the box when it comes to your kid’s packed lunch. Keeping things simple and nutritious is the goal.
Japan is moving to make child deliveries free of charge in an effort to tackle the declining birth rate.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 13, 2026
Japan moves to cover full cost of child delivery with public health insurance
The measure, aimed at tackling the nation’s declining birth rate, was approved in a Cabinet meeting on Friday, with implementation eyed by fiscal 2028.
Zhang Xiaofei looks at her baby, Zhu Wanning, in Langfang, northern China's Hebei province on March 6. Young Chinese say government measures such as free preschool education and annual subsidies do little to alleviate the financial stress of raising a child.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 9, 2026
Young Chinese parents tighten belts as child care costs rise
China introduced financial incentives last year, including annual subsidies of 3,600 yuan for each child, but young Chinese say they do little to alleviate financial stress.
More than 60% of single men and women don't want to have children amid concerns over the economic burden of child-rearing, a survey showed.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 6, 2026
Over 60% of Japan’s unmarried young people do not want children, survey says
Rohto Pharmaceutical polled online 400 unmarried men and women between ages 18 and 29 as part of its annual survey on pregnancy and family planning.
More than 58% of eligible male local government employees took child care leave in fiscal 2024, exceeding 50% for the first time ever.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 28, 2026
Paternity leave gets boost as local governments make it easier to take time off
The move is aimed at retaining human resources amid unabated population outflow to bigger cities.
In Japan, parents of bilingual children with hearing impairmentsmust navigate unforseen obstacles with a constant goal: giving their kids the best possible chance at a fully realized life.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 28, 2026
In bilingual homes, raising hearing-impaired kids is a long road toward a ‘normal life’
Early screening, financial assistance and emotional support from wider communities help multilingual families navigate an uncertain process.
By prefecture, only Tokyo and Ishikawa recorded increases in births compared with the previous year.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 26, 2026
Number of births in Japan falls to record low for 10th straight year
The data for how many babies were born in 2025 marks the lowest level since comparable records began in 1899, despite government efforts to reverse the trend.
A South Korean women takes care of her baby at her home in Seoul on Feb. 17.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 25, 2026
South Korea’s baby bump extends into second year, offering hope
The improvement comes as marriages show signs of recovery after a prolonged slump, supported by incentives designed to ease the financial burden of raising children.
China efforts to encourage women to have more babies will have short-lived effects, while coercive measures — such as bans on contraception and abortion — would trigger a public backlash.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2026
China’s population rebound faces structural limits
China is widely expected to adopt a range of pronatalist policies in a bid to raise birth rates.
Takeshi Hasuda, head of Jikei Hospital in the city of Kumamoto, speaks during a news conference in Kobe on Jan. 29.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 13, 2026
Experts raise alarm over women giving birth alone
Access to anonymous childbirth services — currently available in only two medical institutions nationwide — is essential for protecting both mothers and newborns, they say.
Singapore’s stalled birthrate reflects a broader pattern across wealthy Asian economies where higher living standards, shifting values and gender imbalances have made low fertility persistent and resistant to quick policy fixes.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2026
Why Asia can’t undo decades of falling fertility rates
The challenge is shared by most successful nations. Ultralow fertility is a byproduct of rapid development and elevated living standards.
Children ride sleds as they skate on the frozen Kunming Lake ice rink at Summer Palace in Beijing on Jan. 20.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 4, 2026
Chinese families ache for sons stolen in one-child era
When China had its one-child policy, the trafficking of young boys was fueled by parents seeking a son to carry on the family line, experts say.
"The situation remains unchanged, with child abuse cases still high," an official of the Children and Family Agency said, despite a slight decline from the previous year's record high.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 30, 2026
Japan recorded 0.8% fewer cases of child abuse in fiscal ‘24 than a year earlier
By perpetrator, biological mothers accounted for the largest share, followed by biological fathers.
China’s marriage market is being hollowed out by a shrinking pool of women of childbearing age and a severe gender imbalance, while those women who do marry are doing so later and having fewer children.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2026
Can China reverse its demographic decline?
China’s births have fallen to historic lows and deep structural forces make any lasting fertility rebound unlikely.
Lykke Lynge and her children in Nuuk, Greenland, on Jan. 19
WORLD / Politics
Jan 26, 2026
Faced with Trump, Greenlanders try to reassure their children
As early as a week after Trump’s inauguration, the Greenlandic authorities published a guide entitled “How to talk to children in times of uncertainty?”
Prime minister Sanae Takaichi and Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama attend a budget committee session in the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo on Nov. 11. Their rise to the nation’s highest offices underscores the growing prominence of women in Japanese politics.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 16, 2026
Feminism’s failures and the secret to Takaichi’s success
A movement that cannot accommodate this complexity — that insists feminists must agree on everything or be dismissed as traitors — consigns itself to irrelevance.
Women push strollers as they walk along a street in Beijing on Jan. 4. China has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world at around 1 birth ‌per woman, well below the 2.1 rate needed for a population to remain stable.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jan 16, 2026
China revs up fiscal support to boost number of births
The government said women in ⁠2026 would have “no out-of-pocket expenses” during their pregnancy, with medical costs fully reimbursable under its national medical insurance fund.
Jade, 16, holds a picture showing her father, Jose Urquia, in her home in El Rosario, El Salvador, on Dec. 3.
WORLD / Society
Jan 15, 2026
‘Silent crisis’: The generation of Salvadorans deprived of a father
Around 91,000 people, mostly young men, have been thrown into prison since 2022 on suspicions that they are gang members, some simply because they had tattoos.
Under a revised Civil Code, joint parental custody of children and a statutory child support system after divorce will be introduced.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Dec 25, 2025
Japan to start joint parental custody after divorce in April
The new framework represents a major shift in the post-World War II legislative system governing families.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
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.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
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
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
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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