Offspring of religious group followers in Japan, who claim to have suffered due to the compulsion of the groups' teachings, have set up a body to raise awareness about their plight.
The religious groups include the former Unification Church.
For the first time in 12 years, Japan's education ministry has revised its guidelines for teachers on how to instruct students about their behavior. The guidelines call for schools to review their rules frequently to prevent excessively strict guidance.
The ministry released the guidelines on Tuesday. The revision reflects discussions by experts.
Committee members of Japan's Lower House have agreed on a vote of a revised draft of a bill aimed at helping people who have suffered damage from the actions of the former Unification Church.
The vote is scheduled for Thursday. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is to attend the session ahead of the voting.
Japan faces a rising tide of aging infrastructure that cannot be repaired due to tight budgets and worker shortages.
Local authorities are required to inspect bridges and tunnels every five years, following a fatal tunnel collapse a decade ago. The accident in the Chuo Expressway's Sasago Tunnel in Yamanashi Prefecture killed nine people.
Prominent Japanese musician Sakamoto Ryuichi, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, has published a video message ahead of the online streaming of his piano performances he recorded this autumn.
The message released on Wednesday shows Sakamoto sitting by the piano.
The government has announced its final plan to reform the Science Council of Japan, the country's leading academic body.
Economic Revitalization Minister Goto Shigeyuki, who is in charge of the matter, made the announcement at a news conference on Tuesday.
Japanese lawmakers have started debating a bill that would regulate donations to religious entities. They include the group formerly known as the Unification Church.
The legislation would ban religious groups from soliciting donations in an unscrupulous manner. Opposition lawmakers want to revise the bill to ban donations that are made under the influence of so-called mind control.
Staff members at a care facility for people with intellectual disabilities in Hokkaido, northern Japan, were found to have repeatedly abused residents between May and June this year.
The operator of the facility in Nishiokoppe Village disclosed the abuse on Tuesday.
The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has resumed examining the inside of the No.1 reactor containment vessel after a six-month break.
The plant suffered a triple meltdown in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Japan's health ministry says it confirmed 15,501 new cases of the coronavirus in Tokyo on Tuesday. That figure is up 821 from a week ago.
The ministry also reported 19 deaths in the capital.
The mother of late Japanese reality show star Kimura Hana has sued a broadcaster and two production companies in connection with cyberbullying that led to her daughter's suicide.
Hana, a 22-year-old professional wrestler, killed herself in May 2020 after becoming the target of malicious slander on social media for her remarks and conduct on the show "Terrace House," broadcast by Fuji Television.
Tokyo police have arrested a 22-year-old man on suspicion of threatening to kidnap preschoolers and female students.
Police say the unemployed man, Yomogida Haruto, sent the message to the website of Tokyo's Adachi Ward in June and July, saying that he will kidnap 334 kindergarteners and female students. He is suspected of obstructing business.
Japanese "hagoita" decorative wooden paddles bearing images of seven prominent people this year have been put on display in Tokyo.
A doll wholesaler has been making the battledore paddles every year as a year-end tradition.
Real wages in Japan dropped for the seventh-straight month in October from a year earlier.
Nominal pay was higher but grew at a slower pace than consumer inflation.