🇯🇵 Japan · Society
15 storiesIndian police detain CJP founder before New Delhi voter-roll protest
Indian police detained Abijito Dipuke (アビジート・ディプケ), founder of Gokiburi Jinminto (ゴキブリ人民党, CJP), on October 10 before a planned New Delhi protest over alleged voter-roll irregularities. Japanese reports gave differing estimates of the numbe…
Koumi mayor found dead after mushroom-picking trip in Nagano
Hiroshi Kurosawa (黒澤弘), the 71-year-old mayor of Koumi in Nagano Prefecture, was found collapsed in woodland on October 9 after going mushroom picking alone. His death was confirmed after he was taken to hospital, and police are investigati…
Palestinian solidarity rallies held across Europe as Gaza fighting reaches three years
Demonstrations and rallies in solidarity with Palestinians were held in European cities on October 10, Japanese outlets reported, marking three years since fighting began in Gaza. Several hundred people attended a gathering in Madrid that c…
Japan karoshi white paper: record 1,082 work-related mental disorder cases recognised
Japan's cabinet on October 9 approved the 2026 White Paper on Measures to Prevent Karoshi, which reports that 1,082 cases of mental disorders were recognised as work-related injuries in fiscal 2025, a record for the seventh consecutive year…
Big Issue Japan founder Shoji Sano dies at 84
Shoji Sano, founder of the Japanese edition of the street magazine Big Issue, died on September 19 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 84, at his home in Osaka Prefecture. NPO Big Issue Japan announced the death on October 5 and said the fun…
France school protests draw 250,000 nationwide as clashes and arrests continue
High school students and supporters demonstrated across France on Oct 6 against teacher shortages and run-down school buildings. The interior ministry put nationwide participation at about 250,000, with one outlet citing about 256,000, and …
Yokota Megumi turns 62; mother Sakie, 90, urges swift return from North Korea
Yokota Megumi, abducted to North Korea at age 13, turned 62 on October 5. Her mother Sakie, now 90, told Jiji Press she feels frustration and anger that after nearly 50 years she still cannot hear her daughter's voice, and said the state's …
Prince Akishino, Princess Kiko attend overseas Japanese descendants convention in Tokyo
Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko attended the welcome exchange meeting of the 66th Overseas Japanese Descendants Convention at the Kaiun Club in Chiyoda, Tokyo, on Oct. 7. Japanese descendants from 17 countries, including Paraguay, Brazil,…
Blue Impulse performs at Matsushima Air Base airshow in Miyagi
The Air Self-Defense Force's Matsushima Base in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, held its airshow on October 4, with the Blue Impulse aerobatic team performing a display. Nippon TV reported the event was moved from August to October th…
Nishinomiya Shrine packs chitose ame bags ahead of November Shichi-go-san visits
Nishinomiya Shrine in Hyogo Prefecture is at the peak of packing chitose ame candy into celebration bags for the November Shichi-go-san season. Miko shrine maidens are filling the bags, and the shrine expects about 5,000 visiting families, …
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum adds paper crane folding space
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum opened a space where visitors can fold paper cranes on October 6, on the first floor of its East Building inside the “Hiroshima Appeals” exhibit area. Cranes can be taken home or placed in a drop box to b…
Fukushima Prefecture unveils rice and beef ads with Sambomaster, Matsuoka
Fukushima Prefecture said on Oct. 5 it has produced new commercials promoting the safety of locally grown rice and beef, part of efforts to dispel reputational damage from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The 30-second commercial fea…
Tokyo city staff make T-shirts to raise funds for Kumamoto quake relief
Volunteers among employees of Musashimurayama City, western Tokyo, have created original T-shirts to wear on duty and sell to colleagues, with the proceeds going to areas hit by the July Kumamoto earthquake. By September 11 they had sold 37…
Osaka bakery sells helmet-shaped bread to promote bicycle helmet use
Narutoya Seipan, a bakery founded in 1934 and based in Hirano Ward, Osaka, has developed and started selling “helmet bread” shaped like a bicycle helmet with a brim, as a traffic-safety awareness item. Osaka Prefecture recorded a 9.5% bicyc…
Hiroshima survivors' group urges Hidankyo continue with 2nd, 3rd generations
Hiroshima Prefecture's A-bomb survivors' organization has compiled an opinion that Nihon Hidankyo should keep operating with second- and third-generation survivors at its centre once survivors can no longer take part or die, according to pe…