NHK gave top play to a report that Deputy Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Maekawa will step down to take responsibility for the issue of senior MEXT officials lobbying Waseda University to secure a job for their retired colleague. NTV led with a report that Chinese netizens are increasing their criticism of the APA Group, a Japanese hotel chain operator, which placed a book denying the Nanjing Massacre in its hotel rooms. TBS gave top play to a report on the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Trump. Other top news included a report that a case was filed with prosecutors against a mother in Osaka for forbidding her 15-year-old daughter to attend school in order to prioritize her activities as an “idol.”

Main front-page items in national papers included draft GOJ legislation making exports of second-hand defense equipment possible, the arrival of two F-35s at MCAS Iwakunui, and additional financial losses to be sustained by Toshiba stemming from its U.S. subsidiary Westinghouse’s acquisition of a nuclear construction company.