By HIROMICHI FUJITA/ Staff Writer   MITO–The Ibaraki prefectural assembly on Nov. 16 adopted an ordinance that requires child-sex offenders to be listed in a special register.   It is the third such ordinance in Japan, following ones approved in Osaka and Fukuoka prefectures, Ibaraki officials said.   But unlike the Osaka and Fukuoka ordinances, the Ibaraki one carries no….Read more

The government will release a “white paper on children” starting from next fiscal year. The new report will consolidate the three existing white papers related to children and is intended to provide the public with information that is easier to understand. The new release will coincide with the launch of the agency for children and families, which is slated for….Read more

Tokyo, Oct. 24 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese government panel on Monday proposed raising the minimum age of sexual consent, stipulated under the criminal code, to 16 from the current 13.   In its draft recommendations, the subdivision of the Legislative Council, which advises the justice minister, proposed keeping sexual intercourse with a person aged 12 or younger illegal without exception, as….Read more

Tokyo, Oct. 14 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government said Friday that it will step up efforts to prevent suicides among women and children that have been increasing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.   The number of people who committed suicide in Japan has fallen by some 30 pct from the level in 2006, but that of women and children who killed themselves has increased,….Read more

NHK reported that the Japan-America Student Conference, an exchange program between Japanese and American students launched in 1934, was held for the first time in three years in Annapolis, Maryland. The network explained that the program was suspended in 2019 due to the spread of COVID-19. Past participants reportedly include former Prime Minister Miyazawa, former Secretary of State Kissinger, and….Read more

Tokyo, July 7 (Jiji Press)–A meeting was held in Tokyo on Thursday to share reports by students who were dispatched from Japan to Poland to support evacuees from Ukraine who fled Russia’s invasion.     The meeting was hosted by the Nippon Foundation and its Volunteer Center, which sent the students.     Thirty students engaged in volunteer activities for about two….Read more

TOKYO — Young people across Japan took to the streets on July 3 to raise political parties’ and voters’ awareness about measures to fight climate change ahead of the July 10 House of Councillors election.   “Fridays For Future Japan” planned rallies in cities including Tokyo and Kyoto to urge people to make the climate crisis a major election campaign….Read more