On the 5th, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan submitted to the House of Representatives, on its own, a bill to abolish income limits for the Special Child Rearing Allowance and the Welfare Allowance for Children with Disabilities, which are provided to children with disabilities.
The Japanese government will provide all households with children aged zero to 18 with a support allowance of 20,000 yen per child as a one-time measure, the Children and Families Agency said Friday. Also, to support low-income households raising children, including single-parent families, the government will expand the menu of an existing priority support local grant program so that municipalities can utilize it to provide cash benefits in addition to the new support allowance.
A recent survey by a private organization has revealed widespread anxiety among families of adults with disabilities in Japan, with 90.2% expressing worry about their loved one’s life after the parents pass away, and 58.2% reporting they are reaching the limits of providing care.
Japan’s overall suicides fell to 20,320 in 2024, the second-lowest figure on record, but the number of schoolchildren who took their own lives rose to a record 529, government data showed. Suicides among junior high school students reached their highest level since statistics began in 1980, with school-related problems cited as the leading cause. The 2025 White Paper on Suicide Prevention noted that overdoses, including those involving over-the-counter drugs, were a major factor among young people, prompting plans to tighten restrictions on drug sales to minors. Despite the nationwide decline, experts warn the record student suicides reflect deepening mental health and social issues among Japan’s youth.
Japan’s overall suicides fell to 20,320 in 2024, the second-lowest figure on record, but the number of schoolchildren who took their own lives rose to a record 529, government data showed. Suicides among junior high school students reached their highest level since statistics began in 1980, with school-related problems cited as the leading cause. The 2025 White Paper on Suicide Prevention noted that overdoses, including those involving over-the-counter drugs, were a major factor among young people, prompting plans to tighten restrictions on drug sales to minors. Despite the nationwide decline, experts warn the record student suicides reflect deepening mental health and social issues among Japan’s youth.
Japanese elementary school teacher Fumiya Kosemura pleaded guilty to charges of sharing child pornography via social media, in the first hearing on his case at Nagoya District Court on Wednesday. The charges are “correct, and I’m very sorry,” said Kosemura, 37, a teacher at a public elementary school in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, who has been indicted for voyeurism and indecent assault. According to the indictment, Kosemura filmed secretly the underwear of a 7-year-old girl at a facility in Kanagawa and shared the video data within the group between January and February this year.
The number of children who died from abuse totaled 65 in Japan in fiscal 2023, down by seven from the preceding year, an expert panel of the Children and Families Agency said Thursday. Excluding family suicide cases, the figure came to 48. Of them, 33 died before reaching 1 year old, including 16, who passed away within 24 hours after birth, up by seven. Most of their mothers were not given maternal and child health handbooks, and local governments were therefore unaware of their pregnancies, according to the government agency.
The family of a pregnant woman who died after being hit by a vehicle in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, is urging prosecutors to recognize her newborn daughter Hinami, who was left severely disabled due to the accident, as a legal victim.
The family of a pregnant woman who died after being hit by a vehicle in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, is urging prosecutors to recognize her newborn daughter—left severely disabled due to the accident—as a legal victim. Sayaka Togitani, 31, died two days after the May 21 incident, and her daughter Hinami was delivered via emergency cesarean section but suffered brain damage from fetal hypoxia. While the 50-year-old driver has been indicted for negligent driving resulting in Sayaka’s death, no charges have been filed in relation to Hinami, as she was a fetus at the time under Japan’s Criminal Code. On September 2, Sayaka’s husband, Yudai, submitted a petition with over 112,000 signatures calling for prosecutors to also pursue charges for the injury to Hinami. At the driver’s first court hearing the same day, they admitted guilt and apologized, while Yudai emphasized the importance of acknowledging his daughter’s life and suffering.
An after-school day service facility for children with disabilities in Hiroshima City has been penalized after staff, including the operator’s representative, were found to routinely use wrestling moves, shouting, and hitting as a supposed form of “communication” with children—behavior described by a former employee as a daily occurrence and treated as “part of a game.” Hiroshima City has suspended the operator Watanohana for three months.
Barrier Free Japan