Almost half of Japanese nationals feel familiar with loneliness and isolation, a government survey showed Friday.
According to the Cabinet Office’s first public opinion survey on the issue, 48.4 pct of respondents answered they feel “familiar” or “rather familiar” with such feelings, while 49.6 pct chose “not familiar” or “rather do not feel it.” The remaining 2.0 pct did not answer.
The trial of Tetsuya Yamagami, accused of killing former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022, continued this week at the Nara District Court with detailed testimony about the defendant’s motives and a courtroom appearance by Abe’s widow, Akie. Yamagami, 45, told judges and lay judges that he targeted Abe because he believed the former leader sat “at the center” of ties between politics and the Unification Church, saying his “hatred and hostility” developed gradually and that attacking any other politician would have carried “weak significance.”
The suspect in the 1999 murder of a Nagoya housewife has told police that she disliked the way the victim’s husband thought about women and child-rearing, investigative sources said Friday. Prosecutors apparently believe that if indicted, her mental capacity will be a key point of contention at trial.
Tetsuya Yamagami, who is charged with murdering former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the western Japan city of Nara about three years ago, pleaded guilty at the first hearing of his trial at Nara District Court on Tuesday. The 45-year-old defendant said that the charges against him were “all true.” Meanwhile, the defense contested the charge of firing a weapon in violation of the firearms and swords control law, arguing that the homemade gun he used in the attack was not covered by the law.
Tetsuya Yamagami is expected to plead guilty to murdering former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the first hearing of his trial at Nara District Court on Tuesday, more than three years after the fatal shooting in the western city of Nara in July 2022. The defense plans to claim that the damage Yamagami suffered from the controversial Unification Church religious group was behind the crime. On the other hand, the prosecution is expected to argue that the influence of the group on the incident should not be exaggerated and that the viciousness of the crime itself should be emphasized.
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.
The number of elementary, junior high and high school students in Japan who committed suicide in 2024 stood at 529, up by 16 from the preceding year and the highest since data became available in 1980, a government report showed Friday. According to the 2025 white paper on suicide prevention adopted at a cabinet meeting the same day, overall suicides in the nation fell by 1,517 from 2023 to 20,320, the second lowest since statistics began in 1978.
The Mie prefectural government plans to create what it says will be Japan’s first ordinance with a penalty aimed at deterring customers from behaving abusively to workers.The ordinance would define customer abuse as excessive nuisances that go beyond social norms and harm employees’ working environment. Vicious behavior, such as shouting to demand an apology, would be classified as designated customer abuse. When a business files a complaint of customer abuse, the prefectural government will ask a panel including lawyers to investigate and seek opinions. The perpetrator will be fined if the order is not observed. The fine is likely to be about 500,000 yen.
A northeastern Japan facility that has provided mental care for about 14 years to people affected by the March 2011 powerful earthquake and tsunami is set to finish its services at the end of this month. The Miyagi Disaster Mental Health Care Center, located in Sendai, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture, part of the areas afflicted by the disaster, had offered consultations for about 63,000 cases by early this month. After its closure, local governments in the prefecture will provide the services.
Barrier Free Japan