News On Japan

Japan intends to distribute $880 to minors as post-pandemic relief

Nov 06, 2021 (devdiscourse.com) - The Japanese government with the support of the ruling coalition plan to give 1,00,000 yen (USD 878) in cash to every citizen aged 18 and younger in a bid to mitigate the post-coronavirus effects, the Kyodo news agency reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The authorities and the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Komeito Party also intend to distribute 30,000 yen among holders of the so-called "My Number" ID cards. The initiative involving the national identification system is aimed at boosting consumption and ensuring faster economic recovery after the pandemic, the sources told the agency.

The measures in question were a part of the economic agenda in the election campaign of the ruling coalition, which secured 293 out of 465 seats in the parliament's lower chamber last weekend. The packages also aim to promote the unpopular "My Number" system, introduced in Japan in early 2016 for the country's citizens and foreigners to combine all personal data about one user from various administrative systems into one. Every holder has a personal 12-digit ID number.

However, many Japanese residents fear the system to be unreliable in terms of possible leakage of private data.

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Japan’s World Cup campaign ended in the cruelest possible fashion on June 29, as Gabriel Martinelli scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time to give Brazil a 2-1 victory over the Samurai Blue in their knockout match in Houston. Japan had led in the first half and were still level at 1-1 in the final moments, but Martinelli’s late strike sent Brazil into the Round of 16 and eliminated Japan from the tournament.

Strong earthquakes have continued to shake parts of Japan in recent weeks, with 11 temblors measuring lower 5 or above on the Japanese seismic intensity scale recorded across the country since April 2026.

A Kintetsu Railway train derailed inside Kyoto Station on the morning of June 29, forcing partial suspensions on the Kintetsu Kyoto Line for the rest of the day and causing long delays that hit commuters, students and tourists.

A section of stone wall at Hikone Castle, one of Japan’s few surviving original Edo-period castles and a National Treasure whose main keep remains intact more than 400 years after its construction, collapsed after heavy rain caused by Typhoons No. 7 and No. 8, Hikone city officials said.

Japan advanced to the knockout stage of the World Cup after a 1-1 draw with Sweden on June 25, finishing second in Group F and setting up a Round of 32 clash with Brazil in Houston.

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Prosecutors sought life imprisonment for Yukio Tanaka, a senior member of a gang affiliated with the Kudo-kai crime syndicate, as his trial over the 2013 fatal shooting of Osho Food Service president Takayuki Ohigashi concluded at the Kyoto District Court, with a verdict scheduled to be handed down on October 16.

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Removal work has finally begun on a massive hose that washed ashore on the coast of Shika, Ishikawa Prefecture, six months ago, but crews are already facing difficulties because the structure is filled with a large volume of water.

A 50-year-old woman has been arrested in Kobe on suspicion of abandoning the dismembered body of her former husband in a large freezer at a condominium unit, where she allegedly continued paying rent for more than 14 years while hiding his death.

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An Iranian national has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to smuggle more than 40 kilograms of stimulants from the United Arab Emirates into Japan in March, after customs officers found the drugs hidden in the bottom section of a machine used in the process of making naan bread.