Urgent proposal to tackle teacher shortages, long working hours

Refund troubles are mounting across Japan over a now-defunct English camp program promoted through elementary schools, with a former staff member revealing that unpaid debts linked to the operation could total billions of yen. Run by a general incorporated association based in Sendai called the Miyagi Reconstruction Support Center, the international exchange program—where local children interacted with foreign students—was abruptly canceled without refunding participation fees.

A 27-year-old Chinese national enrolled at Kyoto University’s graduate school has been arrested for impersonating another person to take the TOEIC English proficiency exam, in what police suspect may be part of an organized cheating scheme.

For much of Japan’s history, particularly in rural areas, a now-banned tradition called yobai—or “night crawling”—was a common courtship practice. Until the early 1900s, it was socially accepted for young men to sneak into women’s homes at night for consensual sex, with variations depending on the region.

Japan’s policy to provide free high school tuition for both public and private schools is expanding options for families who once gave up on private education due to cost. However, in Osaka, where this policy was implemented ahead of other regions, even prestigious public high schools are now struggling to fill seats.

Firefighters selected from Kasuga, Onojo, and Nakagawa in Fukuoka Prefecture demonstrated their rescue techniques on May 16th ahead of an upcoming skills competition designed to test emergency response capabilities.

Many Japanese people agree that Japanese is a difficult language, especially for foreigners. They point out the complexity of homonyms, kanji characters, multiple writing systems (hiragana, katakana, kanji), and the different intonations that can change meaning—for example, the word "hashi" can mean either "bridge" or "chopsticks" depending on pronunciation. Even native speakers find this confusing.

In this video, watercolor artist Shibasaki brings an adorable Shiba Inu to life using acrylic gouache. From the initial pencil sketch to layering warm colors and creating soft, fluffy fur, you'll see every step of the process – almost entirely uncut! (Watercolor by Shibasaki)

A bill to revise the Kyūtoku Law, aiming to improve the treatment of Japan's public school teachers by gradually raising the salary supplement in place of overtime pay from 4% to 10%, was approved by the Lower House Committee on Education on Wednesday after ruling and opposition parties agreed on revisions.