High school tuition in Nara to become free

OSAKA, Oct 19 (News On Japan) - Nara Prefecture plans to introduce a system next year to subsidize high school students, effectively making tuition free for households with an annual income below 9.1 million yen.

Governor Yamashita of Nara Prefecture disclosed the new system on Wednesday, with plans for the next fiscal year to provide subsidies of up to 630,000 yen per student per year for high school tuition, including private high schools. Parents or guardians will bear the costs that exceed this amount.

The target group includes 1st to 3rd-year high school students attending schools within the prefecture. An income limitation is set, applying to households with an annual income of less than 9.10 million yen. Even for households above this threshhold, if they are raising three or more children, they will receive a subsidy of up to 60,000 yen per child.

The move to make high school tuition free was a pledge made by Governor Yamashita during the gubernatorial elections in April of this year, with plans to increase the budget more than 10 times to incorporate the newly proposed system.

by Brian Dentry

Chinese Tourists Plunge as Travel Warning Takes Effect in Japan

Chinese tourists are disappearing from major destinations across the Kansai region as diplomatic tensions between Japan and China continue to deepen on the heels of comments by Prime Minister Takaichi regarding a potential Taiwan contingency, prompting Beijing to urge its citizens to refrain from traveling or studying in Japan.

Tokyo Quake Scenario Projects Up to 18,000 Deaths

The Japanese government is preparing to release a new damage projection for a major earthquake striking directly beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area by the end of the year, and interviews with officials familiar with the assessment indicate that in the worst-case scenario the death toll could reach 18,000, while economic losses are estimated at 83 trillion yen.

Toyota Launches First New Supercar in 17 Years

Toyota unveiled its new GR GT supercar on December 5th at Woven City, the next-generation technology testbed located in Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, marking the model’s world debut as the automaker targets a release around 2027, positioning the vehicle as the pinnacle of its GR sports-car lineup and its first true supercar since the Lexus LFA launched in 2010.

Eel Regulation Dropped After Japan Opposition

The proposal to strengthen regulations on international eel trade has been formally shelved, marking a result in line with the position pushed by Japan and several other countries.
EU member states and others had called for tighter controls on all eel transactions under the Washington Convention, citing global resource depletion and the need for stronger international oversight. However, Japan countered that the Japanese eel faces no imminent risk of extinction and opposed the measure.

Tsukiji Outer Market Urges Tourists to Stay Away in December

Tokyo’s Tsukiji Outer Market has taken the unusual step of asking tourists not to visit in December as operators move to prevent crowd-related accidents during the busy year-end shopping season, with local officials also confirming that Shibuya’s New Year’s Eve countdown will be canceled for the sixth consecutive year.

MEDIA CHANNELS

MORE Education NEWS

Oita Group Releases 18 Rare Wartime Films

A civic group in Usa City, Oita Prefecture that collects and analyzes wartime film archives released 18 pieces of footage to the media on December 7th, with the materials depicting kamikaze aircraft engaging U.S. forces and the devastation from air raids across Japan, much of it being shown publicly for the first time after the group obtained and examined the reels from the U.S. National Archives.

Volcano Museum Struggles to Survive

A volcano education center at the base of Showa-Shinzan is facing an existential threat as aging facilities and deteriorating materials put decades of invaluable records at risk.

Teacher Admits to Filming Girls with Hidden Cameras

A former teacher accused of secretly filming women by placing miniature cameras in a high school changing room and restroom faced sentencing at the Utsunomiya District Court on July 12th, with prosecutors demanding 1 year and 6 months of imprisonment.

Adults Flock to Calligraphy Schools

As December approaches and people prepare for handwritten New Year’s cards, opportunities to pick up a pen naturally increase at this time of year, yet the nation’s enthusiasm for beautiful handwriting shows no sign of fading as calligraphy schools continue to evolve in step with the boom.