News On Japan

'Aoi' tops boy names for 2023, 'Himari' for girls

TOKYO - In a survey on names given to children born this year, "Aoi", written with the character '碧', emerged as the top name for boys for the first time since the survey began, while "Himari" retained its position as the most popular name for girls for the second consecutive year.

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance conducted the survey on approximately 14,000 newborn boys and girls this year. The most popular name for boys was "Aoi," jumping from fourth place last year to first, a first-time occurrence since the survey began.

The second most popular names for boys were 'Haruto' or 'Hinata', written as '陽翔', and 'Dan' or 'Haru', written as '暖'.

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance speculates that the performances of soccer players Aoi Tanaka and Ritsu Doan in last year's World Cup in Qatar may have influenced the naming of children.

For girls, the most common name was 'Himari' or 'Hinata', written as '陽葵', making it the top name for the third time and the second consecutive year. The second and third most popular names for girls were 'Rin' (凛) and 'Tsumugi' (紬), respectively.

Source: ANNnewsCH

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Disaster-level heat gripped much of Japan on July 22, with temperatures of 40 C forecast in parts of the Kanto and Tokai regions and heatstroke alerts issued for 41 prefectures from Okinawa to Tohoku.

The hacker group known as RansomHouse has claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on frozen food giant Nichirei that delayed shipments and disrupted restaurants and supermarkets across Japan.

Large numbers of climbers headed to Mount Fuji on July 22 despite disaster-level heat that pushed temperatures to 40 degrees Celsius or higher in parts of Japan, while a series of rescues highlighted the risks of exhaustion, inadequate footwear and hypothermia during the peak summer climbing season.

Breathtaking 4K footage filmed from a helicopter offers a sweeping aerial view of Mount Fuji and its majestic surrounding landscape.

A covert network of shuttle tankers is carrying crude through the increasingly dangerous Strait of Hormuz as renewed fighting between the United States and Iran disrupts shipping and raises concerns over how Japan will secure the oil it needs.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Society NEWS

An unexploded U.S.-made bomb believed to date from World War II has been discovered at a housing construction site in a residential district of Minoh, Osaka Prefecture, potentially requiring the evacuation of nearly 5,000 people during its disposal.

A 55-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly capturing an endangered butterfly in the Norikura Highlands of Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, marking Japan's first arrest involving the protected species.

A 27-year-old police officer arrested after crashing into a utility pole in Hiroshima was found to have been driving under the influence, with a blood test detecting nearly three times the legal alcohol limit.

Japan began applying a new numerical alcohol threshold for dangerous driving offenses on July 21, introducing a clearer standard for cases involving impaired driving that could lead to fatal accidents.

A police officer fired a warning shot into the air after a 42-year-old woman approached officers while pointing a kitchen knife at them on a street in Eniwa, Hokkaido, on July 17.

A 45-year-old man was arrested early July 20 after allegedly crashing a passenger car into a convenience store in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and walking around the parking lot carrying a kitchen knife and a golf club.

A 42-year-old man was arrested after allegedly driving under the influence and intentionally ramming a motorcycle in Togitsu, Nagasaki Prefecture, leaving its rider seriously injured.

More than a dozen people were injured after a massive rope suddenly snapped during a tug-of-war at a festival in Kitami, Hokkaido, sending participants falling backward onto an asphalt road.