79 Public High Schools in Osaka Fall Short of Enrollment

OSAKA, Mar 31 (News On Japan) - The Osaka Prefectural Board of Education has decided to move the general entrance exam date for public high schools to March 1st, starting three years from now.

In Osaka, due in part to the effects of tuition-free policies, private high schools have grown increasingly popular. As a result, 79 of the 142 public high schools in the prefecture have failed to meet their enrollment quotas.

Facing the challenge of securing enough applicants for public schools, the Board held a meeting and voted to advance the general entrance exam schedule—currently held in mid-March—to March 1st beginning in three years.

By moving up the exam date, the board hopes to provide students with more time to prepare for high school life after gaining admission.

With the new public school entrance exam date drawing closer to that of private schools, which typically hold their exams in mid-February, attention is now focused on how this change may influence student application trends.

Source: KTV NEWS

Five-Year-Old Girl Found With Stab Wounds as Parents Discovered Dead

Following what appears to be a violent domestic incident, the bodies of a man and a woman were found inside a residence in Ikeda City, Osaka Prefecture, with a five-year-old girl discovered alive but suffering from stab wounds to her back. Authorities believe the two adults had been dead for several days by the time police arrived.

Family Demands Full Disclosure of 295 Hours of Detention Footage

Four years ago, a Sri Lankan woman named Wishma died after repeatedly complaining of illness while detained at a Nagoya immigration facility. The government has admitted to possessing 295 hours of video footage documenting her condition leading up to her death—but has only disclosed five hours of it to the bereaved family.

Tokyo to Make Water Free for All Households

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has decided to waive basic water charges for all ordinary households in the city this summer, covering approximately 8 million households.

Elderly Man Falls from High-Rise, Kills Cyclist Below

A 70-year-old man fell from a high-rise apartment building in Osaka and struck a cyclist on the sidewalk below, resulting in the deaths of both men.

UK Tourists in Shorts Stranded on Snowy Hokkaido Peak Rescued by Helicopter

Two foreign tourists were rescued by helicopter on May 13th after becoming stranded due to the cold on Mt. Yotei in Kutchan, Hokkaido’s Shiribeshi region, where snow still remains at higher elevations.

MEDIA CHANNELS

MORE Education NEWS

Chinese National Caught Cheating on TOEIC Test

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.

Yobai: The Japanese Practice of Sneaking Into Women’s Bedrooms

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.

Free Tuition Fuels Shift Toward Private High Schools, Leaving Public Schools Behind?

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.

Rescue Readiness on Display as Firefighters Demonstrate Skills

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.

Is Japanese a Difficult Language?

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.

Painting a Shiba Inu with Acrylic Gouache – Watch It Come to Life!

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)

Japan's Teachers to Receive Higher Pay and Shorter Hours

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.

Student Fights for the Right to Be Taught in Japanese Sign Language

A lawsuit over the right to education in Japanese Sign Language concluded at the Sapporo High Court on May 13th, with a junior high school girl using the language in court to state that "Japanese Sign Language is my identity."

< 2 3 4 5 >