New Term Begins Under Bear Alert

Japanese elementary and junior high school students continue to struggle with written-response questions in Japanese, while average accuracy rates in arithmetic and mathematics remained in the 50% range, according to nationwide academic test results released by the education ministry on July 16.

Japan’s relationship with intimate goods is far older than the modern online adult shop. Long before discreet packaging, digital payments, and private home delivery, Japanese artists, writers, merchants, and townspeople were already exploring the boundaries between desire, humor, privacy, and everyday life.

A growing number of young doctors in Japan are moving directly into cosmetic medicine after obtaining a medical license and completing their initial clinical training, raising concern that the trend may be worsening staff shortages in insurance-covered medical care.

Foreign drivers seeking to convert overseas licenses into Japanese ones are increasingly turning to driving schools after tougher rules introduced last October sharply reduced pass rates for both written and practical checks.

Foreign-born sumo wrestlers are often praised for speaking remarkably natural Japanese, a sharp contrast to many overseas athletes in other professional sports.

Police in Isehara, Kanagawa Prefecture, presented letters of appreciation to two first-year junior high school students on July 10 after they chased a suspected shoplifter for about 250 meters and helped detain the person.

Noboribetsu in Hokkaido conducted a drill to cull a brown bear under emergency gun-hunting procedures, based on a scenario in which a bear appeared at a park near schools and residential areas in the city, with local hunters taking part as bear sightings continue to be reported across Japan.

An event designed to help nurses think about future career paths while building practical skills opened in Tokyo on July 8, offering hands-on training sessions alongside sales of colorful uniforms and stethoscopes.