Okinawa Kids Munch on Traditional Sweets

A long-established tofu shop in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, provided traditional Japanese sweets made from tofu byproducts to elementary and junior high school students on November 2nd to celebrate the completion of Shuri Castle's restored main hall.

Most conversations about depression care in Japan stop at stigma. That's a real barrier, and it keeps a great many people from ever naming what they're experiencing, let alone booking an appointment. But there's a second barrier, and it sits on the other side of the door.

Shrines and temples across Kyoto are offering visitors rare access to normally restricted sacred areas and valuable cultural treasures, including historic documents connected to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the powerful 16th-century warlord who helped unify Japan.

With more Indian professionals, students and families establishing lives in Japan, maintaining connections with relatives back home has become an important part of everyday life. Despite advances in digital communication, distance, language and cultural differences continue to shape their experiences.

A Japanese midwife is campaigning to reform sex education in schools, traveling across the country to teach children about their bodies, pregnancy, contraception, and sexual violence prevention, as longstanding restrictions in the national curriculum leave teachers uncertain about how much information they can provide.

Japan's children are increasingly turning away from books, with a nationwide survey finding that more than 70% spend less than an hour reading each week and nearly one in five do not read at all, raising concerns about literacy and learning as schools and families search for ways to rebuild reading habits.

France has seen days of protests in Paris over the rising cost of living and declining access to public services, including state education. Some demonstrations have been marred by violence and looting.

In Japan, excessive overtime work could lead to a presumed cause of death. Lots of workers have logged very high overtime hours. Families no longer accept compensation as the end of the matter and have started taking employers to court instead. These cases have started to decide what a company must know about its staff hours, and what it must do once it knows.