Ebizō's Last Appearances: Narita-san Temple, Tokyo Skytree and Kabuki-za Gala

Sharp rise in serious sex offenses in 2022
MSN - Feb 06
The number of sexual assault cases in Japan involving violence or threats rose 9.9 percent to 4,708, according to the data released by the National Police Agency.

How Japan Produces So Much Talent!
Euro Football Daily - Feb 06
hey may have just fallen short of making their first ever quarter-final, but Japan’s performance at the 2022 World Cup was one of the biggest stories of Qatar, topping a group containing two of the three previous world champions in Spain and Germany, beating both of them in the process – a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that both opponents had Champions League-winning managers in the dugout.

Sapporo Snow Festival begins; open to public for first time since 2020
Japan Today - Feb 05
The 73rd Sapporo Snow Festival began in Sapporo, Hokkaido, on Saturday. The festival, featuring more than 160 ice and snow sculptures, is open to the public for the first time since 2020. It was held online only in 2021 and 2022 due to the coronavirus.

Japan PM dismisses aide over anti-LGBTQ+ comments
Al Jazeera - Feb 05
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has dismissed one of his secretaries for homophobic comments that the prime minister called “outrageous”.

Netflix called out by anime fans for using AI to address 'labor shortage'
unilad.com - Feb 05
Netflix Japan has come under fire after claiming to have used artificial intelligence to help create anime programmes.

Japanese sleep more for first time since 1970s, survey shows
freemalaysiatoday.com - Feb 05
Japanese sleep less than the inhabitants of every other developed nation, and some analyses suggest this trait hurts productivity.

Japan hotel room prices soar on inbound travel recovery
Nikkei - Feb 05
Hotel prices in Japan have soared as government subsidies boosting travel kick in and foreign tourists return, with room rates nearly 20% higher in December compared to the same month before the pandemic delivered a serious blow to the sector.

Japan consumers cling to 'COVID savings' as anxiety grips country
Nikkei - Feb 05
People in Japan are hoarding the cash they accrued during the pandemic despite an easing of restrictions, with savings actually increasing to 62 trillion yen ($478 billion), or more than 10% of the country's gross national product.

Life sentence handed down for killing of Vietnamese woman
NHK - Feb 04
A district court in Osaka, western Japan, has sentenced a 60-year-old man to life in prison for robbing and killing a 31-year-old woman from Vietnam in April last year.

Aide to Japan's prime minister says he 'hates' to see LGBT couples
Nikkei - Feb 04
A secretary to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Masayoshi Arai, said Friday night he does "not want to live next door" to an LGBT couple and that he would "hate to see them," but quickly retracted the discriminatory remarks after they were reported by the media.

Japanese cargo ship capsizes and sinks after collision
maritime-executive.com - Feb 04
Two Japanese cargo ships collided while traveling through the Kurushima Strait in the Seto Inland Sea on the night of February 2 with one of the vessels capsizing and later sinking.

Japan's food exports hit new high on seafood, whisky demand
Nikkei - Feb 04
Japan's food exports soared to a 10th straight annual record in 2022, as the economic reopening from the pandemic in many countries sparked renewed interest in dining out.

Setsubun Day: Take care when eating beans and ehomaki
ANNnewsCH - Feb 04
Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency has warned that the elderly and children may choke on the annual setsubun ehomaki rolls, so they should be careful to cut them into pieces and chew them well.

Young people hit more by Japan inflation, "excess" savings no savior: gov't
Kyodo - Feb 04
Rising prices are hurting Japanese consumers, especially young people, and around 64 trillion yen ($498 billion) in excess savings accumulated over the COVID-19 pandemic years have done little to support consumption, the Cabinet Office said Friday.

BOJ suffers unrealized losses of 8.8 tril. yen in government bonds
NHK - Feb 04
The Bank of Japan's unrealized losses on government bonds reached 8.8 trillion yen, or about 68 billion dollars in December.

World's largest pension fund posts fourth straight quarterly loss
UPI - Feb 04
Japan's massive public pension fund continued its longest ever losing streak, reporting on Friday a $14.2 billion loss for the third quarter, its fourth straight quarter of negative returns.