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February 23, 2025
 

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TEACHERS

One-third of elementary school students in Japan do not like learning English, according to a 2021 poll, an 8% rise since 2013. The pressure of taking proficiency tests is eroding children's engagement with studying English and its benefits.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 17, 2025
Japan’s English-language education doesn’t pass the test
An excessive focus on testing students' English ability is turning language learning into a chore, depriving children of the joy and opportunities of intercultural communication.
The education ministry hopes that creating a system in which people can obtain licenses without completing a training course at the undergraduate level would help midcareer professionals enter the field of teaching.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2025
Japan to review teaching license system to help midcareer aspirants
It is currently impossible to obtain a license with credits from only graduate schools.
The government aims to reduce the average monthly overtime of teachers to 30 hours over the five years through the fiscal year beginning April 2029, down from the current 47 hours.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2025
Japan weighs obligatory programs to cut teacher overtime
Education boards would be required to report on the current work hours of teachers and detail measures to improve their working styles.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will launch a program to support the repayment of student loans for those who will start working as teachers or technical civil servants in the capital.
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2025
Tokyo to help teachers repay student loans
The metropolitan government also plans to start providing financial assistance to students who study abroad.
Incorporating modern technologies into your Japanese classes might be a way to connect with younger students.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 3, 2025
Start the new year with a fresh approach to teaching Japanese
It’s important for language instructors to update their methods to best appeal to their younger students.
The competition rate of employment examinations for public school teachers in Japan hit the lowest levels for all of elementary, junior high and high schools since data began being compiled in fiscal 1979.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2024
Japan sees record low competition rate for becoming school teachers
The decline reflected the mass departure of teachers who reached retirement age, which led to increased demand for new recruits, as well as a decrease in the number of applicants.
The government will raise adjustment allowances for public school teachers, paid instead of overtime, for the first time since the special measures law on salaries of public school teachers came into force in 1972.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2024
Japan decides on 10% boost to teacher allowances
The hike, expected to start in January 2026, would be the first since the law came into force in 1972.
During the trial of ex-principal Hisayoshi Kitamura, one of his victims testified that she could not consult anyone when she was assaulted as a student because she had been taught to follow the instructions of teachers.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 9, 2024
Ex-principal gets 9 years for raping middle school students in 2010
The crimes came to light after one of the victims reported her assault to the Tokyo education board in 2022.
Giving schoolchildren a tablet with personalized, adaptive software to use for one hour a day in school can significantly boost learning, as a widespread program in Malawi has shown.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 18, 2024
Tablets in schools can dramatically improve learning
Much richer countries can also learn from an innovative program in Malawi in which children use a tablet for one hour a day in class, boosting their education.
The number of teachers in their 20s on leave due to mental conditions has risen, highlighting the need to reduce burdens on young teachers.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 17, 2024
Japan to boost support for young teachers to secure staff
The package addresses concerns about a decline in interest in teaching jobs among young people and aims to reduce teachers' overtime work to 20 hours per month.
Occupational therapist Mitsuyoshi Okutsu interacts with children at Kamioka Elementary School in Hida, Gifu Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
Jul 1, 2024
Occupational therapists join the ranks of staff at Gifu schools
It is estimated that there are around 110,000 occupational therapists in Japan, working mainly at hospitals and welfare facilities.
A bill to require facilities for children to check whether workers have criminal records for sex crimes is approved unanimously at a plenary meeting of the Upper House on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 19, 2024
Bill enacted to create sex crime screening system for work involving children
Records that can be checked will include those on nonconsensual sexual intercourse and violations of prefectural ordinances banning molesting and voyeurism.
Takayuki Midorikawa stands in front of Ueda Junior High School in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jun 17, 2024
Fukushima schools open up to revising old rules
The prefecture has recently made some moves to accommodate a little more diversity in the classroom.
Hyappu Ishikawa (left) attends to children at the "Karafuru" Japanese language school in Nishio, Aichi Prefecture, in April.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2024
How one Japanese city supports foreign students through community education
In the city of Nishio, public and private sectors collaborate with schools to support foreign students in Japanese language education and raise their school enrollment rates.
Those who will be employed as teachers in Japan after completing graduate school will be exempt from repaying scholarship loans.
JAPAN / Society
May 29, 2024
Japan to waive graduate scholarship loan repayments for teachers
The policy will apply to those who pass the recruitment examinations in the current fiscal year ending in March 2025.
Language support groups in Fukushima Prefecture are calling for the creation of a better environment for foreign children to learn Japanese.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
May 27, 2024
With more foreign children, Fukushima struggles with language support
A number of children attending schools in the prefecture in fiscal 2023 were unable to fully understand Japanese.
A special subgroup of the Central Council for Education, which advises the education minister, is examining boosting teachers' adjustment allowances, currently set at 4% of monthly salary, as part of measures to improve conditions at public schools.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 13, 2024
Japan considering first hike in teachers' overtime pay in 50 years
There has been a proposal for raising the allowances to 10% of monthly salary or even higher, sources have said.
The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday sentenced a former teacher at a Tokyo cram school to two years in prison, suspended for five years, for secretly filming the girls attending the school.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 27, 2024
Ex-teacher at Tokyo cram school found guilty of secret filming
The teacher also sent some of the images to another former teacher from the same cram school, and posted the pictures on an online chat forum.
Randolph-Macon College students pose with a monument to Taylor Anderson in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, on Jan. 23.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2024
Tsunami victim's dream of becoming Japan-U.S. bridge realized
Taylor Anderson was one of the 33 foreign nationals killed in the March 2011 disaster.
The logo of language-learning app, Duolingo, on a smartphone
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2024
Duolingo cuts contractors by 10% amid AI content shift
The company said no full-time employees were affected by the cutback.
Japan's Prince Hisahito to hold first news conference on March 3
Prince Hisahito heads to greet the Emperor and Empress on the occasion of his 18th birthday in Tokyo on Sep. 6.
Tokyo fund buys China bonds for first time on Japanification bet
Japanese investors are estimated to have increased holdings of Chinese bonds by 53% last year, the most among the markets that make up the World Government Bond Index, according to Bloomberg analysis of Japanese balance-of-payments data.
Ukraine promises swift deal for minerals as Trump cuts Kyiv out of peace talks
A truck carrying partially-refined titanium ore to a factory for further refining at a mine east of Kyiv.
U.S. Marines start to leave Japan, decades behind schedule
U.S. Marines during training in Okinawa last month.
Special website created 30 years after Tokyo subway sarin attack
Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system by Aum Shinrikyo, the Public Security Intelligence Agency launched a special website Friday.
As Ukraine rift emerges, Kyiv's envoy says Japan must take on bigger global role
Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky speaks during an interview at the Ukrainian Embassy in Tokyo on Monday.
Japan release of Shiori Ito's documentary in limbo
Shiori Ito, who won a civil suit over a rape case against a TV reporter, in 2018. Her former lawyers claim her documentary includes footage used without the consent of sources.
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown ready to sprint past Paris disappointment
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (center) runs during a 100-meter heat at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 3, 2024.
What is the ceiling for sumo’s newest yokozuna?
Newly promoted grand champion Hoshoryu (center) performs a dedication ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Jan. 31.
‘Yasuko, Songs of Days Past’ puts overlooked star in the spotlight
“Yasuko, Songs of Days Past” centers on a real-life love triangle between poet Chuya Nakahara (Taisei Kido, left), actor Yasuko Hasegawa (Suzu Hirose, center) and literary critic Hideo Kobayashi (Masaki Okada).

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Tokyo Koon stands at the forefront of tackling the so-called 2025 issue, also known as the “Magnetic Tape Alert.”
The race to save 20th-century history
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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mission sustainability vol.14 : Unicharm Corp.Unicharm recycles diapers back into diapers

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