As reported here the other day, Japan’s population is still on the decrease, and its fertility rate is a very low 1.37 babies per woman. It is generally believed that a birth rate of about 2.11 is required to maintain a stable population, but Japan is very far from this level. The government [...]

According to government estimates, the population of Japan fell by approximately 75,000 in 2009, based on births and deaths registered in Japan between January and October. During 2009, there was a decrease in births, down 22,000 to 1,069,000 and an increase in deaths, up 2,000 to 1,144,000 compared with 2008. These both continued trends [...]

According to figures released in a recent government white paper, Mainichi reports, the law abiding spirit of the Japanese people appears to be in decline. Japan has long been proud of its record of relatively low violent crimes and high success rates of solving and prosecuting crimes. But recent figures suggest that [...]

The Japan Times has a poignant and heartbreaking article by an anonymous author, as he discusses his intensely personal trials as a foreign father in Japan whose wife has lost interest in their marriage. This article should be a must read for any man that is considering getting married or [...]

Staff writer for the Japan Times, Mariko Kato, posted an interview piece with new Education Minister Kawabata Tatsuo. The headline for the piece was ‘Education Chief Takes Liberal Path’, but I think Kato is a little confused about some of the differences between liberalism and conservatism. Few of the policies mentioned by [...]

The Japanese Medical Society on Child Abuse and Neglect, a body of medical specialists, social workers and nurses met last month to try to bring new awareness to the issue of child abuse in Japan. Apparently there were 42,662 cases of child abuse reported in [...]

I’m sure that others will be covering this as well, but I couldn’t resist posting about it when I saw the article. The Independent have an article today which discusses some of the more unusual aspects of Japan’s soon to be First Lady, Hatoyama Miyuki.

In a book aptly named “Very Strange Things I’ve Encountered”, Hatoyama [...]