Asia Japan A Japanese court has sentenced to death Shinji Aoba, the man behind the 2019 attack on Kyoto Animation, one of Japan's most important animation studios; Aoba, now 45, set fire to the studio's headquarters, causing 36 deaths and several injuries
Asia Japan Researchers from major universities, including Tokyo's Waseda, have used prompts in their papers to get positive AI-based reviews, raising concerns about integrity, amid a surge in peer-to-peer review exploitation in academic publishing
Asia Japan Japan ranked 118th out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Gender Gap Report, the same position as last year - the lowest among G7; political empowerment is the weakest area, while education and health register near gender parity
Asia Japan With rice at record-high prices, Japan authorities warn of scams in fraudulent websites claiming to sell rice at low prices, while new farm minister plans to abandon auctioning stockpiled rice and set prices through negotiation to better control them
Asia Japan Japan came 14th among 36 developed countries in new child well-being survey, up from 20th in the previous survey released in 2020; the UNICEF Innocenti report comprehensively evaluates children's mental well-being, physical health and skills