Asia Japan Official campaigning for quadrennial unified local elections started, with the results likely to determine whether PM Kishida will decide to dissolve the lower house for a snap general election
Asia Japan The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has issued a health warning due to the spread of A streptococcus bacterial infections that can lead to streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS), with a 30% mortality rate; cases as of 17 March have exceeded half of 2023
Asia Japan 40 female participants have formally applied and will for the first time take part in the 'naked man festival', thus changing a 1650-year-old tradition; the event will take place at the Konomiya temple, Inazawa, on 22 February
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 Celebrated filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki won the first Golden Globe for 'The Boy and the Heron', a film based partly on Miyazaki's childhood and the first in a language other than English to win the Golden Globe for Best Animated Film