SAPPORO (Kyodo) -- Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, long known for its reputation as being largely cockroach free, may begin to see more of the insects as factors including warmer temperatures spurred by climate change create ideal environments for cockroaches to thrive.

Experts are already urging people to brace for an influx in cities including Sapporo amid increases in the number of well-insulated homes and shipments from warmer areas in Japan, which are thought to contribute to the trend.

Despite the widely held belief, Hokkaido has been home to some species of the pests, especially those more resilient to colder climates.

"Their numbers are definitely lower compared to (the main island of) Honshu," said Hiroshi Nishino, assistant professor at Hokkaido University. "They have also gone unnoticed due to being nocturnal and difficult to spot."

While cockroaches are common in subtropical climates, those seen in Hokkaido are largely made up of three species including the Japanese cockroach, which is said to have existed on the northern island for over 100 years.

According to Shizuma Yanagisawa, deputy director of Ryuyo Insect Nature Observation Park in Shizuoka Prefecture and self-appointed "cockroachist," advanced heating systems and well-insulated homes have provided warm habitats through the winter for species that are more sensitive to cooler temperatures.

The rapid increase in online shopping and shipments from Honshu and areas farther south may also have brought cockroach eggs onto the island.

Sales of anti-cockroach products have risen in response. According to major Japanese pharmaceutical company Earth Corp., its insect repellant line has grown in Hokkaido, with those catering to cockroaches climbing by about six percent on average per year between 2017 and 2025.

"It is important to create an environment that discourages cockroaches such as not leaving food or dishes out for long periods of time, cleaning thoroughly and not hoarding objects in cardboard boxes," said Akihiro Kitaguchi from the marketing department of the company.

Hi everyone
Ima come from a country in which socialist party were trying to do a lot of changes in language. For example changing form in speaking in second term - to plural. Instead of, niech mi pan poda szklankę wody ( can you give me glass of water sir ) podajcie mi szklankę wodę ( You ( plural ) give me glass of water ). ( but it was mostly Soviet influence and it didn’t survive in language after 1989 )
I was interested did socialist party in Japan were trying to change language with huge amount of honorifics like kun, san, etc to make it more egalitarian

The crime of arson of occupied buildings, etc., is the act of setting fire to a building or other structure that is currently being used as a residence or in which people are present, causing damage by fire; the statutory penalty is the death penalty, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for five years or more.

https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/-/2912597?display=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXEMRKVGc7w

I'm interested in learning about what life was like during the lost years. Contemporary stuff would be very helpful too.

TOKYO -- A revised enforcement ordinance under the Road Traffic Act took effect on Sept. 1 across Japan, lowering the statutory maximum speed on general roads without center lines or median strips from 60 kilometers per hour to 30 kph. The new limit applies mainly to narrow residential streets and other local roads used by residents in their daily lives.

The measure is intended to reduce serious accidents, as the pedestrian fatality rate rises sharply when a vehicle is traveling at more than 30 kph.

It is the first reduction in the statutory maximum speed on general roads since the Road Traffic Act took effect in 1960. Residential roads generally refer to roads used regularly by local residents with a carriageway width of less than 5.5 meters and no center line or median strip.

Of Japan's approximately 1.22 million km of general roads, about 870,000 km, or 70%, are less than 5.5 meters wide. Many of them will be covered by the new 30-kph limit.

However, where signs or road markings indicate limits such as 40 or 20 kph, those limits will continue to apply. The maximum speed will remain at 60 kph on multilane roads and other roads not covered by the new rule.
On relatively wide roads without center lines, including regional agricultural roads, authorities will install speed-limit signs suited to local road conditions.

According to the National Police Agency (NPA), the combined number of children aged 15 or younger and people aged 65 or older who were killed in traffic accidents on residential roads fell from 455 in 2015 to 288 in 2021. The figure had since hovered around this level before rising for the first time in three years, reaching 315 in 2025.

Data also show that in collisions between vehicles and pedestrians, the pedestrian fatality rate is less than 1% when the vehicle is traveling at 30 kph or less. The rate rises to 2.7% at speeds between 30 and 40 kph, and to 17.4% at speeds between 50 and 60 kph.

At a regular news conference, NPA Commissioner General Yoshinobu Kusunoki said, "We ask drivers to recognize that particular care is needed on roads shared by motor vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists."

In 2011, the agency issued a notice promoting the designation of "Zone 30" areas, where speed limits on school routes, residential streets and other designated roads are set at 30 kph or lower. As of the end of March this year, 4,457 such zones had been designated nationwide.

Data indicate that the number of fatal and serious-injury accidents fell by about 30% after the zone designation. The revised ordinance effectively extends similar speed restrictions to residential roads across the country.

Police have also established 249 "Zone 30 Plus" areas nationwide. These areas use physical measures such as speed humps to make it difficult for vehicles to travel faster than 30 kph, and police plan to expand the program.

The task of expanding awareness among drivers remains a challenge. The NPA said it would work to raise awareness through on-street campaigns and its website while enforcing the new limit.

NARA, Japan (Kyodo) -- Japan's oldest person, Shigeko Kagawa, a 115-year-old resident of Nara Prefecture, western Japan, died late last week, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Monday.

Fuyo Kishimoto, a 114-year-old woman in nearby Kyoto, is now the country's oldest person. The ministry said Kagawa died Thursday.

Born in 1911, Kagawa graduated from a medical school in 1934 and worked for about three years in the obstetrics and gynecology and internal medicine departments at a hospital in Osaka, according to a local medical association.

She opened her own clinic in Nara Prefecture in 1937. Kagawa continued practicing as an obstetrician-gynecologist and internist into her 80s, contributing to community health care. In 2021, she became the oldest torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympic torch relay.

Kagawa also served at the 1970 Osaka World Exposition, responding to medical emergencies.

In July 2025, when she became the oldest person living in Japan, she made a comment saying that she made house calls on foot, even late at night or on her days off.

"My longevity is rooted in my habit of walking so much for many years," she said.

Hi everyone,

I visited Japan back in 2024, and the one dish I loved (and miss) is gyudon. Specifically Matsuya gyudon.

There aren't much choices here in Toronto, so I was thinking to replicate it at home.

I've been missing it so so much lately and if anyone has some tips on how to make it as good as Matsuya/Yoshinoya/etc. I would be forever grateful.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's nationwide emergency alert system lacks the capability to encrypt data transmitted via satellites and verify the source, making it vulnerable to fake data that could activate the warning system, an expert said Sunday.

A source at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications admitted the flaw in the government's satellite-based J-Alert system, which issues early warnings to municipalities nationwide about natural disasters, including earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as overseas missile launches.

The vulnerability could be exploited to issue false alerts and disrupt people's lives.

Yudai Kirishiki of Unknown Technologies Inc., a Tokyo-based cybersecurity firm, confirmed that the J-Alert system has no function for authenticating data sources using electronic signatures, based on an analysis using a system receiver used by a local government that later turned up for sale on the secondhand market.

Kirishiki also found that the receivers were unable to detect fake information formatted like J-Alert data and transmitted from elevated locations, using drones for example, demonstrating that "a third party can send a false warning."

An official of the Civil Protection Office of the ministry's Fire and Disaster Management Agency declined to provide details "from a security standpoint" but told Kyodo News that the government is "constantly working to ensure stable operations" of the system and will continue to "appropriately respond" to the matter.

Regarding the circulation of used data receivers on the secondhand market, the official called it "very regrettable," noting that the government had provided municipalities with detailed disposal instructions in late July.

When Japan started operating the J-Alert system in 2007, cyberattacks on the satellite communications system were not considered a real threat, leading the government to delay taking countermeasures.

Government entities such as the Japan Meteorological Agency and the Cabinet Secretariat transmit emergency data via satellite to receivers operated by municipalities and other public organizations, which then relay alerts to residents via television, radio, smartphones and other devices.

TOKYO -- A roughly 260-meter skyscraper, taller than the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, is set to appear at Shinjuku Station, one of the world's busiest train terminals, in Japan's capital in fiscal 2029.

The skyscraper is one of several major redevelopment projects that are advancing at the station and in the surrounding area for the first time in six decades, and people involved in the project hope the building will become "a new symbolic tower for Shinjuku." The Mainichi Shimbun spoke to officials from Odakyu Electric Railway Co. and two other companies involved in the project.

Office floors to capitalize on convenient location

From the second-floor deck of the Shinjuku West Exit Halc commercial complex, a massive construction site is visible beyond temporary fencing across the road. The site was formerly occupied by the main building of Odakyu Department Store's Shinjuku branch, which ended its 55-year history in October 2022, and Shinjuku Mylord, which closed in March 2025.

Takanori Miyagi, a section manager at Tokyu Land Corp., pointed farther to the left. "The new building will extend as far as that area," he said. He explained that the area around the deck would also become a passageway connecting different parts of the district.

The 48-story mixed-use skyscraper will be developed by three operators: Odakyu Electric Railway, Tokyo Metro Co. and Tokyu Land Corp. The floor area of commercial complexes from the second basement level to the 10th floor of the facility will be among the largest in the Shinjuku area, while the office levels from the 14th to 46th floors will be aimed at companies from Japan and abroad, taking advantage of the convenience of being directly connected to the station. The top section is expected to capitalize on the commanding views -- from a height surpassing that of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.

Improving movement around the area
Separately, Odakyu Electric Railway will reconstruct its own section of Shinjuku Station. East-west and north-south passages connecting the Shinjuku district are planned, making routes through the area -- often described as a "maze" -- easier to understand.

Shinjuku Station services 11 lines run by five railway operators: East Japan Railway Co. (JR East), Odakyu Electric Railway, Keio Corp., Tokyo Metro, and Toei Subway, operated by the metropolitan government's Bureau of Transportation. A little farther north lies Seibu-Shinjuku Station, operated by Seibu Railway Co. Because of the limited space, relocating stations or railway tracks "was never part of the plan from the outset," officials say. Although the passageways will temporarily become more complex, a Tokyo Metro official commented, "The project will make it easier for people to get around the area, and it will also become a center for movement."

More than half a century has passed since the subcenter development plan of the 1960s, and many station buildings around Shinjuku Station are now more than 50 years old. With these facilities due for renewal, the "Shinjuku Grand Terminal" initiative aims to comprehensively reorganize the station and its plazas by the 2040s. The Shinjuku Station west exit district development project, centered on construction of the new building, is among the development projects based on that concept.

According to Odakyu Electric Railway and others involved, officials began considering redeveloping the area around 2008. A decade later, the Tokyo metropolitan and Shinjuku ward governments formulated the Grand Terminal concept. Demolition of the main Odakyu Department Store building began in October 2022, and construction of the new building started in March 2024. The project is proceeding ahead of many other redevelopment plans falling under the concept.

The new building is scheduled to be completed in March 2030. A deck over the tracks linking the east and west sides is due to be completed in fiscal 2035.

Meanwhile, Keio Corp. and JR East are also pursuing the Shinjuku Station west-south exit district development plan, which also falls under the Grand Terminal concept. The plans call for a mixed-use building with 19 floors above ground and three basement levels in the northern block, and 37 aboveground floors and six basement levels in the southern block.

Initially, construction of the southern block was due to be completed in March 2029, but the date is now uncertain. This is because operators are "in talks with a candidate construction company and have not reached a contract." Surging construction costs and other factors are also believed to be playing a part. Construction of the northern block will go ahead after the southern block is developed, with completion targeted for the 2040s.

OTSU, Japan (Kyodo) -- Sending favorite stuffed animals to museums and art galleries to "spend the night" and view exhibits on their owners' behalf is proving popular in Japan, with organizers hoping that such programs will stir interest and attract more visitors to the facilities.

The Hikone Castle Museum in Shiga Prefecture and Nagoya City Art Museum are among those who have joined a growing number of facilities hosting so-called sleepovers for plushies.

The event, believed to have originated in U.S. public libraries as a fun way to spark children's interest in reading, is spreading across Japan, fueled by the recent trend of people bringing their favorite plushies along with them, taking their photos and sharing them on social media.

The activity is known as "nuikatsu," a portmanteau of "nuigurumi" and "katsudo," meaning "stuffed toys" and "activity" in Japanese.

According to its officials, when the city art museum introduced the sleepover event for stuffed toys last year, the slots filled up instantly, only a minute after online registration opened.

The Hikone Castle Museum held a similar event to commemorate its 40th anniversary next year, with owners allowing their plushies to stay at the museum for a week through early August.

The program received 122 applications for just 10 available spots when applications opened in July. Hikonyan, Hikone's mascot, served as their guide, and the stuffed animals were pictured looking at the display -- swords and armor passed down through the Ii family, the feudal lords of the Hikone domain.

Updates on their activity were posted regularly on social media, with a post receiving over 5,000 "likes."

Naoya Okaniwa, 47, and his wife, fans of the mascot, who traveled from Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, said, "We have visited the museum many times, but through these stuffed animals, we discovered charms we had overlooked."

Kanato Muraki, a 7-year-old from Kusatsu in Shiga Prefecture, who visited the facility for the first time, was impressed. "The actual armor suits were bigger than I expected. I was surprised. I want to come again."

Only about 20 percent of visitors to Hikone Castle visit the museum, which is located next to it, its official said.

"We hope this event will spark interest in our exhibits and help increase visitor numbers," said Yuto Nakahashi, 26, a staff member at the museum.

According to the Japan Toy Association, the market size of stuffed animals reached 62.4 billion yen ($390 million) in fiscal 2025, marking an increase of nearly 40 percent from the year before.

KAGOSHIMA, Japan (Kyodo9 -- Three students were confirmed dead Saturday after being swept out to sea off Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, the previous day, the Japan Coast Guard said.

The coast guard identified the three as Haruki Shitaebisu, 17, his brother Kensei, 13, and Takahiro Takemoto, 14.

The search began after two students got into difficulty in the sea off Ichikikushikino on Friday afternoon and two others reportedly jumped from rocks into the water to try to save them, with all four swept out to sea, according to the coast guard. One of the four, a 12-year-old junior high school boy, was rescued soon afterward, while a fifth student, who had not been swept away, called for help.

A local fishery cooperative official said waves were high at the time.

The coast guard initially said the area was off-limits for swimming but corrected the information Saturday, saying it is allowed there.