Japan's education ministry has revised its instructional booklets on radiation by adding details on the impact of Tokyo Electric's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. (NHK)

Alisdair Rolt, Jordan Simpson-Brown, Tom King and Millie Potts, all from the Daventry area, have been selected to join 3,500 Scouts and Guides from across the UK to attend the 23rd World Scout Jamboree in Japan. (daventryexpress.co.uk)

A U.S. State Department official on Thursday called for the return to American parents of all children taken to Japan without their consent by their former Japanese partners after failed international marriages. (Jiji Press)

A 16-year-old high school boy who committed suicide in Mihara, Hiroshima Prefecture, may have been bullied, school officials said Thursday. (Japan Today)

The Israeli embassy in Tokyo donated 300 books on Anne Frank on Thursday after books on the famous victim of the Holocaust were found to have been vandalized at public libraries in the Japanese capital. (Jiji Press)

Japan has launched a system to allow a two-year extension of residence status for foreign students who complete a course of study at a Japanese culinary school, allowing them to receive on-the-job training at Japanese restaurants. (helsinkitimes.fi)

Japanese police handled 410 school bullying-related cases in 2013, increasing 58 pct from the previous year and exceeding 400 for the first time since 1985, the National Police Agency said Thursday. (Jiji Press)

Israel's Tokyo embassy says it will donate new copies of Anne Frank's "The Dairy of a Young Girl" to the public libraries in the Japanese capital whose books were vandalized. (NHK)

On Jan. 10, convenience store chain Family Mart started selling a new bentō (boxed lunch) with a heavy-duty name to complement its hefty ¥600 price: Famima Premium Koroge Wagyu-iri Hamburger Bento, which "contains" high-quality Japanese ground beef. For an added touch of extravagance, it also came with a side of foie gras. (Japan Times)

The rate of smartphone users among students owning mobile phones at elementary, junior high and high schools in Japan stood at 56.8 pct in late 2013, up 20.8 percentage points from a year earlier, a Cabinet Office survey showed Wednesday. (Jiji Press)

Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology said Wednesday that it will introduce English language requirements for entry applicants from fiscal 2016, using scores from TOEIC and other external English tests. (Jiji Press)

Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura met with a ministry panel this week about revising the teaching manual to include moral education as a "special subject" for elementary and junior high school students. (Japan Today)

Japan's education minister and bureaucrats' brief dance appearance in a music video to promote overseas studies, is generating criticism as well as support. (NHK)

Japan Airlines and the Tokyo Fire Department have held a splash-landing drill to train for a disaster scenario involving the eruption of Mount Fuji. (NHK)

The Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) came 13th in a 2013 ranking of the world's leading think tanks covering about 6,800 research institutes worldwide, according to a survey conducted by the University of Pennsylvania. (The Japan News)

The education ministry on Friday announced a fully revised book for moral education in elementary and junior high schools. (The Japan News)

Japan is not an easy place to raise children, according to 64 percent of respondents to a Yomiuri Shimbun opinion poll, marking a drop of 12 percentage points in the rate of respondents who felt the same way eight years ago. (The Japan News)

The education ministry is considering expanding a proficiency-based teaching system for English classes to public middle schools nationwide, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. (The Japan News)

A trove of ancient documents unearthed at the Vatican could shed light on the brutal crackdown on Christianity in isolationist Japan under its samurai rulers, scholars say. (China Post)

Health officials in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, said Friday that 86 students at Hatsune-gaoka Public Elementary School in Yokohama were absent Thursday due to a suspected mass outbreak of norovirus. (Japan Today)