A civic group in Usa City, Oita Prefecture that collects and analyzes wartime film archives released 18 pieces of footage to the media on December 7th, with the materials depicting kamikaze aircraft engaging U.S. forces and the devastation from air raids across Japan, much of it being shown publicly for the first time after the group obtained and examined the reels from the U.S. National Archives. (News On Japan)

A volcano education center at the base of Showa-Shinzan is facing an existential threat as aging facilities and deteriorating materials put decades of invaluable records at risk. (News On Japan)

A former teacher accused of secretly filming women by placing miniature cameras in a high school changing room and restroom faced sentencing at the Utsunomiya District Court on July 12th, with prosecutors demanding 1 year and 6 months of imprisonment. (News On Japan)

Izumisano City in Osaka has taken a concrete step toward establishing a “baby hatch,” sending municipal officials to observe operations at Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto, the first institution in Japan to introduce the service 18 years ago. (News On Japan)

As December approaches and people prepare for handwritten New Year’s cards, opportunities to pick up a pen naturally increase at this time of year, yet the nation’s enthusiasm for beautiful handwriting shows no sign of fading as calligraphy schools continue to evolve in step with the boom. (News On Japan)

Jomon pottery estimated to be more than 10,000 years old has been found almost perfectly preserved at the bottom of Lake Biwa, with researchers calling the discovery exceptionally rare. (News On Japan)

Okinawa’s Board of Education has cancelled this year’s program to send high school students to China after officials received notice from the host institution that it could no longer accept the group. (News On Japan)

Childcare workers in Saitama, a prefecture popular among families for its convenient access to central Tokyo, are increasingly leaving for jobs in the capital due to a growing wage gap, creating deep concern in communities that border Tokyo. (News On Japan)

Hokkaido hosted a company briefing session in Sapporo aimed at students and career changers on November 19th as part of an effort to energize the region’s space-related industries. (News On Japan)

A craze for puffy, glossy Bonbon Drop Stickers is spreading rapidly among elementary and junior high school students, turning these colorful seals into one of the most sought-after items of the season while also emerging as an unexpected communication tool for families. (News On Japan)

Cases of inappropriate childcare are emerging across the country, and a recent incident in Higashi-Osaka has renewed concerns about how young children are being treated in nurseries. (News On Japan)

Kyoto Sangyo University has suspended access to its athletics grounds after a report of an animal resembling a bear was made near the facility in Kyoto City. (News On Japan)

Tokyo Metropolitan Government issued an influenza epidemic warning on November 13th after the number of reported cases reached the alert threshold, marking the first such announcement in November in 16 years. (News On Japan)

A recent survey has revealed that many students who do not attend school and their parents are unaware of Japan’s "online attendance" system, which allows remote learning to count as official attendance. (News On Japan)

After a painful divorce that nearly tore his family apart, Kenji Kataoka quit his stable job and began a new life as a sweet potato farmer in Kōka, Shiga Prefecture. The single father has spent the past two years working the fields while caring for his teenage son, Sōshi, who stopped attending school in elementary years. As the family faces its second harvest season, small changes begin to appear in their lives. (News On Japan)

Japan’s largest shogi tournament for children in elementary school and younger was held in Osaka on November 9th. (News On Japan)

A shortage of domestically produced lacquer, essential for restoring Japan’s cultural properties, has reached a critical point. For centuries, lacquer—or urushi—has been integral to traditional crafts and national treasures, but production has fallen sharply. (News On Japan)

A mass food poisoning incident has been confirmed at a high school dormitory in Shiraoi, a town in Hokkaido’s Iburi region, where 63 students suffered symptoms such as diarrhea and stomach pain after eating meals prepared at the facility. (News On Japan)

The Grand Egyptian Museum, which opened on November 1st near the Giza Pyramids outside Cairo, marks one of Egypt’s most ambitious cultural projects in decades—built with extensive Japanese financial and technical support totaling about 84.2 billion yen in yen loans. (News On Japan)

FamilyMart has introduced an online sign language interpreting service ahead of the first-ever Deaflympics to be held in Japan. (News On Japan)