A groundbreaking ceremony was held in Kyoto City on September 15 for Ronald McDonald House Kyoto, a residential facility where children undergoing medical treatment will be able to stay together with their families. (News On Japan)

Elementary school students in Fukuoka got a hands-on lesson in the importance of taxes on September 11, lifting a 10-kilogram replica of 100 million yen as part of a class designed to show how public money supports society. (News On Japan)

Raccoons are increasingly appearing in urban areas of Japan, including residential neighborhoods near Shin-Osaka Station, raising concerns over disease, attacks on people and agricultural damage that reached about 700 million yen nationwide last year. (News On Japan)

Japanese 15-year-olds spend an average of 2.3 hours browsing social media during their weekday free time, the shortest amount among 24 countries surveyed, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (News On Japan)

Renovation work has begun at a hospital in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, as the city prepares to introduce a baby hatch for parents unable to raise their children and a confidential birth system that allows pregnant women to give birth without publicly disclosing their identities. (News On Japan)

A disaster prevention experiment has shown how quickly a rain-soaked slope can collapse once visible cracks appear, highlighting the need for people in landslide-prone areas to evacuate before conditions become critical as the risk of disasters remains elevated through early next week. (News On Japan)