TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Japanese farm ministry is considering buying back an additional 100,000 tons of rice to replenish government reserves drawn down by releases in 2025, following a 210,000-ton purchase in September, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

Last month's buyback, the first such attempt since the current stockpiling system began in fiscal 2011, came after the government released a total of 590,000 tons of emergency rice reserves in 2025 in response to a shortage that began around the summer of 2024.

The release left the government's emergency rice stockpile at around 320,000 tons, far below the roughly 1 million tons considered appropriate.

The timing of the additional purchase will depend on supply and demand conditions, including harvest figures through late October that will be released next month, the sources said.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries believes the additional buyback will not squeeze the country's rice market, as rice inventories reached 1.5 million tons at the end of August, a record high for that time of year.

The government is also considering a 2027 staple rice harvest target of 6.93 million tons, down from the projected 7.4 million tons in 2026, the sources said.

The government plans to encourage farmers to produce more rice for animal feed and processing, both of which are considered in short supply, the sources said.

A popular Japanese cartoonist who has written books on history and monarchy has sued the government over a revised imperial succession law allowing royals to adopt male relatives from former branch families to father future heirs.

The revised law took effect Saturday despite criticism over the male-only succession rules in Japan’s 1,500-year-old monarchy. Next in line after Emperor Naruhito is his younger brother Akishino, followed by the emperor’s 20-year-old nephew, Prince Hisahito. There are no other eligible heirs in his generation.

The revised law allows adoption of unmarried male descendants, aged 15 or older, of distant imperial relatives, but only through an unbroken male line, into a branch of the royal family. They would not be able to inherit the throne themselves, but their heirs would be eligible.

Four of the 11 former branch families who renounced their royal status in 1947 remain. Officials say they are at least 36 generations removed from Naruhito after splitting from a common male-line ancestor 600 years ago. Critics say they are too distant to be considered relatives.

In his lawsuit, Yoshinori Kobayashi says the adoption of former royals, who are commoners, discriminates against other commoners in violation of Article 14 of the constitution, which guarantees equality regardless of “race, creed, sex, social status or family origin.”

“The adoption would introduce a new class system of ‘former imperial branch family’ in Japan. ... It’s a serious problem,” Kobayashi told reporters after filing the lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court, a first legal step against the revised law. No trial date has been set.

He said the adoption system undermines “the fundamental value of the constitution ... and changes the monarchy into something completely different.”

The law lets princesses retain their royal status and continue with their official duties after marrying commoners, but does not confer royal status on their husbands and children. It effectively eliminates a chance for Japan’s beloved Princess Aiko to succeed her father, Naruhito.

Kobayashi calls it the “Aiko-sama exclusion law.”

The male-only succession policy was pushed by the conservative government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who has said only the paternal bloodline gives authority and legitimacy to the emperor.

Legal experts, including those on a government panel on the imperial succession, have also raised concerns over the constitutionality of the adoption system.

Kobayashi’s lawyer, Rintaro Kuramochi, said winning the case would be difficult, but there was no other way to raise the issue in Japan, where there is no constitutional court and little hope for the law to be rectified by the current government.

In the lawsuit, Kobayashi also demanded damages of 1 million yen ($6,350) for psychological suffering experienced by the manga artist whose works are based on his love of Japan’s monarchy, equal rights and other democratic values.

Japan has had eight female monarchs. The paternal-line male succession was introduced for the first time in the 1890 Imperial House Law, when Japan promoted patriarchal systems of male superiority.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A Japanese Embassy official in Russia conducted a consular visit Monday with a Japanese journalist detained in the country nearly two weeks ago, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

The ministry said the Japanese national, who had been transferred to Moscow from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East right after being detained, had no health issues.

Russia's security agency, the FSB, said on Oct. 13 that a correspondent for the Sapporo-based Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper was detained in Sakhalin on suspicion of espionage.

It said he was collecting information under instructions from a Japanese intelligence service, a claim flatly denied by the daily. The Japanese government has denied engaging in spying activities.

The embassy in Moscow declined to elaborate on what the journalist told the official about the espionage allegations against him. It also said it does not know when another visit will take place.

The embassy added that the journalist will meet separately with a lawyer chosen by the Japanese newspaper.

The journalist has been remanded in custody until Dec. 12, while the FSB continues its investigation.

Japan will continue urging Russia to "immediately release the Japanese national and ensure humanitarian consideration and fair and impartial treatment," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Japanese government had unsuccessfully sought for days to secure a consular visit following the individual's detainment. A bilateral treaty provides for the right to consular access within four days when one country takes a national of the other into custody.

Unsurprisingly, visa processing times went up during both Trump presidencies.

Japan’s four major beer companies, suspected of price collusion, kept shipping prices unchanged after the 2023 tax cut of ¥19 per liter of beer, citing higher costs, sources said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, they all implemented a price hike of ¥20 per liter in 2025, according to the sources.

The Japan Fair Trade Commission is investigating a possible cartel regarding shipping prices among Asahi Breweries, Kirin Brewery, Suntory Spirits and Sapporo Breweries.

Since 2020, there have been three tax cuts for beer. In October 2023, the tax was reduced by ¥19 per liter, but the four brewers offset the cut by reflecting a rise in the cost of collecting containers, the sources said.

“All four companies kept prices unchanged despite the tax cut, which was totally strange and not understandable at all,” said one wholesaler official. “It was so outrageous, but we couldn’t help but follow the makers’ price revisions.”

Regarding their price hikes in October 2022 and April 2025, questions were raised at semiannual meetings between beer makers and wholesalers, another wholesaler official said.

On Oct. 7, the commission searched the four companies’ headquarters and other locations on suspicion of violating the antimonopoly law. The watchdog is investigating the case with a view to filing a criminal complaint with prosecutors.

I visited the market of Higashi Hongan-Ji close to Kyoto main station multiple times and once I saw small ceramic/porcelain flower vases in the shape of little sitting/sleeping men-like creatures with mushroom shaped heads.
They were really cool and pretty but I didn’t have cash on me this day and when I went back multiple times during my stay abroad to buy them but I couldn’t find the seller/artist anymore sadly.
Does anybody know his/her name/instagram?
I’d really love to get a chance to buy one of his/her creations at some point, because I get a bit frustrated everytime I think about them.

KANAZAWA, Japan (Kyodo) -- Two crested ibises designated as Japanese natural treasures were found dead after being released on the Noto Peninsula in central Japan earlier this month, a local government said Friday.

The birds are believed to have been eaten by wild animals, but determining the cause of death will likely be difficult because their bodies were severely damaged, according to Ishikawa Prefecture, where they were released.

The prefectural government said GPS trackers showed that the two male birds, aged 2 and 13, stopped moving on Sunday and Monday, respectively.

The bodies of the ibises were found Friday near the foothills in the city of Nanao and on farmland in the Nakanoto area following searches by prefectural and municipal workers.

Crested ibises were first released into the wild on the Noto Peninsula in May, marking their return to Japan's main island for the first time in decades. Another batch was released on Oct. 7.

There have been no reports of abnormalities among the remaining 25 birds released there.

The Environment Ministry aims to expand the habitat of crested ibises beyond Sado Island, where breeding and conservation efforts have been under way for years.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A revised Imperial House Law took effect Saturday to address Japan's shrinking imperial family while retaining the traditional male-only succession system despite public support for female emperors.

The legislation, enacted in July in the first major revision of the 1947 law, allows the imperial family to adopt males aged 15 or older from 11 former imperial branch families who are descended from emperors through the male line.

The revised law also allows female members to retain their imperial status after marrying commoners, reversing a requirement that they leave the imperial family upon marriage.

While adopted members themselves are barred from becoming emperor, their male descendants are eligible to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne. The revised law, however, does not address the possibility of female emperors or succession through the maternal line.

Only males descended from emperors through the paternal line remain eligible to ascend the throne, a tradition conservatives such as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi are determined to preserve despite the declining number of eligible successors and imperial family members.

The revised imperial system will be reviewed every 30 years if necessary.

The revision bill was drafted based on a proposal compiled by the speakers and vice speakers of both houses of parliament after consulting all 13 parliamentary parties and groups.

Although the cross-party talks focused on maintaining the size of the imperial family, the bill introduced provisions not included in the original proposal, including succession rights for male descendants of adoptees, prompting criticism from some opposition parties.

Revising the Imperial House Law was part of the coalition agreement signed in October last year by the Liberal Democratic Party, led by Takaichi, Japan's first female prime minister, and its junior partner, the Japan Innovation Party.

Opposition parties also criticized the conservative ruling bloc for holding only about eight hours of parliamentary deliberations on the revision.

Imperial succession remains a pressing but divisive issue, with Japan having only three male heirs to the throne -- Emperor Naruhito's younger brother Crown Prince Fumihito, 60, Fumihito's son Prince Hisahito, 20, and the emperor's uncle Prince Hitachi, 90.

Emperor Naruhito, 66, and Empress Masako, 62, have only one child, Princess Aiko, 24, who is ineligible for the throne despite her popularity.

Japan's hereditary monarchy is said to date back more than 2,600 years, although the existence of some early emperors is disputed. Several women have occupied the throne, but succession has traditionally followed the male line.

A Japanese government white paper on Friday emphasized the importance of support aimed at reducing the risks of suicide and self-harm among young people through contacts with medical institutions.

The number of suicides among elementary, junior high and high school students last year stood at 538, a record high for the second consecutive year, according to the 2026 white paper on measures to prevent suicides.

With this year marking the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the suicide prevention basic law, the white paper analyzed trends in the number of suicides.

From 1998, the number remained in the 30,000 range amid worsening economic conditions in Japan, before turning downward in 2010. It hit a record low of 19,188 last year.

Over the past 20 years, the number of suicides decreased among housewives and employed men living with others. The suicide rate, which measures the number of suicides per 100,000 people, declined sharply among middle-aged or older men. This is believed to be related to a decline in suicides driven by socioeconomic factors.

Meanwhile, a similar declining trend was not seen in the number of suicides among single workers, students and employed women living with family members. Suicide rates were on an upward trend among people age 19 or younger and women in their 20s.

The number of suicides by students including college students last year stood at 1,082, increasing for the second consecutive year. Suicides among junior high school students totaled 172, hitting a record high for the third straight year, while those among high school students reached a record 356. The increase was particularly notable among female junior high and high school students.

Motives for suicides among elementary, junior high and high school students are seen mostly related to family, health and school issues. The white paper said that the warning signs are difficult to detect.

To shed light on self-harm and suicide attempts, which have been increasing among young people, the white paper analyzed 4,521 cases treated at emergency and critical care centers across Japan between late 2022 and late 2024. The analysis showed that many of the patients were female and that many repeatedly engaged in self-harm. About half had received only information, while only around 20 pct had links with support from local medical institutions and other organizations.

The white paper said that intensive measures should be taken for people at high risk and that efforts should be made to ensure they can receive support in their daily lives.

• https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/s/y4MFLfrDhC
• https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/s/mMHh9nLOnR

Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary figure behind Nintendo franchises such as Mario and The Legend of Zelda, has been named the first-ever video game-related recipient of Japan’s Order of Culture.