Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on July 2013

BARBARIANS AT THE GATE

• Officials at the justice ministry are proposing a simplified immigration system for foreigners who are “deemed unlikely to be a terrorist or criminal.”
• A survey by a Tokyo-based cram-school operator found that 55 percent of college students would like to study abroad but feel that it’s “too late… to deal with a globalizing world.”
• A newspaper poll suggests that 41 percent of Japanese people approve of making it easier for politicians to change the Constitution.
• Authorities at the justice ministry have proposed serving prison meals to elderly people who are living alone.

BREAKTHROUGHS

• In Wakayama, transgendered Japanese boxer Go Shindo won the WBC flyweight title in a bout against reigning champion Renata Szebeledi of Hungary.
• Researchers from Waseda University and the National Defense Medical College have developed an ultrathin bandage—just 0.2 to 0.5 millimeters thick—that may help physicians repair blood vessels during surgery.
• Officials at the welfare ministry have decided that reconstructive breast surgery can be covered under the public health insurance system.
• Students from two high schools in western Japan won honors at a simulated negotiating session for youngsters sponsored by the United Nations in New York.

YEAH, GOOD LUCK WITH THAT

• Officials from the LDP want to create an cyber-warfare agency that’s staffed with “several thousand officials” and modeled on the US Department of Homeland Security.
• In an effort to “help stabilize the price of bluefin tuna,” workers at the Fisheries Research Agency are setting up a large-scale fish-farming operation in Nagasaki and Kagoshima.
• An employee at the formidably named Public Works Research Institute/Global Centre of Excellence for Water Hazard and Risk Management in Ibaraki has created an English-language handbook that’s intended “to educate children around the world about how to protect themselves during natural disasters.”
• TMG officials say they will introduce a 24-hour bus service in December. The first around-the-clock route will connect—where else?—Roppongi and Shibuya.

INCREDIBLE SHRINKING JAPAN

• Officials at the health ministry say a total of 1,037,101 babies were born in Japan in 2012—a record low.
• Meanwhile, the average age that women give birth to their first child is now 30.3—a record high.
• Despite this, the fertility rate for Japanese women increased by 0.02 points to 1.41. It’s the first time in 16 years the figure topped 1.4.
• Ministry officials also said that a record 1,256,254 people died in Japan in 2012.

AND FINALLY…

• Credit where credit is due: Officials in Yokohama achieved their three-year goal of eliminating the waiting list for children to enroll in nursery schools.
• In honor of 80-year-old Yuichiro Miura, who in May became the oldest person to conquer Mt Everest, government officials will institute an award that recognizes “achievements in various fields by the elderly.”
• Members of a Cabinet Office investigative committee have warned that the March 11 earthquake may cause some volcanoes around the country to become active—including Mt Fuji.
• A senior official in charge of assistance for reconstruction in Fukushima was fired for defaming a lawyer and a local civic group on Twitter.

Compiled from reports by AP, Japan Today, The Japan Times, Jiji, The Tokyo Reporter, Japan Probe, The Mainichi, The Japan News, AFP, Reuters and Kyodo