(Comic by Adam Garwood)

The fact that the government recognizes child poverty as a national issue is a big step”
—Aya Abe, a professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University, on a newly-launched fund to help improve the lives of poor children

STRANGE DAYS

• Investigators with Chubu Electric Power Co. are at a loss to explain what caused a blackout that left nearly half of all households in Nagano Prefecture without electricity last month.
• Government officials say a Japanese tour company’s decision to take a group of sightseers on an excursion to northern Niger is “incomprehensible.”
• The foreign ministry had cautioned citizens to avoid the area because of activities by Islamist militants.

NOT ALL FUN & GAMES

• A court in Fukuoka awarded ¥200 million to a man who was paralyzed when he fell from the shoulders of high school classmates during a sports-day activity in 2003.
• The man, now 29, was injured while taking part in a game called kibasen, in which teams of students stage “mock cavalry battles.”
• Authorities at the health ministry have added 196 diseases—including muscular dystrophy and a bone affliction called dysplasia—to their list of illnesses for which sufferers can receive financial assistance.
• The payments now cover a total of 306 diseases that affect 1.2 million people.

5.3 million Units of Toyota’s iconic Crown luxury sedan that have been sold since the model’s introduction 60 years ago

31,377,000 Visitors to Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea in 2014—a record

41 Percentage of government subsidies allocated for March 11 disaster reconstruction that have been used as planned

FOREIGN(ER) AFFAIRS

• Officials at the justice ministry say that, for the first time in more than two decades, the number of foreign residents who overstay their visas is rising.
• The officials say about 41,000 foreigners are currently violating their visa status, which is still way down from the peak of 299,000 in 1993.
• A tourism promotion group in Asakusa held a drill designed to help visitors from abroad deal with being “far from home during a disaster.” About 700 people took part.
• Authorities at the environment ministry have banned exports of Asian brown pond turtles. They say the critters from Okinawa are being threatened by overhunting.

RISING UP, RISING DOWN

• Authorities at the National Police Agency announced that they had investigated a record 59,072 cases of domestic violence last year.
• They say the number was so high because they’ve expanded the scope of investigations to include unmarried partners who live together.
• The number of stalking cases reported last year—22,823—was also a record.
• Headline of the Week: “Facial Recognition System Sends Warning E-mails to Families of Pachinko Addicts” (via Japan Today)

AND FINALLY…

• As part of a ¥3 billion fundraising effort, administrators at Shimogamo Shrine in Kyoto—designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site—have leased part of the grounds to property developers, who are planning to build condos.
• Two Japanese scientists were among the six winners of the 2015 Canada Gairdner International Awards, which recognize achievements in medicine and which come with a prize of $10,000 (Canadian).
• According to the agriculture ministry, the amount of land devoted to community farms has increased 40 percent over the past decade.
• The three prefectures with the most such farms are Kanagawa (589), Tokyo (475) and Aichi (343).