Latest news with #Tokyo
Reuters
an hour ago
- General
- Reuters
Japanese nationals detained in Cambodia as two nations fight fraudulent activity, Japan government spokesperson says
TOKYO, May 29 (Reuters) - Japan has been notified by Cambodian authorities that "many" Japanese nationals have been detained in Cambodia, as the two nations work to crack down on bases of fraudulent activity in Cambodia, a Japanese government spokesperson said on Thursday. The Japanese government is looking into details such as the number of people and location of their detention, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a regular press conference.
Japan Times
an hour ago
- Lifestyle
- Japan Times
Chinese parents are fueling Tokyo's education race
An increasing number of elite Chinese are fleeing their deteriorating home country in pursuit of a better life abroad. Some find better educational opportunities for their kids in Japan, where entrance exams are much looser as local birth numbers are in steep decline. International schools in Tokyo are already witnessing an influx of children from the newly arrived, highly involved Chinese households. Chinese students are also more visible in cram schools, eyeing competitive junior high school entrance exams. Yet another notable trend is that Chinese families are clustering in Bunkyo Ward, a district renowned for the finest educational environment. The northern Tokyo ward has long been regarded as a hub for scholars and intellectuals. Historically, the area was home to sprawling samurai estates during the Edo Period (1603 to 1868), many of which were later converted into educational institutions in the wake of the Meiji Restoration. Bunkyo Ward was officially established in 1947 through the merger of two adjacent wards, and its name literally means 'education and culture.' According to Bun Kaito, head of sales at Future Leading, a real estate firm catering to Chinese clientele, Bunkyo's appeal is obvious. 'It's home to the University of Tokyo. The ward is also renowned for safety, often ranked as the safest in statistics. Plus, it's conveniently close to attractions like Korakuen amusement park and offers a high-quality living environment.' Within the Chinese community, four public elementary schools in Bunkyo — Seishi, Sendagi, Showa, and Kubomachi — have earned iconic status. Collectively referred to as '3S1K' based on their initials, these schools boast long histories and impressive academic track records, drawing fervent interest from Chinese parents. In China, disparities in public school quality are acutely felt, and moving to a neighborhood with top schools is not uncommon. Such properties are known as xuequfang, or 'school district homes.' For instance, aspiring to enroll children in top-notch universities like Peking or Tsinghua often starts with placing them in elite middle schools in Beijing's Haidian District. According to "Getting Ashore," a bestseller written by Amber Jiang, Haidian District accounts for over 50% of all admissions to Tsinghua and Peking Universities in Beijing, and the six leading public middle schools alone account for over 90% of the district's admissions to those universities in recent years. This 'school district homes' mindset has led to a sharp rise in Chinese families relocating to Bunkyo. A student roster from one 3S1K school viewed by the author revealed a noticeable increase over the past year in students with Chinese citizenship or heritage, many bearing surnames like Wang, Hu, or Zhang. Chinese students now comprise over 10% of the student body, and the actual number may be higher considering those using Japanese surnames. Showa Elementary School in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward | Alex K.T. Martin A representative from the Bunkyo Ward Board of Education confirmed the upward trend. The number of foreign students in public elementary schools rose from 389 in 2023 to 467 in 2024. Still, they account for a mere 4% of the total student cohort. This data hints at a disproportionate concentration of Chinese students at the 3S1K schools. Hu, a Chinese mother who moved to Japan in 2018, relocated to Bunkyo in 2023 after consulting with her husband. The goal was to enroll their daughter in one of the 3S1K schools, a move inspired by her husband's discovery of these schools on Douyin, China's domestic version of TikTok. The couple hopes their daughter will eventually attend a Japanese national university, an elite institution such as Tsinghua back home, or a U.S. university. With junior high school entrance exams in mind, they are now preparing to place her in SAPIX, Tokyo's premier cram school network. 'There's a 70-square-meter apartment nearby that recently sold for ￥190 million ($1.29 million). Rumor has it a Chinese buyer snapped it up,' she explained. Following her daughter's enrollment, however, Hu realized the actual curriculum wasn't drastically different from that of other public schools. She suspects that some Chinese-run real estate agents may be inflating the appeal of the Bunkyo brand. Another Chinese mother who recently moved to Japan — specifically to one of the 3S1K school districts — said she is now considering moving to another area of Tokyo after noticing her children speaking Chinese with newly transferred students from China, despite her original expectation that they would quickly improve their Japanese skills. 'In my apartment building, the number of Chinese families has more than tripled in just one year,' she explained, making her feel that the super-competitive atmosphere she had tried to escape is now being recreated here. Still, statistics confirm Bunkyo's growing popularity among Chinese citizens. According to Tokyo Metropolitan Government data, the number of Chinese residents in Bunkyo grew by roughly 3,000 from January 2022 to January 2024 — an astonishing 60% surge. On Chinese Instagram-like social media RedNote, one can browse countless posts explaining the 3S1K. One reads, 'Bunkyo residents are the most education-conscious in all of Tokyo,' while another claims, 'The average progression rate to private or national junior high schools is 7% nationally and 25% in Tokyo, but 50% in Bunkyo.' Other posts detail the 140-year history of one of the 3S1K schools, often alongside real estate listings targeting Chinese buyers. One post even said: 'Some parents are selling large homes to move into tiny, old houses in Bunkyo just so their children can attend these schools — even if it means lowering their standard of living,' citing a Chinese old saying that philosopher Mencius' mother moved three times to ensure a proper educational environment. The flock of Chinese newcomers has started to strain Bunkyo's housing market. A Chinese couple who arrived in Japan in 2023 hoped their daughter could attend a public school in Bunkyo. However, outside the 3S1K areas, the only available property was a 75-square-meter unit renting for ¥350,000, which they found unaffordable. Xu, a Chinese father in his 30s living in a major city in China, is preparing to immigrate to Japan shortly. The tipping point was the worsening state of education in his motherland. Sendagi Elementary School in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward | Alex K.T. Martin 'In 2023, I participated in a reunion at my old high school and realized that club activities now start only in senior year. Parents had pressured the school, saying academic performance was slipping. Kids today study from 7 a.m. to midnight, and student suicides are sadly common. I don't want my daughter to experience that, so we've decided to move to Japan.' University entrance in China has grown fiercely competitive in recent years. The buzzword juan, or involution, has gained popularity. With weak social safety nets, Chinese families do not hesitate to pour resources into education, and this ever-intensifying fervor is now spilling into Japan. Like many compatriots, Xu originally searched for housing in Bunkyo but noticed it was too costly. After more detailed investigation, he finally chose to land in Urawa Ward in the city of Saitama, another area known for educational advantage. He narrowed down the options based on the academic level of a nearby elementary school and eventually purchased a ￥20 million ($133,000) apartment unit. Among Chinese real estate agents in Tokyo, Urawa has earned the nickname 'Little Bunkyo.' 'Urawa has so many cram schools — it's like the Ginza of tutoring,' Xu explained. Already popular among Japanese families, Urawa is now seeing sharp land price increases. Furthermore, in the Chinese real estate agent circle, the nearby city of Shiki, also famous for educational achievement, is now being dubbed 'Little Urawa.' The relentless drive for academic excellence continues to push Chinese families toward Bunkyo and similar schooling districts. Junior high school entrance exam rates are hitting record highs in greater Tokyo. Still, Japanese parents tend to believe it's a domestic rivalry among Japanese students. This perception may soon change, as elite public schools become launchpads for Chinese families intent on academic conquest. 'We're planning for junior high entrance exams,' Xu said. 'We're eyeing schools like Eikoh Junior High.' Eikoh is one of the toughest private junior highs in Saitama and among the most competitive in the country. 'Chinese urban schools already lead the world in subjects like math and English, so I'm not worried. Once in Japan, we'll focus on improving her Japanese,' Xu added. 'For many Chinese families, even Eikoh is just a safety net school.' Takehiro Masutomo is the author of "Run Ri," a book on China's new immigrants in Japan.
Japan Times
an hour ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Japan offering fund to aid U.S. shipbuilding as part of tariff negotiations
Japan has offered to establish a fund to help revive the U.S. shipbuilding industry as part of tariff negotiations between the two countries, it was learned Wednesday. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump aims to strengthen his country's shipbuilding capacity from an economic security perspective, and Tokyo hopes that offering cooperation in this field will lead to concessions from Washington in tariff talks. On Wednesday, the steering committee of the House of Councilors approved a four-day trip to the United States from Thursday by economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator. During the trip, Akazawa will hold the fourth ministerial-level session of the tariff talks on Friday local time. The session is expected to be attended by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was absent from the previous session. The committee also approved Akazawa's three-day trip to France from Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Akazawa voiced his eagerness to advance the tariff negotiations with the United States, even during the trip to France. "If we have an opportunity to engage in tariff discussions with the United States, we will prioritize that above all else," he told reporters at the Prime Minister's Office. In the global shipbuilding market, China holds a dominant share. That has sparked national security concerns in the United States, where the shipbuilding industry has declined. The United States has called on allies including Japan to help revive the sector. "The United States is interested in whether U.S. warships can be repaired in Japan," Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, on Sunday. Referring to the growing importance of Arctic shipping routes and icebreakers, Ishiba also noted that "Japan has an advantage in icebreaker technology." Also on the agenda for the upcoming tariff session is Japan's support for maintaining repair docks in the United States. Tokyo hopes to accelerate the tariff talks, with a view to striking an agreement at a possible bilateral summit on the sidelines of the Group of Seven leaders' meeting next month. As the two countries are still divided over matters such as additional auto tariffs, it remains to be seen how much middle ground the two sides can find on shipbuilding cooperation.
CNN
2 hours ago
- General
- CNN
Japan cracks down on ‘sparkly' names for babies like Pikachu or Nike
If you go to Japan, there's a chance you might meet someone with an unusual name – such as 'Nike,' 'Pikachu' or 'Pudding.' While still a minority, these names have grown in popularity over recent decades as parents reject traditional Japanese names for something more unique. But the practice has also drawn criticism – mainly that it's confusing for hospitals, schools and authorities who don't know how to pronounce them. Now the government is cracking down on these so-called 'kirakira' names, which means sparkly or shiny. New rules came into effect on Monday that will limit parents from giving their babies names pronounced in unconventional ways. The news was met with mixed reactions; some social media users argued that kirakira names are an expression of individualism, that they're fairly harmless and don't warrant government regulation. 'They're not children of the nation, right? They're children of their parents,' one person wrote on X after the announcement. Many more, however, welcomed the change – lamenting that children with unusual names might face harassment, or at the very least complications in administrative tasks like registrations or banking. 'Why do certain people put kirakira names on their kids? It just causes those kids to be bullied,' one X user wrote. Another joked sarcastically: 'Please stop restricting kirakira names. Seeing a child's name reveals the intelligence of their parents, which is helpful.' Japan uses three writing systems – Kanji, which is based on Chinese characters, and two other phonetic systems. Names are typically written in Kanji, and this is where the trouble comes in. Because these Chinese characters were mixed with the existing Japanese language, each Kanji character can be pronounced multiple ways – some with ten or more ways. You decipher the 'right' pronunciation based on context clues and the other characters in a sentence or phrase. In kirakira names, which became more popular from the 1980s onward, parents often choose a name based on the phonetic sound – wanting their child's name to sound like 'Pikachu,' for instance – and pick similar-sounding Kanji characters. The problem is that those characters might not usually be pronounced that way – making it hard, or impossible, for a teacher or nurse to decipher how to properly say a child's name just by looking at its written Kanji form. Some have drawn parallels to how American parents have, increasingly in the past decade, chosen unusual spellings for common names – such as Ashleigh instead of Ashley, or Catelynn instead of Caitlin. The Japanese government's new rules aim to limit this by mandating that only widely accepted pronunciations of kanji characters will be allowed. Parents will need to include the phonetic readings of their baby names in the registry – and if local officials see that the phonetic sound of a name doesn't match how its characters are typically pronounced, they may reject the name or request additional paperwork. This is not the first time strict naming rules have sparked debate in Japan. Japan still legally requires married couples to share the same surname, unlike most other major economies that have done away with the tradition. Normally, wives take their husband's name, since same-sex marriages aren't legal in Japan. A movement to change the rules around surnames has been brewing, led by women's rights advocates and those trying to preserve the diversity of Japanese surnames in a nation where a handful of names are becoming increasingly common. First names have afforded more room for experimentation – at least, until the latest rules came in. More and more people have been given unusual names in the last 40 years, according to a 2022 study that analyzed baby names published in local newsletters over the last few decades. The trend suggests a shift toward seeking 'uniqueness and independence' in Japan, the study said – also seen in changes to other parts of Japanese life during that time like family structures and societal values. Girls in particular saw an increase in kirakira names, it added – perhaps suggesting that parents had a stronger 'hope for their daughters to become unique and independent than for their sons.' Japan isn't the only country that has seen an upward trend in unusual baby names. A 2016 study found that American parents picked more unusual names between 2004 and 2015, pointing to the culture's 'increasing individualism.' In China, too, rapid economic growth and upward mobility have meant people today value individualism and autonomy more than previous generations, according to a 2018 study – reflected in the steady rise of parents choosing unique characters in their babies' names. Like in Japan, the study found that Chinese girls were more likely to have unusual names than boys – perhaps reflecting different 'parental expectations.' But it's also common for countries to have rules in place for what names are acceptable. In the US, this is often state-by-state; names in California can only use the 26 alphabetical characters of the English language, which briefly posed a problem when Elon Musk and Grimes named their baby 'X Æ A-12.' They eventually changed the name – very slightly – to 'X Æ A-Xii.' In Germany, authorities may strike down a baby name if they find it offensive or potentially harmful to the child's best interests. For example, they've previously barred parents from using 'Borussia,' a reference to a soccer team, or 'Gastritis,' arguing that the names would 'jeopardize the welfare of the child,' according to the official Frankfurt city administration. Meanwhile New Zealand also maintains strict rules that include bans on references to titles, meaning names like 'King' and 'Prince' are routinely rejected. Soyon Nishioka contributed reporting.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Trump administration asked Japan to increase share of costs of US troops, Asahi Shimbun says
TOKYO, May 29 (Reuters) - The Trump administration asked Japan in early May to increase its share of costs for U.S. troops stationed there, prompting Tokyo to consider boosting facility funding by tens of billions of yen, the Asahi Shimbun reported on Thursday, citing government sources. The current annual average cost borne by Japan for the stationing of U.S. forces is about 211 billion yen ($1.45 billion). The Japanese government has started considering an increase in the budget for the construction of facilities provided to U.S. forces stationed in Japan, such as barracks, family housing, administrative buildings and disaster prevention facilities, the Asahi report said. Asked about the report after meeting with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Japan's tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said national security and tariff policies are different matters. However, Akazawa said the purchase of defence equipment would contribute to the U.S. trade surplus, so "in that context, (the subject) could be considered to some extent" in the tariff talks. Akazawa is scheduled to visit the U.S. on Thursday for another round of tariff negotiations. ($1 = 145.3300 yen)
