EDUCATION

Nara Prefectural Police have arrested a school teacher suspect in the repeated theft of women’s underwear that he filmed before returning, reports Nikkan Sports (Sept. 21). (tokyoreporter.com)

An English seminar for geisha has been held in Tokyo to help them communicate with foreign tourists and explain traditional Japanese entertainment culture. (NHK)

Japan will open more service sector jobs to foreigners as early as the first half of next year amid a surge in tourism, thanks to the revised strategic special zone law that took effect Friday. (Nikkei)

Officials have found that lunches served at two schools in the town of Oiso dating back to last year were contaminated with plastic fragments and bugs, the Yomiuri Shimbun reports (Sept. 16). (tokyoreporter.com)

Japanese police reported a record-high 30,262 children as suspected abuse victims to welfare authorities in the first half of 2017, on the back of increased public awareness of the issue, the National Police Agency said Thursday. (Japan Today)

Japan’s prime minister wants to use revenue from the increased consumption tax to provide tuition-free preschool and higher education. Shinzo Abe says the move would be part of his drive to invest more in human resource development. (NHK)

Japan’s education ministry unveiled on Thursday new English textbooks to be used for elementary school fifth- and sixth-graders’ foreign-language classes for fiscal 2018 and 2019. (Jiji)

It was at the end of 2015 when an all-girl junior high school affiliated with Japan Women’s University received an inquiry from a mother of an elementary school student, asking if her daughter would be eligible to apply for enrollment. (Japan Times)

Japan is working itself to death. The frequently recurring term karoshi (death from overwork) suggests as much. It’s an indirect rather than a direct cause of death, which makes statistical precision difficult, but, as a rough standard, 80 hours a month of overtime work in the months leading up to a victim’s death from a heart attack or stroke or suicide will back a claim for karoshi compensation. (Japan Today)

Princess Kako, a granddaughter of Emperor Akihito, departed Tuesday for Britain where she will study at the University of Leeds as an exchange student until June next year. (Kyodo)