EDUCATION – 4

Japan’s state-run kyushoku system combines flavour with fresh ingredients and high nutritional value at low cost (theguardian.com)

Companies started Friday to offer employment seminars for third-year university students due to graduate in spring 2020, marking the opening of the last job-hunting season under the rules set by Japan’s biggest business lobby. (Japan Times)

Hokkaido Prefectural Police have arrested the coach of a girl’s basketball team in Sapporo for allegedly kissing a player at his residence last year, reports Nikkan Sports (tokyoreporter.com)

Maybe it’s something in the gazpacho or paella, as Spain just surpassed Italy to become the world’s healthiest country. (Japan Times)

Prominent U.S.-born Japanese literature scholar Donald Keene, who introduced a roster of talented writers from Japan to the world, died of cardiac arrest at a Tokyo hospital on Sunday. He was 96. (Japan Times)

Elin McCready, a transgender woman, has been married for 19 years, but registering her female identity and name has thrown her union into jeopardy because Japan doesn’t recognize gay marriage. (Japan Today)

A video of a first-year high school student in Niigata Prefecture being attacked by a group of schoolmates was posted online and went viral on social media, school officials said Tuesday. (Japan Times)

A Japanese court on Tuesday ordered two former classmates of a junior high school student — who killed himself in 2011 — to pay damages totaling about 37.5 million yen, acknowledging that their bullying led to his death. (Japan Today)

The cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday approved a bill to revise the enforcement of the civil law to enable the handover of a child to a parent who is awarded custody even if the other parent refuses to abide by a court order to transfer guardianship. (Japan Today)

Police in Koga, Ibaraki Prefecture, said Saturday they have arrested a 35-year-old woman on suspicion of abusing her six-year-old daughter by hitting her with a futon beater. (Japan Today)