The physical strength and athletic ability of elderly people in Japan has largely improved, while those of people in their 30s and 40s has mostly fallen, the Japan Sports Agency said in a survey report on Sunday.
According to the survey for fiscal 2017, the score hit a record high for men aged 70 or older and women aged 65 or older.
Men in their late 30s to the early 40s and women in their 30s and 40s saw their physical strength and athletic ability deteriorate.
Women in their 70s marked a record high of 36.03 points, up about 6.5 points from the results for fiscal 1998, the first year in which the current survey format was adopted.
People aged between 65 and 79 registered improvements in most tests, including standing on one leg when the eyes are open and sit-up. More than 60 pct of people aged 65 or older exercise once a week or more frequently.
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)
The father of a 10-year-old girl who died last month at their home near Tokyo forced her to write a letter stating he did not hit her so she would be returned home, a child welfare center said Tuesday, revealing more apparent missteps by authorities in protecting her life.
(Japan Today)
Tokyo’s Nakano Ward said Friday that it has decided to allow female students at all municipal junior high schools to pick pants for their uniform from April. (the-japan-news.com)
In a first for Japan, the city of Chiba held a ceremony Tuesday to issue certificates recognizing the partnerships of sexual minority and common-law couples. (Japan Today)
The hallmark of the Heisei Era has been peace. Yet the past three decades have been rattled by a quiet revolution in social norms, from a steady decline in the allure of marriage to a rise in the number of households with only one person. (Japan Times)
On January 15, a 16-year-old first-year student at Tokyo’s Metropolitan Machida Sogo High School got into a heated argument with a teacher in the school hallway. Prior to the argument, the student had been disciplined for wearing an earring to school, in violation of the dress code. (Japan Today)
More than half a million high-school students and graduates across Japan are putting their knowledge to the test at unified college and university entrance exams.
(NHK)