May 5 is Children's Day in Japan. But the number of children in the country has declined for 38 straight years since 1982, and is now at an all-time-low.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs says the number of children under 15 years old totaled 15.33 million as of April 1 -- 7.85 million boys and 7.48 million girls.
Japan's government has approved revisions to its child abuse prevention law following a series of high-profile abuse cases in which victims have died.
The draft bill, approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday, bans parents from physically punishing children.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has instructed cabinet ministers to use all available means to eradicate child abuse.
Abe told a meeting of relevant ministers on Tuesday that reports of child abuse are rising every year.
Cases of child abuse and the number of abused children both hit record highs in Japan last year.
The National Police Agency says there were 1,380 cases of child abuse nationwide last year involving arrests or questioning. The number of victims under 18 totaled 1,394.
A Japanese non-profit organization says it has received twice the usual number of email inquiries in relation to child abuse since police said domestic abuse is suspected in the death of a girl in Chiba Prefecture.
Child Abuse Prevention Network Aichi, or CAPNA, has been receiving an average of more than seven inquiries a day since police arrested the father of 10-year-old Mia Kurihara last month.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ordered emergency checks within a month into cases of suspected child abuse to confirm children's safety.
In a meeting of relevant Cabinet ministers on Friday, Abe ordered checks into all cases of possible abuse currently being handled by child welfare centers.
The number of criminal offenses in Japan has fallen to a new low, but child abuse and domestic violence are at record highs.
The National Police Agency said on Thursday that it confirmed more than 817,000 criminal offenses last year -- a decline of 10.7 percent. The figure has fallen for the 16th year in a row, and is the lowest since record-keeping began in 1946.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he will call a meeting of relevant cabinet ministers on Friday over the death of a ten-year-old girl who was apparently abused by her parents.
The girl was found dead at her home near Tokyo in January. Police have arrested her parents on suspicion of inflicting injuries.
More details have emerged on the death of a ten-year-old girl due to suspected abuse by her parents.
Mia Kurihara was found dead at her home in Noda City, near Tokyo, in late January. Police have arrested her parents on suspicion of inflicting injuries.
Officials at a child welfare center near Tokyo say they do not know when a 10-year-old girl who was temporarily in their care returned to her parents' home where she was fatally abused.
Mia Kurihara was found dead at her home in Noda City, Chiba Prefecture, in late January. Her parents have been arrested on suspicion of inflicting injuries.
The prefecture's child welfare center has been criticized for its handling of the case.
The father of a ten-year-old girl who died after suspected domestic violence had submitted to a child welfare center a letter in which the daughter said she had lied about being abused by her father.
Mia Kurihara was found dead at her home in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, last month. Police arrested her parents on suspicion of inflicting injuries that led to Mia's death.
It's been reported that former NMB48 member Terui Honoka gave birth to her first child on January 17th.
Terui was a fourth generation member of NMB48 and was active from 2012 to 2015. Last July, she announced that she was four months pregnant, and on January 18th, she revealed on Instagram, "A healthy 3,100 gram (6 lb 13 oz) baby boy was born."
On December 29, singer AI (35) updated her Instagram account announcing the birth of her second child.
She wrote, "My baby was born without any problems. I am so thankful. It's a baby boy. Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!"
A court in Osaka has sentenced a man to death for the murders of a 13-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy.
48-year-old Koji Yamada was accused of suffocating the children from Neyagawa City in August 2015.