For time immemorial, or at least the past six years, Toyota and Lexus have sat at the top of Consumer Reports' annual survey of vehicle reliability. It was almost as much a given as blue skies and taxes. Not any more. Mazda has dethroned them both, ascending to the No. 1 spot for the first time.

According to the report, Mazda nabbed the top spot with powertrains and that used durable (and more fun) six-speed automatic transmissions instead of CVTs, which tend to be more fragile. Mazda also didn't rely on overly fancy infotainment systems, instead bucking industry trends with cockpits that discourage screen use during driving and encourage buttons and dials that can be handled without taking your eyes off the road. The most reliable Mazda was the MX-5 with a score of 98 out of 100, followed by the CX-30, CX-3, and CX-5, all scoring 85 or better.

Japan has ranked 20th out of 38 in a UNICEF report on the well-being of children in the world's richest countries.

In the report released on Thursday, UNICEF evaluated the well-being of children of high income countries that are members of the OECD or the EU. The result was based on three dimensions: mental well-being, physical health and skills for life.

The government of Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward has started classifying restaurants and bars in terms of their preventive measures against the coronavirus.

The ward provides two types of stickers, Class I or Class II, for businesses to display and lists their names on its website.

An international survey shows female representation in national parliaments around the world has almost doubled in the past 25 years. But Japan ranked low despite an increase in the proportion of female lawmakers.

The Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union released the results of its survey of the number of women in the lower or single houses of parliament around the world. The publication comes ahead of International Women's Day, on March 8.