Transcript

Hello and welcome to Japan Daily News. Here are today’s headlines.

First up, a survey conducted in 13 prefectures across Japan has revealed that only 4% of cyclists wear helmets despite it being made an effort obligation from this month. This low rate of helmet use raises concerns for the safety of cyclists on Japan’s roads.

Next, the bank of Japan’s “tankan” survey has shown that the labor shortage among Japanese companies is becoming more acute and the focus is now on whether wage increases will continue. With uncertainty surrounding the global economy and the future of the Japanese economy, it remains to be seen if wage increases will be sustainable

In light of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the Nippon Foundation has launched a new initiative to support Ukrainian refugees in finding employment in Japan. The program will help refugees find work that matches their skills and interests.

The newly established Children and Family Agency will be the central command for child policy in Japan. The agency’s main challenge is to secure stable financial resources for the government’s different dimension approach to addressing the declining birth rate. The agency’s success in leading effective initiatives will be closely watched.

In Hokkaido’s Otaru town, the harvest of farmed scallop larvae has begun. This is good news for seafood lovers as it signals the start of the season for fresh Hokkaido scallops.

In other news, the vice president of a company that manages airport facilities has resigned after it was discovered that he had requested his own appointment. During a board meeting two years ago, the former Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism officials cited personal reasons for his resignation.

NTT East and NTT West are investigating the cause of a communication outage that affected more than 100 of their communication devices simultaneously. The incident could be classified as a serious accident under Japanese law, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Finally, the average temperature in major city cities across Japan in March was the highest on record since the start of statistical data collection in 1946. The warm weather was attributed to a lack of cold air from the continent and the influx of warm air from the south.

That’s all for today’s Japan Daily News. Thank you for listening and we’ll be back tomorrow with more headlines.