Hello and welcome to today’s news from Japan Daily News on October 26th, 2023. In our first news story, three men aged 27 to 88 have gone missing while mushroom picking in the mountains of Ina, Nagano Prefecture. They went out in the morning on the 25th and have not returned home, leading the police to suspect a possible accident and conducting search operations.

Moving on to our next story, four construction workers have been arrested on suspicion of theft in relation to the dismantling of buildings in the ‘difficult-to-return zone’ due to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture. The stolen materials, including iron that had not been tested for radiation levels, were sold to a company. The police arrested the four workers who had been working at the site as suspects of theft.

In other news, the number of people working in businesses within Narita Airport has decreased by approximately 7,000 since six years ago, according to a survey conducted in February this year. The decrease is attributed to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on air travel demand. As the aviation demand recovers and airport expansion is anticipated in the future, securing human resources has become a challenge.

Next, we turn to a tragic accident that occurred in Kishiwada, Osaka. In February of this year, five workers were injured or killed when metal plates weighing 2 tons each fell during crane operations at a factory. It has been revealed through interviews with investigative sources that the two responsible individuals at the scene failed to take measures to prevent the plates from falling and continued working without ensuring safety measures. The police plan to send the three responsible individuals for indictment on charges of negligence resulting in death or injury in relation to their failure to manage safety.

Shifting gears, the Supreme Court has ruled that the requirement for individuals with gender dysphoria to undergo surgery to remove reproductive functions in order to change their registered gender violates the constitution. The decision raises questions about the future discussions on revising the law.

In environmental news, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has added additional survey points and will conduct groundwater investigations to examine the detailed situation of areas exceeding the interim target values for chemicals, including PFAS, which have been identified as hazardous substances.

Lastly, the National Center for Child Health and Development aims to submit an approval application to the government within this fiscal year for ES liver cell transplantation, a treatment that uses embryonic stem cells to create liver cells that can transform into various cells in the body. The effectiveness and safety of the treatment have been confirmed through clinical trials. If approved, it will be the first domestically approved treatment using ES cells.

That concludes today’s news from Japan Daily News. Thank you for listening. And now for the weather. Today in Tokyo, the weather will be mostly sunny with a high of 22°C and a low of 17°C. Visit JapanDailyNews.com for the news, yen exchange rates, and a daily Japanese proverb.