KYOTO — The Kyoto prefectural police discovered a body believed to be of a child in Nantan, Kyoto Prefecture, on Monday. The discovery was made during the search for Yuki Adachi, 11, according to investigative sources.

As I drove through the town of Kokonoe, Oita Prefecture, admiring the magnificent Kuju mountain range surrounding the area, a building spewing out thick white steam came into view. This was the Hatchobaru geothermal power plant, which boasts an output of about 110 megawatts, more than any other geothermal plant in Japan, which has an abundance of volcanic activity.

A man was arrested at his home in Anjo, Aichi Prefecture, on Monday morning after the bodies of a woman and a girl were found there by authorities.

Police said they received an emergency call at about 12:20 a.m. from a man who told them, “I killed my daughter and wife.”

Officers who rushed to the apartment discovered a woman in her 50s and a girl in her mid-teens lying unconscious in the apartment; both were later pronounced dead at the scene.

A 10-meter-wide sinkhole was found to have developed on a prefectural road in Kanazawa over the weekend.

A driver passing along the affected road made an emergency call to police at around 12:25 a.m. on Saturday, reporting, “the road collapsed and my tire burst.” Responders found that a hole about five meters deep had developed in the road, but no injuries were reported.

The Metropolitan Police Department has arrested a 46-year-old man on suspicion of sexually abusing a girl after luring her into his home while working as a driver taking children to and from a facility for children with disabilities.

The MPD announced the arrest on Monday.

The MPD said the facility is in Chiba Prefecture.

The man is suspected of having taken the girl, then 5 years old, to his apartment in Matsudo in the prefecture while transporting her on Feb. 22, 2024, abusing her, and recording the incident on his smartphone, according to the MPD

The number of Japanese babies born in Tokyo from January through November of 2025 rose 0.7% year-on-year to 77,375, and the total for the year is expected to surpass that for 2024. It will be the first time in 10 years that the number of Japanese births in Tokyo has increased compared to the previous year.

Gov. Yuriko Koike announced the finding at a regular press conference on Friday and added, “We also expect a significant increase in the number of marriages for the second consecutive year.” She touted the effectiveness of measures taken under her administration, saying, “The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has been working to provide seamless support so that people who wish to marry and have children can take those first steps with peace of mind.”

April 12 marks 30 years since the Japanese and U.S. governments reached an agreement on the full return to Japan of the land occupied by the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture.

The Justice Ministry released Friday approximate amounts for increased fees required for foreign nationals to obtain residence permits. For changes or renewals of residence status, the current fee of ¥6,000 would be raised to about ¥10,000 for periods of stay of three months or less, and to about ¥70,000 for a five-year period. The ministry also said it expects the current ¥10,000 fee for permanent residency permits to be raised to about ¥200,000.

Japan and South Korea have begun coordinating on a new framework for “two-plus-two” meetings of the top bureaucrats in their foreign and defense ministries, with plans to hold the first meeting in Seoul as soon as early May, according to sources close to the two governments.

The government is set to prohibit the creation of genome-edited babies by modifying the genetic information of embryos using genome-editing and other technologies, it has been learned.

Three parties, including the Liberal Democratic Party, called for the establishment of a drafting committee to produce draft provisions for revising the Constitution at a meeting of the House of Representatives Commission on the Constitution on Thursday.