Two death row inmates are suing the Japanese government over same-day notifications of executions. Retaining capital punishment makes Japan, like the US, an outlier among developed nations, and the practice of not informing prisoners until the day of their hanging has been a particular target of criticism.

More schools in Japan are letting female students choose either uniforms with a skirt or with pants, while proposals for unisex uniforms are also being considered. Increased options are seen as having practical benefits, as well as accommodating non-gender-conforming students or those with body image issues.

In two cases, in 2017 and 2019, an engineer and a salesperson at top automaker Toyota took their own lives due to on-the-job pressure including so-called “power harassment” by superiors. The company’s failure to rein in abusive bosses points to wider issues with Japan’s workplace culture.

A government source said on Wednesday that Princess Mako and her boyfriend Kei Komuro plan to have a low-key wedding by the end of the year. She will likely decline a lump-sum payment that is usually given to royal women upon their departure from the household.

Japan’s Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that laws requiring married couples to have the same family name does not violate the Constitution, dismissing a challenge by three couples who wanted to keep their original names.

A driver of a bullet train temporarily left the cockpit to use the bathroom on Sunday while the train was running with about 160 passengers on board. He asked a conductor, who didn’t have a driver’s license, to man the train in his absence.

Tennis star Naomi Osaka expressed her rage over the recent racial attacks against Asian-Americans in the United States. They have become the targets of hate crimes since the start of the pandemic last year.

The Economist’s latest “glass-ceiling” index shows that Japan ranks second from the bottom among the world’s industrialized countries. As usual, Nordic countries including Sweden and Iceland take the top four spots.

Nearly half of all high schools in Tokyo ask students with hair that is wavy or not black to submit a document confirming that their hair is natural, according to the information the Japanese Communist Party obtained from the metropolitan board of education.

A recent survey showed that most Japanese companies plan to skip their year-end parties due to the spread of COVID-19. Annual dinners to look back on a passing year have long been a custom in Japan’s corporate culture.

US Open champion Naomi Osaka made the Time list of the 100 most influential people for the second straight year.  She walked to her matches in New York with seven different masks bearing the names of black victims of police violence in America.