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Welfare ministry official acquitted in postal abuse case

OSAKA, Japan, Aug. 24 Kyodo - Atsuko Muraki (L), former director general of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau, holds a press conference in Osaka on Sept. 10, 2010, with her lawyer Junichiro Hironaka after the Osaka District Court acquitted her of instructing a subordinate to fabricate and issue an official document for an organization in an attempt to abuse a mail discount system for people with disabilities.(Kyodo)

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Diet summons key figure in HIV scandal

TOKYO, Japan, Aug. 24 Kyodo - Takeshi Abe, former head of the Health and Welfare Ministry's AIDS study team and former vice president of Teikyo University, raises his hand to testify as unsworn witness at a House of Representatives committee session in Tokyo in April 1996 over his connection with HIV infections through tainted blood products in the early 1980s. An expert on hemophilia treatment, Abe is regarded as the key figure who influenced a ministry decision to continue the use of unheated blood products in 1984.(Kyodo)

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Seized cannabis in Tokyo

Photo taken in Tokyo on Aug. 14, 2025, shows approximately 1 ton of cannabis confiscated by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's Narcotics Control Department, marking Japan's largest-ever single-raid illegal drug haul.

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Timee president

TOKYO, Japan, July 31 Kyodo - Ryo Ogawa, president of Timee Inc., a Tokyo-based company providing a side job matching service, speaks during a press conference at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in Tokyo on Dec. 6, 2024.(Kyodo)

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Gov't campaign for integrated My Number cards

Photo taken at a medical institution in Tokyo on Dec. 2, 2024, shows a health ministry poster recommending patients switch from existing health insurance cards to My Number identification cards incorporating their functions. Japan halted issuing new health insurance cards the same day under a campaign to encourage use of the integrated My Number cards.

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Japan health minister speaks over supplements scandal

Japanese health minister Keizo Takemi speaks to reporters at the ministry in Tokyo on July 23, 2024, over a health hazard scandal linked to Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co.'s red yeast rice dietary supplements.

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Japan health minister speaks over supplements scandal

Japanese health minister Keizo Takemi speaks to reporters at the ministry in Tokyo on July 23, 2024, over a health hazard scandal linked to Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co.'s red yeast rice dietary supplements.

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Japan health minister speaks over supplements scandal

Japanese health minister Keizo Takemi speaks to reporters at the ministry in Tokyo on July 23, 2024, over a health hazard scandal linked to Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co.'s red yeast rice dietary supplements.

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Japan's real wages down for 24th straight month

STORY: Japan's real wages down for 24th straight month SHOOTING TIME: May 4, 2024 DATELINE: May 10, 2024 LENGTH: 00:01:35 LOCATION: Tokyo CATEGORY: ECONOMY SHOTLIST: 1. various of street views in Tokyo STORYLINE: Japan's average monthly wages in inflation-adjusted terms logged the 24th straight month of decline in March, marking the longest period of continuous wage decline since comparable statistics began in 1991, official data showed on Thursday. Inflation-adjusted real wages, a barometer of consumer purchasing power, fell 2.5 percent from the same month last year, larger than the 1.8 percent fall in February, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Nominal monthly earnings, including base pay and overtime, rose 0.6 percent from a year ago to reach 301,193 yen (about 1,932.5 U.S. dollars). Regular pay including basic salary in March went up 1.7 percent year on year, while overtime pay, a gauge of business activity, went down 1.5 percent. Special payment including bonuses f

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Japan's real wages shrink for 23rd straight month

STORY: Japan's real wages shrink for 23rd straight month SHOOTING TIME: file DATELINE: April 9, 2024 LENGTH: 00:00:41 LOCATION: Tokyo CATEGORY: ECONOMY SHOTLIST: 1. various of street views in Tokyo 2. various of supermarkets in Tokyo 3. various of street views in Tokyo STORYLINE: Japan's average monthly wages in inflation-adjusted terms logged the 23rd straight month of decline in February as price increases continued to outpace nominal earnings growth, official data showed on Monday. Inflation-adjusted real wages, a barometer of consumer purchasing power, fell 1.3 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Nominal monthly earnings, including base pay and overtime, rose 1.8 percent from a year ago to reach 282,265 yen (about 1,859.8 U.S. dollars). Regular pay including basic salary in February went up 2.0 percent year on year, while overtime pay, a gauge of business activity, went down 1.0 percent. Meanwhile, the consumer price index exclu

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Japan's Kobayashi Pharma factory inspected amid supplement health scare

STORY: Japan's Kobayashi Pharma factory inspected amid supplement health scare SHOOTING TIME: March 29, 2024 DATELINE: March 31, 2024 LENGTH: 00:01:28 LOCATION: Tokyo CATEGORY: HEALTH SHOTLIST: 1. various of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's headquarters in the city of Osaka 2. various of the recalled three products containing Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's beni-koji 3. various of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's products in Japan's drugstores STORYLINE: Japan's health ministry and local authorities on Saturday inspected the Osaka factory of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical following reports of deaths and hospitalizations possibly linked to its dietary supplements containing red yeast rice, known as "beni-koji." The factory in western Japan, which was making the ingredients of the product named Beni-koji Choleste Help, a type of granules advertised with the effect of lowering LDL cholesterol levels, shut down in December. However, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Osaka city government decided to carry out

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Authorities search Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's Osaka factory

Japanese health ministry officials search a Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co. factory in Osaka, western Japan, on March 30, 2024, following reports of deaths and hospitalizations possibly linked to its red yeast rice dietary supplements.

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Authorities search Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's Osaka factory

Japanese health ministry officials search a Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co. factory in Osaka, western Japan, on March 30, 2024, following reports of deaths and hospitalizations possibly linked to its red yeast rice dietary supplements.

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Authorities search Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's Osaka factory

Japanese health ministry officials search a Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co. factory in Osaka, western Japan, on March 30, 2024, following reports of deaths and hospitalizations possibly linked to its red yeast rice dietary supplements.

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2 die, 100 hospitalized after consuming Japan drugmaker's supplements

OSAKA,Japan, March 27 Kyodo - Two people are believed to have died and over 100 hospitalized after consuming red yeast rice dietary supplements from Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., the Japanese drugmaker and the health ministry said Tuesday, amid swelling safety concerns over the products.(Kyodo)

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Japan formally decides to downgrade COVID-19 to flu level on May 8

A Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry panel convenes a meeting in Tokyo on April 27, 2023, where it found no issues with the government's plan to downgrade the legal status of the novel coronavirus to a level on par with seasonal influenza on May 8.

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Emergency medical supplies delivered to Laos under ASEAN+3 framework

STORY: Emergency medical supplies delivered to Laos under ASEAN+3 framework DATELINE: Aug. 13, 2023 LENGTH: 00:00:49 LOCATION: Vientiane CATEGORY: POLITICS SHOTLIST: 1. various of the handover ceremony STORYLINE: A handover ceremony of emergency medical supplies under ASEAN plus China, Japan and South Korea (ASEAN+3) framework between China and Laos, was held in Lao capital Vientiane on Friday. Deputy Minister of the Lao Ministry of Health Phaivanh Keopaseuth, charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Laos Wang Chang, and representatives from China and Laos attended the ceremony. Speaking at the ceremony, Wang Chang said the handover of medical supplies from China to Laos is an important measure to implement the strategic consensus reached by the top leaders of the two parties and countries. This is the first practice of the ASEAN Plus Three emergency medical supplies reserve center and a new starting point for regional health cooperation. Wang said that China is willing to continue to work with neig

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LAOS-VIENTIANE-CHINA-ASEAN+3 FRAMEWORK-EMERGENCY MEDICAL SUPPLIES

(230812) -- VIENTIANE, Aug. 12, 2023 (Xinhua) -- Wang Chang (R), charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Laos, and Deputy Minister of the Lao Ministry of Health Phaivanh Keopaseuth attend a handover ceremony of emergency medical supplies under ASEAN plus China, Japan and South Korea (ASEAN+3) framework between China and Laos, in Vientiane, Laos, Aug. 11, 2023. (Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua)

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Japan's fertility rate drops for 7th straight year

STORY: Japan's fertility rate drops for 7th straight year DATELINE: June 3, 2023 LENGTH: 00:00:49 LOCATION: Tokyo CATEGORY: ECONOMY SHOTLIST: 1. various of children in Japan STORYLINE: Japan's fertility fell to a record low of 1.26 in 2022, declining for the seventh consecutive year, government data showed Friday. According to data released by the health ministry, the average number of children born per woman during her lifetime was 1.26 last year, down 0.05 points from the final figure for 2021 and on par with a record low marked in 2005. By prefecture, Tokyo had the lowest fertility rate at 1.04, followed by Miyagi at 1.09 and Hokkaido at 1.12, while Okinawa reported the highest fertility rate at 1.70, followed by 1.63 in Miyazaki and 1.6 in Tottori. The number of babies born in 2022 was also a record low at 770,747, down 40,875 from the year before, marking the first time the number dipped below 800,000. The latest statistics come a day after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida released a draft

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Japan's real wages slump most in nearly decade

STORY: Japan's real wages slump most in nearly decade DATELINE: May 24, 2023 LENGTH: 00:01:46 LOCATION: Tokyo CATEGORY: ECONOMY SHOTLIST: 1. various of street views in Tokyo STORYLINE: Japan's real wages in the fiscal year 2022 registered the steepest decline since 2014 as price increases outpaced the growth in nominal wages, official data showed Tuesday. In the fiscal year from April 2022 to March 2023, inflation-adjusted real wages fell by 1.8 percent from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. This marked the sharpest decline since a 2.9-percent drop in the fiscal year 2014 when an increase in consumption tax led to higher prices. Nominal monthly wages rose by 1.9 percent in the last fiscal year to an average of 326,308 yen, the fastest growth in over 30 years. However, inflation outpaced such gains by experiencing a climb of 3.8 percent due to surging prices in food, electricity, and gas. During the period, regular salary, including base pay, rose 1.1 percent, wh

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Japan's real wages drop for 12th straight month in March

STORY: Japan's real wages drop for 12th straight month in March DATELINE: May 9, 2023 LENGTH: 00:00:51 LOCATION: Tokyo CATEGORY: ECONOMY SHOTLIST: 1. various of street views of Tokyo STORYLINE: Real wages in Japan declined for a 12th straight month in March from a year earlier, leading to households spending less as a result of rising inflation, the government said in a report on Tuesday. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, nominal wages including base and overtime pay rose 0.8 percent to an average of 291,081 yen (2,100 U.S. dollars). The 0.8 percent increase in yen terms marks the 15th consecutive month of increase, although the monthly rise has remained below the 1 percent threshold for a third straight month, the data showed. The government said in a separate report Tuesday that household spending decreased in March from a year earlier. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said household spending in the reporting period fell 1.9 percent from a year ear

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Japan formally decides to downgrade COVID-19 to flu level on May 8

A Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry panel convenes a meeting in Tokyo on April 27, 2023, where it found no issues with the government's plan to downgrade the legal status of the novel coronavirus to a level on par with seasonal influenza on May 8.

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Excess deaths double in Japan in 2022

STORY: Excess deaths double in Japan in 2022 DATELINE: April 7, 2023 LENGTH: 00:01:19 LOCATION: Tokyo CATEGORY: HEALTH SHOTLIST: 1. various of street view of Tokyo and COVID-related footage STORYLINE: Japan saw excess deaths of up to 113,000 in 2022, more than double the year-earlier figure, according to newly released health ministry statistics, underscoring the possibility that COVID-19, directly and indirectly, contributed to the increase in excess mortality. The estimates were compiled by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), an institution under the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. According to the NIID, the number of excess deaths, defined as the difference between the observed numbers of deaths in a certain period and the expected numbers of deaths in the same period, was between 47,330 and 113,399 in 2022, compared with 11,475 to 50,495 in 2021. Takaji Wakita, director-general of the NIID and chair of the health ministry's advisory panel, told reporters Wednesday t

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Japan's unemployment rate increases 2.6 pct in February

STORY: Japan's unemployment rate increases 2.6 pct in February DATELINE: March 31, 2023 LENGTH: 00:01:03 LOCATION: Tokyo CATEGORY: ECONOMY SHOTLIST: 1. various of street views in Tokyo STORYLINE: Japan's unemployment rate increased in February from a month earlier, the government said in a report on Friday. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the jobless rate rose by 2.6 percent in February from 2.4 percent in January. Separately, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said the job availability ratio dropped 0.01 points to 1.34. This equates to there being 134 job openings for every 100 people seeking work. Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Tokyo. (XHTV)

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Japan to downgrade COVID-19

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare holds a meeting of medical experts in Tokyo on Jan. 27, 2023, as the government mulls reclassifying the novel coronavirus to put it in the same category as common infectious diseases such as seasonal influenza.

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Japan to downgrade COVID-19

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare holds a meeting of medical experts in Tokyo on Jan. 27, 2023, as the government mulls reclassifying the novel coronavirus to put it in the same category as common infectious diseases such as seasonal influenza.

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Japan to downgrade COVID-19

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare holds a meeting of medical experts in Tokyo on Jan. 27, 2023, as the government mulls reclassifying the novel coronavirus to put it in the same category as common infectious diseases such as seasonal influenza.

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Interview with career female bureaucrat

TOKYO, Japan - Noriko Kawamura, deputy chief of the Equal Employment Policy Division at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, speaks during an interview in Tokyo, Japan, on June 11, 2014.

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Japan to export beef to Canada for first time

MAEBASHI, Japan - Japan will begin exporting beef to Canada next week for the first time, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare officials said Aug. 8. Photo shows a ceremony held at a meat processing center in the town of Tamamura, Gunma Prefecture, to mark the first shipment of Japanese beef to Canada. The beef will be shipped by air from Narita airport Aug. 13.

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Tokyo man in 30s being tested for possible Ebola infection

TOKYO, Japan - Kensuke Nakajima, a senior health ministry official, announces at a press conference in Tokyo, Japan, on Dec. 29, 2014, that a man in his 30s in the capital is being tested for possible Ebola infection after he developed a fever in the early morning on the same day, following his return to Japan from Sierra Leone earlier in December.

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Tokyo man in 30s being tested for possible Ebola infection

TOKYO, Japan - Kensuke Nakajima, a senior health ministry official, announces at a press conference in Tokyo, Japan, on Dec. 29, 2014, that a man in his 30s in the capital is being tested for possible Ebola infection after he developed a fever in the early morning on the same day, following his return to Japan from Sierra Leone earlier in December.

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Kids play in nursery room opened at health ministry

TOKYO, Japan - Small children play in a nursery room opened at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in Tokyo on Dec. 1, 2014. It is the third nursery opened at Japanese ministries.

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Man who traveled from W. Africa tests negative for Ebola

TOKYO, Japan - Photo taken Oct. 28, 2014, shows the National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, to which a man, who traveled from West Africa and showed elevated body temperature upon arrival at Tokyo's Haneda airport, was admitted the previous day. The Canadian journalist tested negative for the Ebola virus but will remain hospitalized and under observation for a few more days, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

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MSDF repatriate remains of Japanese war dead from Pacific

TOKYO, Japan - The Maritime Self-Defense Force hands over the remains of 137 Japanese war dead repatriated from the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific to officials from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare upon the MSDF training vessel Kashima's arrival at Harumi Pier in Tokyo on Oct. 24, 2014. It was the first time an MSDF vessel has transported the remains of Japanese war dead.

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Data on U.S. H-bomb test show fishermen's radiation levels

TOKYO, Japan - Documents related to the 1954 U.S. hydrogen bomb test at the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, released by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on Sept. 19, 2014, include the levels of radiation exposure suffered by crew members of fishing boats operating near the atoll.

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Mental support teams sent to landslide-hit Hiroshima

OKAYAMA, Japan - Mayumi Saeki (R), a Disaster Psychiatric Assistance Team member dispatched by the health ministry, talks with another member on Aug. 24, 2014, on ways to give health support to mentally distressed people affected by the recent massive landslides that hit Hiroshima, western Japan.

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Yuji Kodama, leprosy activist, dies at 82

TOKYO, Japan - File photo taken in June 2013 shows Yuji Kodama, a prominent fighter of discrimination against former leprosy patients, in a wheelchair in front of the health ministry in Tokyo. On May 11, 2014, Kodama died of lung cancer at a sanatorium in Kusatsu, Gunma Prefecture. He was 82.

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Kakuryu, Sakana-kun join carp streamer flying ceremony

TOKYO, Japan - New yokozuna Kakuryu (2nd from L in the top row) and television personality Sakana-kun (R in the same row), along with nursery school students, pose for photos on April 21, 2014, in a carp streamer flying ceremony held at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

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Foreign caregiver in Japan

YOKOHAMA, Japan - Ahmad Nurdiansyah, 28, an Indonesian caregiver, works at a nursing home for the elderly in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on March 18, 2014. Seventy-eight applicants from Indonesia and the Philippines, including Nurdiansyah, passed the fiscal 2013 national examination qualifying them to work as caregivers in Japan, the health ministry said March 27.

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Novartis Pharma accused over drug ads

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry officials hold a press conference at the ministry in Tokyo on Jan. 9, 2014, after filing a criminal complaint with prosecutors against Novartis Pharma K.K. over alleged exaggerated advertising for a blood pressure-lowering drug.

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Online sales of over-the-counter drugs

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura holds a press conference at the ministry in Tokyo on Nov. 6, 2013. The government said the same day that online sales of drugs moving from prescription to over-the-counter status will be banned for three years from the point of such movement in principle under new rules that could take effect next spring.

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Novartis division head Epstein

TOKYO, Japan - David Epstein (L), division head at Novartis AG, the Swiss-based pharmaceutical giant, holds talks with Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura (R) at the ministry in Tokyo on Sept. 26, 2013. Tamura summoned Epstein and sharply criticized the firm for triggering a scandal involving Novartis Pharma K.K., the Japanese subsidiary of Novartis AG. The unit allegedly engaged in deceptive advertizing for the blood pressure-lowering drug Diovan by citing a study based on manipulated clinical data.

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Novartis division head Epstein

TOKYO, Japan - David Epstein, division head at Novartis AG, the Swiss-based pharmaceutical giant, speaks with reporters after holding talks with Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura at the ministry in Tokyo on Sept. 26, 2013. Tamura summoned Epstein and sharply criticized the firm for triggering a scandal involving Novartis Pharma K.K., the Japanese subsidiary of Novartis AG. The unit allegedly engaged in deceptive advertizing for the blood pressure-lowering drug Diovan by citing a study based on manipulated clinical data.

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Clinical research using iPS cells approved

TOKYO, Japan - Members of a health ministry panel hold a meeting in Tokyo on June 26, 2013, on whether to approve the world's first clinical research using human induced pluripotent stem cells, known as iPS cells, which can grow into any type of human tissue. The panel approved a clinical research plan by the Riken governmental scientific research institute and the Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation to use iPS cells for regenerating retinas.

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Japan's 2nd ever woman vice minister

TOKYO, Japan - Photo shows Atsuko Muraki, director general of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's Social Welfare and War Victims' Relief Bureau. The government plans to name Muraki as vice minister of the ministry to become Japan's second ever woman vice minister, reflecting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to appoint women to key posts, government sources said June 14, 2013.

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Flu countermeasures

NARITA, Japan - Photo shows quarantine officers monitoring arriving passengers at Narita airport, the main international gateway to Tokyo, on April 8, 2013. A Japanese health ministry panel compiled countermeasures on April 24, 2013, against the H7N9 strain of bird flu in the face of the rapid spread of the virus in China.

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Flu countermeasures

NARITA, Japan - Photo shows a thermographic monitor to detect fever in arriving passengers at Narita airport, the main international gateway to Tokyo, on April 8, 2013. A Japanese health ministry panel compiled countermeasures on April 24, 2013, against the H7N9 strain of bird flu in the face of the rapid spread of the virus in China.

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Firm raided over workers' bile duct cancer

OSAKA, Japan - Investigators from the Osaka Labor Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare leave printing firm Sanyo-CYP Co. in Osaka on April 2, 2013, after confiscating documents during a search on suspicion that the company neglected its duty to take proper care of its workers' health. Seventeen workers suffered from bile duct cancer, eight of whom have died.

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Firm raided over workers' bile duct cancer

OSAKA, Japan - Investigators from the Osaka Labor Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare enter printing firm Sanyo-CYP Co. in Osaka on April 2, 2013, to search the office on suspicion the company neglected its duty to take proper care of its workers' health. Seventeen of them suffered from bile duct cancer, eight of whom died.

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Acquitted Muraki returns to welfare ministry

TOKYO, Japan - Atsuko Muraki, senior official at the Cabinet Office, answers reporters' questions after being appointed head of the Social Welfare and War Victims' Relief Bureau of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, at the ministry in Tokyo on Sept. 10, 2012. Muraki was acquitted in 2010 in a fraud case involving abuse of a postal discount system while working at the welfare ministry.