Yuriko, Princess Mikasa was a member of the Imperial House of Japan as the wife of Takahito, Prince Mikasa, the fourth son of Emperor Taishō and Empress Teimei. The Princess was the last surviving paternal great-aunt by marriage of Emperor Naruhito and, before her death, was the oldest member of the imperial family, and the final living member who was born in the Taishō era.
Yūta Hiraoka is a Japanese actor who belongs to the talent agency Amuse, Inc. He gained recognition in 2004 film Swing Girls and won "Newcomer of the Year" Award at 28th Japan Academy Prize. Then he appeared in several dramas and films, including Water Boys 2005 Summer, Tokyo Friends: The Movie (2006), Daisuki!! (2008), Kiina (2009), NECK (2010), The Reason I Can't Find My Love (2011), ATARU (2012), Ando ♡ Roid (2013), Hanasaki Mai Speaks Out (2014), Attack on Titan: Counter Rockets (2015), Specialist (2016), Tokyo Tarareba Girls (2017) and best known for the role of "Mikio Enokido" in 2007 TV drama series Operation Love.
Takumi Saitoh is a Japanese actor and filmmaker. He directs films under his birthname, Takumi Saito, spelled differently in Kanji but pronounced the same.
Sadao Abe is a Japanese actor, stage actor and musician from Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture. He started his acting career after joining a theater company/talent agency, Otona Keikaku, in around 1992 and gained his popularity after the drama series Team Medical Dragon and as being the lead singer of the Japanese comedy rock band Group Tamashii. His stage name is a pun on notorious geisha Sada Abe.
Ling Ling was a male Chinese-born giant panda who resided at the Ueno Zoo, the largest zoo in Tokyo, Japan. At the time of his death at the age of 22, Ling Ling was the only giant panda at the Ueno Zoo and the oldest panda in Japan. He served as an important symbol of the Ueno Zoo and of friendship between Japan and China. Ling Ling, who was given to Japan in 1992, was the only giant panda in the country who was directly owned by Japan. There are eight other giant pandas in Japan as of April 2008, but they are all on loan to Japan from China. Despite being a male panda, Ling Ling's name meant "darling little girl" in Chinese.
The 2009 Japan flu pandemic was an outbreak of the H1N1 and the Influenza A viruses across Japan. The World Health Organization raised the pandemic alert for influenza to level 4 in April 2009 following a worldwide outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain. The first Japanese infections of H1N1 and Influenza A were both recorded early in May 2009. In August 2009, the government estimated that the virus strains had infected about 760,000 people. At the height of the pandemic in October 2009, it was estimated that 20% of the Japanese population had been infected and that there were on average more than 20 infected people in each Japanese medical facility. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare reported 198 Deaths as of March 30, 2010. Japan put several measures in place to attempt to control the spread of infection including quarantining air travellers entering Japan who were suspected of having the virus and closing schools in areas of Japan with high numbers of infection. The pandemic ended in August 2010 when the World Health Organization announced that worldwide influenza infection number were back to the seasonal average before the outbreak occurred.
Nanase Nishino is a Japanese actress, model, television host, and former first generation member of Japanese idol girl group Nogizaka46. Her lead roles in TV and film have included Asahi Tōjima in Asahinagu and Ai Amano in Denei Shojo: Video Girl Ai 2018. She co-hosts the Fuji TV variety show Lion no Goo Touch.
Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game development and localization company specializing in role-playing video games, visual novels and adventure games. The company was founded in 1984 as Chunsoft Co., Ltd. and merged with Spike in 2012. It is owned by Dwango.
Kane Tanaka was a Japanese supercentenarian who, until her death at the age of 119 years, 107 days, was the world's oldest verified living person, following the death of Chiyo Miyako on 22 July 2018. She is the oldest verified Japanese person and the second-oldest verified person ever, after Jeanne Calment.
Kozo Iizuka was a Japanese engineer who served as Director of the AIST and President of the International Measurement Confederation and Human Frontier Science Program among other positions. On April 19, 2019, while driving his car, he killed a woman and her child, who were on a bicycle, and injured nine pedestrians in what is called the Higashi-Ikebukuro runaway car crash. Following the crash, special treatment of him by the police, legal system and media, due to his privileged position in society, drew much attention and criticism.
Tomokaze Sōdai, born December 2, 1994, as Yūta Minami is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kawasaki, Kanagawa. He debuted in sumo wrestling in May 2017 and made his makuuchi debut in March 2019. His highest rank has been maegashira 3. Originally a member of Oguruma stable, he moved to Nishonoseki stable in 2022. In June 2024 he moved to the newly-established Nakamura stable. He has one special prize and two kinboshi for defeating a yokozuna.
Masaki Mimori is a Japanese professional baseball Infielder for the Yokohama DeNA Baystars of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
COVID-19 vaccination in Japan started later than in most other major economies. The country has frequently been regarded as "slow" in its vaccination efforts.
Patient Chart Prayer (祈りのカルテ) is a Japanese medical mystery novel by Mikito Chinen. It is a series of short stories consisting of five episodes. It was published by Kadokawa corporation on 29 March 2018, followed by a paperback edition by Kadokawa corporation on 25 February 2021.
Riro was a male sea otter at Marine World Uminonakamichi. He was the last male sea otter at a Japanese aquarium, and one of the last three remaining sea otters of any gender in Japanese aquaria.
