(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Last Week in Japanese News 04/16/2023-04/22/2023 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-23 Hello, this is RWPOINTWOMAN and this is Last Week in Japanese News. Here is where I translate Japanese articles about Japan from the Easy section of the Easy Japanese news reader app into English. On with the show! April 16, 2023: Expo 2025 commemorative silver coin design announced. (Asahi) The design for the commemorative silver coin for Expo 2025 has been announced. The Expo 2025 commemorative silver is a ¥1,000 silver coin with a diameter of 4 cm and 50,000 will be minted. The logo was applied to the underside using a special technique that causes it to have a rainbow-colored sheen when held at an angle. At the announced venue for Expo 2025, there will be a mascot named MYAKU-MYAKU for the purpose of PR. The selling price is ¥13,800 and the mint will receive the application on August 8. The Ministry of Finance plans to issue 4 kinds of commemorative coin twice after Expo 2025. April 17, 2023: Bomb-like object thrown at Prime Minister Kishida. (NHK) Prime Minister Kishida went to the harbor of Wakayama to give a speech in support of candidates running for office in the upcoming election. When Prime Minister Kishida attempted to start his speech, a bomb-like object was thrown at him. Prime Minister Kishida was unharmed. The police apprehended a 24-year-old suspect. There were 2 pipe bomb-like devices. It appears that the suspect had 1 of them when apprehended. The other was found about 40 m away near a warehouse. The police searched the suspect's home on April 16 and found objects such as powder resembling gunpowder, metal pipes, and tools. The police believe that the suspect alone assembled the bombs and investigated the PC and smartphone seized. According to the police, the suspect had said nothing. Koinobori replaced with maguronobori in Oma, Aomori Prefecture. (NHK) In Japan, there is a holiday for children on May 5 and koinobori—windsocks made to look like koi are hung. Every year in Oma, Aomori Prefecture, where fishing for tuna is popular, maguronobori, which are decorated to look like tuna instead of koi, are hung instead at places like preschools and kindergartens. On April 13, about 60 people gathered at a preschool in town for the maguronobori. The children hoisted up 4 maguronobori while singing the traditional maguronobori song. The large maguronobori are 4 m long and have rounder bellies than koinobori. When a lot of fish are caught, the maguronobori are decorated in beautiful colors like a flag to celebrate. The children cheerfully raised up their voices upon seeing the maguronobori swimming vigorously in the blue sky. And then they posed for pictures with Oma's official mascot. April 18, 2023: English pronunciation of National Achievement Test to be administered online for 1st time. (NHK) The National Achievement Test is a test administered by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to students ranging from the 6th year of elementary school to the 3rd year of middle school. They have been performed since 2007 in order to assess academic skills and improve instruction. About 2 million students took the test this year. For elementary schoolers, it is a test of grasp of Japanese and arithmetic and for middle schoolers it is a test of grasp of Japanese, arithmetic, and English. The English portion also contains a test of speaking proficiency. For the past 4 years, this has meant reciting answers into a USB drive using a desktop. This year, this will be done online using a tablet for the 1st time. The speaking proficiency portion will be given until April 26. MEXT intends to begin doing the rest of the test online with middle schoolers around 2025. April 19, 2023: March new high-rise prices up by factor of 2.7 in 23 Tokyo wards. (NHK) The Real Estate Economic Institute investigated the prices of new high- and mid-rise apartments out up for sale in March in the Tokyo metropolitan area, Kanagawa Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. In the Tokyo metropolitan area, such apartments that were near train stations such as that for the Yamanote Line were expensive, ranging from above ¥200 million to above ¥400 million. Because of this, the average cost of a mid- to high-rise apartment in Tokyo's 23 special wards is ¥217.5 million, an increase by a factor of 2.7 versus March of last year. In Kanagawa Prefecture, the average is up 5.4% versus March of last year and 5.5% for Chiba Prefecture versus March of the previous year. They are down by an average of 19.4% in Saitama Prefecture. The average for the Tokyo metropolitan area and the 3 prefectures was ¥143.6 million. The company that the study said, "We think that mid- to high-rise apartments will stay expensive for a while because it is getting more expensive to build them." That's all for now. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/23/2164362/-Last-Week-in-Japanese-News-04-16-2023-04-22-2023 Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/