Ministry to ban raw pork, 'liver sashimi' at restaurants

Government to subsidize robots to help caregivers with laborious elderly care

Amid a rapidly aging society and a shortage of caregivers, the government will soon be offering financial assistance for elderly nursing facilities to employ high-end care robots.

Energy drink caffeine overdose killed night shift worker, forensic expert says

A Kyushu man in his 20s who relied on prodigious quantities of energy drinks and pills to stay awake during his night shift job eventually died of a caffeine overdose, a pathologist said Dec. 21.

Still in pain, vaccinated schoolgirls warn of side effects from drugs

OSAKA--A 17-year-old girl who was vaccinated against cervical cancer is now praying for a cure to end the excruciating side effects from the government-recommended medication.

Hansen's patients call for on-site museums to pass down dark history

Alarmed by the rapid aging of former leprosy patients, national sanitariums around Japan are scurrying to preserve the history of Hansen's disease, which was once plagued by social stigma and ostracism.

National health care tops 40 trillion yen for 1st time

Japan's total annual expenditure on national health care in fiscal 2013 exceeded 40 trillion yen ($333 billion) for the first time, reflecting the growing ranks of elderly people and advances in medical technology.