Local News

The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare released statistics for cases of child abuse nationwide in 2011. The figures for the seven Kyushu prefectures and three special ordinance cities show an overall decline of 2% from the previous year to 4,221 cases. The largest decline was 31% for Kagoshima Prefecture, and that percentage of decline was the largest nationwide. In contrast, the number of cases for Japan as a whole rose by 6% from the previous year, and have risen every year since 1990.