April 3, Monday, 2023

1. A new Japanese agency in charge of implementing policies for children and families has begun full-scale operations. The Children and Families Agency was established with about 400 personnel on Saturday. An inauguration ceremony was held at its Tokyo office on Monday. 2. World-renowned Japanese musician and composer Sakamoto Ryuichi has died at the age of 71. He was a founding member of a trailblazing electronic music group and composed acclaimed film scores that won him an Oscar. Sakamoto co-founded the band Yellow Magic Orchestra, known as YMO, with Hosono Haruomi and Takahashi Yukihiro in 1978. The group pioneered the use of computers and electronic instruments such as synthesizers, establishing the genre called techno-pop.
3. Japanese health authorities have confirmed what appears to be Japan’s first death from an unexplained case of acute hepatitis that has reportedly been affecting children.