KUWANA, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 27, 2026--
Kuwana City, Mie Prefecture, is located just west of Nagoya, Japan's third-largest city. It boasts Japan's longest roller coaster and is famous for the noisiest festival in Japan, the Ishidori Festival. It also offers a wide variety of high-quality Japanese cuisine, including Hamaguri clams and long-established Wagyu beef brands renowned in Japan.
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Kuwana City is currently pursuing its vision of becoming “a city open to the world” through its unique initiative as an “English Friendly City” in Japan. Recently, it held multicultural coexistence events and English programs for elementary school students, receiving significant positive feedback not only from the children but also from their parents.
A World-travel Experiential English Program “KUWANA ENGLISH ADVENTURE”
In November 2025, to encourage children to become familiar with English, the city held an English experience event for elementary school students in collaboration with a company operating an English conversation school. Participants learned about world cultures while immersing themselves in English through activities like making American hamburgers out of paper, playing Italian boccia, and Finnish mölkky.
Family-friendly Event “GLOBAL FESTA 2026 in KUWANA HONPAKU”
GLOBAL FESTA is a family-friendly social event that both Japanese and International residents of the city can enjoy. The event, held for the second time, expanded both its venue and program compared to last year. Attracting many families, it featured a wide range of engaging activities, including multicultural true-or-false quiz, multilingual rock-paper-scissors train, and experiencing traditional attires.
The quiz rally, in which participants answered questions around the venue, offered sweets from around the world as prizes and drew a lively crowd. The event, rich in international flavor, also provided opportunities for interaction with international residents.
Kuwana’s Vision for the Future
Going forward, Kuwana City will continue to strengthen the following initiatives:
Through these initiatives, Kuwana City will work to build “a city chosen by people from around the world.”
Left: A World-travel Experiential English Program “KUWANA ENGLISH ADVENTURE”. Right: Family-friendly Event “GLOBAL FESTA 2026 in KUWANA HONPAKU”.
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro was discharged from a hospital in the capital on Friday to continue serving a 27-year sentence for a coup attempt at his residence in an upscale gated community.
The Supreme Court earlier in the week granted him the right of house imprisonment due to failing health. The measure could be revised within 90 days.
Bolsonaro left the hospital DF Star in Brasilia at around 10 a.m. local time and headed to the Jardim Botanico neighborhood, where he lived prior to his conviction with his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, and his 15-year-old daughter, Laura.
The 71-year-old was hospitalized on March 13 for pneumonia, one of several health issues he has faced since he was stabbed by a man in 2018 before being elected president. He was put in intensive care for days due to kidney and inflammatory problems.
Bolsonaro governed between 2019 and 2022 and narrowly lost his reelection bid to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The former right-wing leader was accused of plotting with top aides to stay in office by decree despite the election loss, and was convicted of charges including attempted coup and attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law. He has denied wrongdoing and called the case a political witchhunt.
The former president started serving his sentence in November in a 12-square-meter room at the federal police headquarters, which included a bed, a private bathroom, air conditioning, a TV set and a desk. In January, he was transferred to a 54-square-meter room with a 10-square-meter outside area that he could access at will at the Papuda penitentiary.
Bolsonaro remains popular in Brazil and one of his sons, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, is in a competitive position against Lula in polls ahead of October’s presidential election. The former president is ineligible and will not be allowed to take a public role in any campaign.
In his ruling, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes stressed that Bolsonaro’s transition to house arrest is conditional and that he could return to prison if he violates house imprisonment rules regardless of his medical condition.
Bolsonaro will wear an ankle monitor and is not allowed to communicate with anyone outside his home. He is not allowed to host visitors except for doctors, family members and his lawyers. Police will watch his house and protesters won’t be allowed to gather near it.
Law professor Marcelo Crespo of ESPM university in Sao Paulo said it is unusual for house imprisonment rulings like Bolsonaro’s to include a review after 90 days, but he said de Moraes was seeking “some middle ground by not granting house imprisonment for an undetermined period.” As recently as November, de Moraes deemed the former president to be a flight risk.
The 90-day review has drawn criticism from both sides of the political divide.
Bolsonaro’s family and allies, who consider de Moraes an adversary, have criticized the temporary nature of the house imprisonment. Detractors of the former president are also upset, saying he is receiving lenient treatment despite his long history of advocating for harsh penalties for convicts.
Bolsonaro’s shift to house arrest comes as de Moraes and his wife are entangled in a scandal involving the multibillion-dollar collapse of Banco Master, which was shut down in late 2025 by the Central Bank amid allegations of fraud involving businesspeople and politicians across the ideological spectrum.
De Moraes, who until recently was hailed as a hero by adversaries of the former president, has been under fire since January from both critics and allies of Bolsonaro over the justice’s ties to the bank, which have raised concerns over conflicts of interest. They include his wife’s former multimillion-dollar contract to provide legal services to the bank.
De Moraes has denied wrongdoing.
Political analyst Thomas Traumann, who has written books about Brazil’s political divisions, attributed de Moraes’ decision to grant Bolsonaro house imprisonment to political pressure over his links to the Banco Master scandal.
“If it were up to him alone, he wouldn’t let Bolsonaro go home,” Traumann said.
Traumann noted that Bolsonaro had health problems before going to prison, and that Brazil’s Supreme Court has always been close to politics. “De Moraes needed to show some good will,” he said.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
FILE - Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro, temporarily allowed out of house arrest for medical treatment, departs a hospital in Brasilia, Brazil, Sept. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)
