In March 2018, Tokyo police arrested 33-year-old Yudai Funato after his 5-year-old stepdaughter, Yua Funato, died from sepsis and pneumonia. Police accused Yua's mother Yuri for negligence and Funato of torture and child abuse. Yua's mother was convicted and received an 8-year prison sentence. The trial against Funato began on Friday, October 4, 2019. He admitted most of the charges against him. The case gained nationwide notoriety and prompted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to pass harsher anti-child abuse laws.

U Thant Island (officially Belmont Island) is a small artificial island or islet in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The 100-by-200-foot (30 by 60 m) island, created during the construction of the Steinway Tunnel directly underneath, is the smallest island in Manhattan.

2018 Tokyo child abuse case