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Hiroshi Matsubara
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2004
Convict fights to clear drug-running taint
Masaharu Katsuno says he survived a decade in an Australian prison because he held out hope that he, his two brothers and their two friends -- all convicted heroin smugglers -- would someday be exonerated of their crimes.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2004
Homeless team heads for Sweden to battle in second futsal world cup
Thirty years of ups and downs -- the last five of which he has spent living in a park -- have not rusted Takashi Ito's ball-control skills as much as he had thought they would.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2004
Transsexuals file requests to change registered sex
At least six transsexuals nationwide filed requests with family courts to legally change their registered sex Friday, the same day legislation allowing them to do so took effect.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2004
Kurdish asylum-seekers stage sit-in in Shibuya
Two Kurdish families are staging a sit-in outside the United Nations University in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward over the Justice Ministry's rejection of their applications for refugee status.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2004
Forces pact should underscore Japanese lack of rights: lawyer
Attorney Annette Eddie-Callagain has had to defend people subjected to closed-door interrogations, limited access to lawyers and lengthy detention during which they are pressured to confess.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2004
U.S. presence in grillings unfair scrutiny?
In late May, a 24-year-old U.S. Navy sailor at the Yokosuka Navy Base in Kanagawa Prefecture was arrested for drunk driving after bumping his car into another outside the base, slightly injuring a child inside the vehicle that was hit.
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2004
Peace group protests activists' arrest, beating by cops
An umbrella organization of 51 citizens' groups that has staged peace marches in Tokyo lodged a protest Tuesday over the arrests of three participants in one such walk in Shibuya Ward earlier this month, displaying video footage of one of them being repeatedly beaten by police.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2004
Adopted Thai girl allowed to stay
Backtracking on an earlier decision, the Justice Ministry has decided to extend a short-term visa to a 13-year-old Thai orphan who came to live with her grandmother in Tokyo after losing her parents, officials said Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2004
Iranian's charge of brutality vs. word of police
Jailed for two months and charged with obstructing justice, Ghadir Esmaeili, a 34-year-old Iranian permanent resident in Japan, claims he's a victim of police brutality, although other than his damaged eye he lacks damning visual evidence like the notorious video footage of L.A. police beating Rodney...
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2004
Slave laborers seek redress and apology
Chinese former slave laborers and relatives of others who have since died submitted a petition Friday to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, demanding an official apology and compensation for their wartime labor at the Hanaoka coal mine in Odate, Akita Prefecture.
JAPAN
May 29, 2004
Locals take crime-prevention into their own hands
At the beginning of May, six security company workers started late-afternoon patrols of the Isezaki-cho district of Yokohama's Naka Ward.
JAPAN
May 29, 2004
Locals take crime-prevention into their own hands
At the beginning of May, six security company workers started late-afternoon patrols of the Isezaki-cho district of Yokohama's Naka Ward.
JAPAN
May 22, 2004
Quasi-jury system earns Diet approval
A judicial reform law designed to introduce Japan's first quasi-jury system was enacted by the Diet on Friday, paving the way for the system's launch in 2009.
JAPAN
May 22, 2004
Quasi-jury system earns Diet approval
A judicial reform law designed to introduce Japan's first quasi-jury system was enacted by the Diet on Friday, paving the way for the system's launch in 2009.
JAPAN
May 13, 2004
Activists claim political oppression
After nearly 2 1/2 months in detention, three antiwar activists accused of illegally entering a Self-Defense Forces housing complex in Tachikawa, western Tokyo, to distribute protest leaflets, were freed on bail Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 4, 2004
Iraqis here laud Hussein's fall but have mixed feelings about U.S. role
When the war in Iraq began in March last year, many Iraqis living in Japan, just like their compatriots back home, pinned their hopes on the United States being able to oust Saddam Hussein from his iron-fisted, decades-long grip on power.
JAPAN
May 1, 2004
Bunkyo may admit guru's child
A private university in Tokyo that rejected the enrollment of a daughter of Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara is now discussing ways in which it may accept her, it was learned Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2004
Cop off hook in suspect's death
The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday overturned a lower court ruling that a 55-year-old suspect was shot dead by a policeman during an interrogation in 1997 and instead decided the victim committed suicide, rejecting a redress demand by the man's daughter.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2004
Ex-hostage stands by decision to visit Iraq
A freelance journalist recently freed after being held hostage in Iraq said that while he regrets not properly realizing the dangers of traveling near a war zone, he stands by his decision to go and report on the situation there.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2004
Hostages released into storm of criticism
Two days before her daughter was freed Thursday night by her captors in Iraq, 65-year-old Kyoko Takato was apologizing to the public, using words more befitting of the parent of a criminal.

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