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December 21, 2024
 

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Karin Kaneko
The streets of Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district in 2020. Consultations over matters relating to host clubs have been increasing every year at police stations nationwide, according to the National Police Agency.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 19, 2024
National Police Agency panel calls for stricter rules against host clubs
The expert panel recommends targeting malicious practices, rather than specific establishments, to cover more ground.
A flyer created by the Metropolitan Police Department to warn people about <i>yami baito</i>, or "dark" part-time jobs
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 17, 2024
Japan to let investigators go undercover to crack down on yami baito
Until now, undercover operations have been allowed only for drug- and gun-related criminal investigations.
During the trial of ex-principal Hisayoshi Kitamura, one of his victims testified that she could not consult anyone when she was assaulted as a student because she had been taught to follow the instructions of teachers.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 9, 2024
Ex-principal gets 9 years for raping middle school students in 2010
The crimes came to light after one of the victims reported her assault to the Tokyo education board in 2022.
Prosecutors said Tamotsu Shiiki, 58, had sex with a 12-year-old girl at a karaoke parlor on Aug. 20 after he approached her on the streets, well aware that she was underage.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 5, 2024
Former Nippon Ishin lawmaker pleads guilty to statutory rape
The lawmaker had approached her on the streets of the Kabukicho entertainment district in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on Aug. 20 and was aware she was underage.
Donna Nelson (fourth from left) with her family members. Nelson was found guilty of smuggling drugs to Japan.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 4, 2024
Australian woman given six-year sentence over Japan drug smuggling
Donna Nelson has said that she was a victim of an online romance scam and that she was not aware she was carrying luggage containing illegal drugs.
Donna Nelson says her life was turned upside down when she learned that the man she was falling for had tricked her into smuggling 2 kilograms of methamphetamine into Japan.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 3, 2024
Australian says romance scam tricked her into smuggling drugs into Japan
Donna Nelson says her life was turned upside down when she learned that the man she was falling for had tricked her into smuggling drugs.
A stone pillar at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, on which the word "toilet" was spray-painted in May
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 29, 2024
Chinese man pleads guilty to role in vandalizing Yasukuni Shrine
Jiang Zhuojun said he assisted with the vandalizing to protest against Japan's discharging of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
The National Consumer Affairs Center reports a growing number of consultations regarding "digital legacies" — data and online services left behind when people die.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 25, 2024
Are you leaving your loved ones digital legacies or headaches?
The National Consumer Affairs Center is getting an increasing number of consultations regarding data and online services left behind by deceased persons.
The Tokyo District Court has found Nagumi Osada, 27, guilty of sexually abusing seven girls between the ages of 3 and 6.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 14, 2024
Former day care center worker given 14-year term for child sex abuse
The man was found guilty of abusing seven girls between the ages of 3 and 6 at day care centers where he worked and of filming the acts over a period of two years.
A screenshot of a suspicious job listing on Timee went viral on social media platform X. The job listing was later taken down by Timee.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 13, 2024
Alleged 'dark' part-time job listings popping up on reputable sites
Such jobs, which promise unusually high wages for ostensibly simple work, have been linked to a series of home burglaries and other crimes in recent months.
The headquarters of Bungeishunju, Shukan Bunshun's publisher, in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 8, 2024
Comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto to withdraw Bungeishunju defamation suit
The lawsuit was filed over a Shukan Bunshun article that detailed sexual assault allegations made by two women.
American voters in Tokyo gather at an election watch party, organized by Democrats Abroad Japan, at a British bar in Tokyo's Shimokitazawa district on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2024
American voters in Japan reflect divisions in home country
Several Republican voters said they believed Trump’s leadership could address the problems they are most concerned about, such as illegal immigration.
Staff work at a sake brewery in Fukushima Prefecture in October. Sake, a traditional Japanese alcoholic beverage made from grains and water, holds deep cultural significance in Japan.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 5, 2024
UNESCO panel recommends sake brewing for intangible cultural heritage list
A UNESCO intergovernmental committee meeting in December is expected to make a final decision on its inclusion in the Representative List.
Ai Kamishige, who lives in Yokohama’s Kohoku Ward, allegedly strangled her 11-year-old son and drowned her 5-year-old daughter in a bathtub.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 31, 2024
Yokohama woman arrested over daughter's drowning and attempted murder of son
The woman allegedly strangled her 11-year-old son and drowned her 5-year-old daughter in a bathtub.
Plaintiffs seeking the right for same-sex couples to marry react Wednesday to the Tokyo High Court's ruling that Japan's ban on such marriages is unconstitutional.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 30, 2024
Tokyo High Court rules same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional
It is the second high-court ruling in Japan to describe the ban on same-sex marriage in those terms.
A team of lawyers head to the Osaka District Court on Tuesday to file a lawsuit against Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, on behalf of their clients, who are victims of investment scams linked to fake advertisements on the social media platforms.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 29, 2024
Meta faces Japan lawsuits over fake ads linked to investment fraud
Those affected claim that the owner of Facebook and Instagram neglected to remove the ads from its social media platforms, which led to them being scammed.
A police officer stands guard on Oct. 16 near a home in Yokohama where an elderly man was found dead in a robbery-murder case.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 24, 2024
'Dark lists' shed light on how Japan's robbers narrow down targets
Since August, at least seven residents have been robbed across Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures with a similar modus operandi.
Teruo Naka (right) and Hironori Kondoh, both lawyers for a plaintiff stating the nationality law is unconstitutional, speak to reporters on Thursday at the Tokyo District Court.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 17, 2024
Tokyo court upholds dual nationality ban, rejecting teen's citizenship case
The lawsuit centered on whether the parents' decision to acquire British citizenship for the child could be regarded as a decision made by the plaintiff.
NHK President Nobuo Inaba speaks during a news conference in Tokyo in September.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Oct 17, 2024
NHK to resume contracting former Johnny's performers
The broadcaster's president said the decision was based on the agency’s clear efforts to compensate Johnny Kitagawa's sexual abuse victims.
Raita Fukusaku arrives at Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture in August 1994 to be extradited to the United States.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 16, 2024
First Japanese national extradited to U.S. killed by Hawaii cellmate
Raita Fukusaku was found bleeding on the floor of his cell with trauma to the head and neck at the Halawa Correctional Facility in Honolulu.
Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
A year after going private, structural reforms bearing fruit for Toshiba
Toshiba's Corporate Senior Executive Vice President Koji Ikeya speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Monday.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.
Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.
With rare Asia carrier deployment, France seeks greater interoperability
The flight deck of the French Navy's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier during a stop at Changi Naval Base in Singapore in May 2019

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

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