and mother Julia look on during a news conference Friday at the British Embassy in Tokyo. SATOKO KAWASAKI PHOTO

Julia Hawker, the mother of 22-year-old Lindsay, who was found suffocated and buried naked in a sand-filled bathtub at Ichihashi's Chiba apartment in March, revealed that the suspected killer's family "sent through a statement sending their condolences, saying that they hoped their son (atones) for his crime."

Our Planet

People cover themselves with umbrellas during a hot summer day in Tokyo's Ginza district in August. Temperatures shot up in early July, even before the official end of the rainy season, and the high temperatures persisted well into the fall.
Japan’s weather in 2024: Record temperatures hurt people’s health and wallets

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake