Tag - police

 
 

POLICE

Hideko Hakamata (center) and lawyers representing her younger brother, Iwao Hakamata, pose with a banner that reads "Iwao Hakamata verdict not guilty" as they leave the Shizuoka District Court on Thursday after the ruling was delivered.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 26, 2024
In rare retrial, Shizuoka court rules ex-boxer not guilty of 1966 murders
Iwao Hakamata, the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner, has maintained his innocence for decades.
Ageuma Shinji, a Shinto ritual, is held at Tado Shrine in Mie Prefecture in May 2018. On Tuesday, prefectural police referred 12 individuals to prosecutors over allegations of animal abuse in connection with the treatment of horses during the centuries-old annual event.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 25, 2024
12 referred to prosecutors over alleged horse abuse during Shinto ritual
The 12 allegedly forced horses to climb up a steep hill during the Ageuma Shinji ritual in May 2023 and committed violent acts against the animals.
Iwao Hakamata in March 2023 in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture. Hakamata was convicted in 1968 over the fatal stabbings of a couple and their children two years earlier. He has pleaded his innocence throughout his trial, maintaining that his confession was coerced.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 25, 2024
In Japan, the road to exoneration takes decades
Defense lawyers’ extremely limited access to evidence and prosecutors’ right to appeal a court order for a retrial result in a long, drawn-out process.
A police officer explains with a loudspeaker the correct way of interacting with the deer on July 25 at Nara Park in the city of Nara.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 20, 2024
Nara urges respect for sacred deer after viral abuse video sparks outcry
A video showing a man kicking a deer began circulating on social media in late July, resulting in the lodging of over 100 police reports.
The percentage of alcohol-related accidents involving electric scooters was far higher than that for accidents involving bicycles and mopeds.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 19, 2024
17% of kick scooter accidents caused by drunken drivers
Some 70% of the drink-driving accidents took place between midnight and before 6 a.m.
Shiretoko Yuransen President Seiichi Katsurada (center) in Shari, Hokkaido, in May 2022. Katsurada admitted to having little knowledge of ships in an interview before his arrest on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 19, 2024
Hokkaido boat operator in 2022 fatal sinking had little knowledge of ships
He made himself the company's safety and operational manager despite lacking the necessary qualifications after dismissing key employees during the pandemic.
An Apple store in Tokyo's Omotesando district
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 18, 2024
Seven quasi-gang members arrested for obstructing Apple store in Tokyo
They are believed to have been seeking to purchase many iPhone 15 handsets at the store in the Japanese capital's Shibuya Ward for resale.
Japan's new speed limit on narrow roads in residential areas will be set at 30 kph in September 2026.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Sep 17, 2024
Raising awareness key to Japan's new residential road speed limit
Violations of the speed limits will be punished by up to six months' imprisonment or a fine not exceeding ¥100,000.
Yamaha Motor said it would not comment on an alleged knife attack on its president as it is a private matter and the investigation is ongoing.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 17, 2024
Yamaha Motor president slashed with knife by daughter
Police arrested the daughter after she allegedly attempted to kill her 61-year-old father by cutting him on the left arm with a kitchen knife.
The Osaka Prefectural Police recently arrested three people who allegedly had some ¥4.9 billion in total paid into their bank accounts from about 10,000 people who took part in overseas online gambling.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2024
Three arrested over alleged laundering of online casino money
The suspects allegedly had some ¥4.9 billion in total paid into their bank accounts from about 10,000 people who took part in overseas online gambling.
Starting next March, the My Number card can be used as a driver's license.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2024
Use of My Number card as driver's license to start March 24
The My Number card will function as a driver's license, with its embedded integrated circuit chip to contain new information such as license type.
Tamotsu Shiiki, 58, is accused of sexually assaulting a first-year junior high school girl at a karaoke parlor in Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district on Aug. 20. He has denied the charge.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 11, 2024
Ex-lawmaker held over alleged sexual assault in Tokyo karaoke parlor
Tamotsu Shiiki, a former Lower House lawmaker of Nippon Ishin no Kai, denies sexually assaulting the first-year junior high school girl.
The Aichi Prefectural Police headquarters in Nagoya. Police are investigating how an 18-year-old high school student in the city of Ichinomiya produced explosives found in his possession as well as the motive behind it.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 11, 2024
Aichi teen arrested over possession of high explosives
The arrest of the 18-year-old high school student stemmed from an investigation into a purchase of potassium nitrate made under his name.
Soccer player Junya Ito has filed a criminal complaint against two women and a weekly magazine for suspected defamation, saying that the magazine article on his alleged sexual assault has damaged his reputation and credibility.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 10, 2024
Soccer player Ito appeals against nonindictment of two women
Police had sent to public prosecutors papers on the two women for allegedly making false allegations against two men including Ito, but both women were not indicted.
Michikazu Takao, a 52-year-old unemployed man who has been arrested over the theft of a safe from a beauty salon, wears a cap adorned with three crow feathers.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 10, 2024
Man with crow-feathered cap arrested over theft of safe at beauty salon
Michikazu Takao, 52, told police that he believes crows possess special powers and that he carried the feathers as a protective charm.
Counterfeit bills used by men who were arrested on suspicion of stealing cash under the guise of a gold transaction
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 9, 2024
Two Liberian men arrested for alleged fake gold deal in Tokyo
The two are charged with stealing ¥34 million from a 43-year-old secondhand goods dealer in Tokyo in November 2023.
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki speaks during a news conference in the prefectural government office in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 6, 2024
Okinawa governor condemns alleged sexual assault by U.S. Marine
The governor said that the prefecture will lodge a protest with the Japanese and U.S. governments over the case.
A street in Tokyo's Nakano Ward where one of a series of incidents of "one-touch" molestation occurred
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 5, 2024
Tokyo police urge caution against ‘one-touch’ molesters
A series of cases has occurred in Nakano Ward in which the perpetrator cycles from behind, gropes the victim while continuing to ride, and flees the scene.
Takaaki Saito enters the Metropolitan Police Department's Fukagawa Police Station in Koto Ward, Tokyo, on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 4, 2024
Trio trying to pay off supercar debt arrested for alleged fraud
The trio is believed to have created a total of 34 credit cards in the names of nine people using personal information they obtained.
The Aichi Prefectural Police headquarters in Nagoya
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 4, 2024
Three Nagoya men arrested over series of burglaries
Numerous burglaries have been reported within Aichi Prefecture since April 2022, with the police suspecting the same three men were involved.

Longform

A woman passes an "akichi" (vacant lot) in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo. The capital is littered with such small lots in part because of Japan's aging and shrinking population.
Dealing with rising land vacancies as Japan shrinks