TRAVEL

The Hiroshima High Court on Wednesday upheld a 2006 lower court decision that sentenced a Peruvian man to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting and murdering a 7-year-old girl in the city of Hiroshima in 2005. Presiding Judge Takashi Takeda handed down the ruling to Jose Manuel Torres Yagi, 38, who is accused of molesting and strangling Airi Kinoshita, a primary school first-grader, in Hiroshima on Nov. 22, and also of abandoning her body in a cardboard box in a vacant lot. The high court reached the decision nine months after the Supreme Court ordered it to retry Torres' case in October 2009. (AP)

Heavy rains have killed two women in western Japan and left three people missing, local officials said Thursday, as the weather agency warned of the risk of more floods and landslides. Police said a woman, 72, had died in a mudslide, a day after the body of a 77-year-old woman was pulled from a river, both in Hiroshima prefecture. Torrential rains have for days battered western Japan, including Kyushu island, leaving vast areas of farmland flooded. Authorities had issued evacuation advisories for some 300,000 people as of late Wednesday. (Yomiuri)

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has assigned the lowest grade to the No. 1 and 2 reactors at Chugoku Electric Power Co.'s nuclear power plant in Shimane Prefecture due to the discovery of numerous inspection failures, sources said Thursday. The agency will issue a stern warning to Chugoku Electric and order the Hiroshima-based utility to include measures to prevent a recurrence of the problem in its safety regulations for nuclear power plants. (Japan Times)

The former temporary worker at Mazda Motor Corp. arrested last week for killing one of the company's employees and injuring 11 others by hitting them with a car at the firm's Hiroshima plant complex, boasted of outdoing the 2008 massacre in Tokyo's Akihabara district, a friend said. The friend said Toshiaki Hikiji, 42, of the city of Hiroshima, called immediately before he was taken into custody after the June 22 attack. (Japan Times)

The former Mazda Motor Corp. temporary worker arrested Tuesday for allegedly killing one Mazda employee and injuring 10 others by slamming into them with a car at the firm's Hiroshima plant complex was deep in debt from buying new cars before going bankrupt in 2008, investigative sources said Thursday. Police, meanwhile, said a 22-year-old Mazda employee was newly found to be slightly injured in the vehicular attack. Suspect Toshiaki Hikiji, a 42-year-old Hiroshima resident, had at least four new cars, including a sports car, over seven years, according to his neighbors. (Japan Times)

A former Mazda Motor Corp. temporary worker arrested for killing one Mazda employee and injuring 10 others by hitting them with a car told investigators he tried to copy the 2008 murder spree in Tokyo's Akihabara district, investigative sources said Wednesday. Toshiaki Hikiji, 42, of the city of Hiroshima, was quoted as telling investigators he had planned to park his car inside the Mazda plant complex and attack people with a kitchen knife. He was arrested after running into the 11 as they headed to work Tuesday. (Japan Times)

A disgruntled worker slammed his car into employees at a Mazda factory Tuesday, killing one and injuring 10, stunning Japan just two years after an autoworker went on a deadly rampage in central Tokyo. Toshiaki Hikiji, 42, was arrested about an hour later on attempted murder charges after fleeing in his car from Mazda's Ujina plant in Hiroshima prefecture, southwestern Japan, police said. Japanese media reports said Hikiji was a contract worker who had been let go in April. He bore a grudge against the automaker and went there with a knife with the intention to kill, they said. (boston.com)

The Hiroshima High Court on Thursday suspended the prison sentence of a former reformatory instructor who attacked six teenage inmates. Akira Sugawara, 27, was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for four years. The Hiroshima District Court had sentenced him to 14 months in prison for the various assaults, which included pinching the boys' tongues with scissors and threatening to chop them off if they told lies, saying, "It's no use your staying alive." (Japan Times)

A woman's arm was cut off when she was struck by a bullet train passing through a station here after she climbed down to the tracks, officials said. The No. 16 Nozomi bullet train hit the woman at about 9:55 a.m. on Monday as it sped though Onomichi Station on the JR Sanyo Shinkansen line. Her left arm was severed in the accident, but her injuries were not life-threatening, local fire department officials said. (Mainichi)

A 45-year-old unemployed man was arrested Monday on suspicion of having illegally copied and sold software for a PlayStation Portable game device, according to the Hyogo prefectural police. According to the Association of Copyright for Computer Software, this is the first time police have taken action against unauthorized copies of PSP software. According to the police, Yuji Endo of Asaminami Ward, Hiroshima, allegedly copied five games, including "Monster Hunter Portable 2," without permission from the manufacturer. (Yomiuri)

A high court rejected an appeal Monday filed by Hiroshima teachers who sought to nullify reprimands they received for refusing to stand up and sing the national anthem "Kimigayo" at school ceremonies. The Hiroshima High Court upheld a lower court ruling that threw out the suit filed by 45 plaintiffs, including current and former teachers as well as families of the deceased, who claim the disciplinary actions by the Hiroshima education board were an abuse of power. (AP)

A group of astronomers has found the progenitor of a supernova discovered in 2005 by Japanese supernova hunter Koichi Itagaki to be in the category of lowest-mass stars that are at the end of their life spans, according to an article to be published Thursday by British science magazine Nature. The finding is based on observations made by eight astronomers led by Koji Kawabata, an associate professor at Hiroshima University and member of the Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center. (Japan Times)

Takeru Iwamura, the Hiroshima Carp's No. 1 draft pick fresh out of high school, threw a spring training bullpen session before the watchful eyes of his team's guest pitching coach. With each stride off the mound, the red No. 16 on Iwamura's back flashed in front of the former No. 16 standing behind him. In a scene thought impossible 15 years ago when he shockingly left Japan for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Hideo Nomo - the former No. 16 - was standing on a field as a welcomed member of Japan's baseball community. (New York Times)

Sometimes a baseball game can be about more than strikeouts and home runs. About more than wins and losses. Peel back the game's layers, way back behind the sacrifice bunts, past the defensive shifts and 3-2 counts, and a baseball game can be something remarkably simple yet still powerful. Like a lasting goodbye to an old friend. Saturday night at Tokyo Dome, where the Yomiuri Giants and Hiroshima Carp gave the late Takuya Kimura a rousing sendoff, was one of those times. (Japan Times)

Does the name Kazuo Kasahara ring a bell? He was the scriptwriter credited for writing director Kinji Fukasaku's "Jingi naki tatakai" (Battles Without Honor and Humanity) film series, and he passed away in 2002. Born in 1927, Kasahara was a trainee at the Kure naval barracks in Hiroshima Prefecture when World War II came to an end, and a member of a generation that lived through a Japan of burned-down cities and black markets. Still, he had a touch of Western influence in his life, having been born in Tokyo's Nihonbashi district to a father who worked at a foreign trading company -- a rarity in those days. (Mainichi)

A new exhibit where only a single sheet of reinforced glass separates visitors from the lions they watch was unveiled at the Asa Zoological Park in Hiroshima City on April 10. The exhibit, called "Leo Glass," is the only one of its kind in Japan. The new exhibit has only a single 20 millimeter sheet of reinforced glass as a barrier. As a visitor, the effect when a lion approaches is powerful. (Mainichi)

He seemed fine two weeks ago, but, on Wednesday Yomiuri Giants infield and running coach Takuya Kimura died at a hospital in Hiroshima of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 37. He was pronounced dead five days after collapsing on the field at Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium as he was about to fulfill his pre-game duty of hitting practice grounders and flies to the Giants players. Kimura was so young and vibrant and, because he was well liked by teammates, opponents, fans and the media, the news of his death was extremely heartbreaking. (Japan Times)

Yomiuri Giants infield and running coach Takuya Kimura died Wednesday morning at a Hiroshima hospital after suffering a brain hemorrhage, Yomiuri said. He was 37. The former utility player had been in critical condition at Hiroshima University Hospital after collapsing suddenly while hitting balls during pre-game fielding practice Friday. Kimura ended his playing career after the 2009 season. (Japan Times)

Toyota Motor Corp. will supply the hybrid technology used in the Prius to Mazda Motor Corp., enabling the Hiroshima-based automaker to produce its first hybrid sedan, the two carmakers said Monday. Mazda will start to develop and produce a hybrid vehicle in Japan and plans to start selling the model by 2013, the companies said. (Japan Times)

The Hiroshima High Court on Thursday sentenced a 44-year-old former primary school teacher to 30 years in prison for raping and performing lewd acts on at least 10 pupils. In imposing the maximum term of imprisonment for a definite period under Japanese law, the high court said Naoki Morita, who was sacked as a public school teacher in Hiroshima Prefecture after his arrest, "took advantage of the innocence of the victimized girls and toyed with them, betraying public trust in teachers with the monstrous crimes." According to the latest ruling, Morita committed and attempted to commit a total of 95 rapes and lewd acts on 10 girls aged between nine and 12 at school premises and other locations between 2001 and 2006. (AP)

A 52-year-old professor with U.S. citizenship has been forced to resign from Yasuda Women's University after he allegedly sexually harassed a student during a study tour of the United States last year, it has been learned. The decision was effective Feb. 15. According to the Hiroshima-based university, the professor took about 50 sophomore students on a six-month training program to the United States from September. He allegedly sexually harassed the student at a hotel in San Francisco in December. (Yomiuri)

Publication has been halted for a disputed book about the atomic bombing of Japan at the end of World War II. Charles Pellegrino's "The Last Train From Hiroshima" had received strong reviews and had been optioned for a possible film by "Avatar" director James Cameron. But publisher Henry Holt and Co. said yesterday that Pellegrino "was not able to answer" several concerns, including whether two men mentioned in the text actually existed. (BusinessWeek)

Japan formally took up the chairmanship of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum for 2010 on Monday as senior officials from the 21 member economies gathered in Hiroshima to discuss free trade and investment in the region. The two days of talks come ahead of a series of APEC ministerial meetings during the year and are centering on preparatory dialogues to lay the groundwork for APEC leaders to issue an annual joint statement at their summit in November in Yokohama. (Japan Times)

Senior officials from Pacific Rim economies will agree on the need for a free-trade zone in the region when they meet in Hiroshima on Monday and Tuesday, according to a draft of the agenda. The 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum aim to "agree on how to explore possible pathways to an FTAAP building on existing analytical studies," the draft said, referring to the potential of the zone, dubbed the Free Trade Area in the Asia Pacific. (Japan Times)

The Hiroshima prefectural chapter of the Liberal Democratic Party said Saturday it has decided to field former House of Representatives member Yoichi Miyazawa for this summer's Upper House election. The 59-year-old Miyazawa, a nephew of the late former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, was picked as the party's candidate in a vote among LDP ranks on who should represent the party in the constituency. (Japan Times)