News On Japan

Hyogo police took wrong corpse from morgue for autopsy

Sep 24, 2017 (tokyoreporter.com) - A failure to follow protocol caused police officers in Kawanishi City to confuse the bodies of two elderly men, resulting in the wrong corpse undergoing an autopsy, it was learned on Friday, reports NHK

Four officers of the police traffic division of the Kawanishi Police Station intended to transport the body of a 74-year-old man killed in a traffic incident from the station morgue to a hospital for an autopsy, but confused the body with that of an 85-year-old man who died at his home, Hyogo Prefectural Police said.

The autopsy was conducted on the 85-year-old man, with the mix-up going unnoticed until another officer realized the body of the 85-year-old was missing.

Officers failed to follow protocol and check the identity of the body, which was stored in a bag at the station morgue along with the other body, police said.

"There was failure to follow checking procedures, such as the names [of the bodies]," police said, according to Nippon News Network (Sept. 23).

Police apologized to the families of both men, and plan to investigate the cause of the incident.

Mired in scandals

Hyogo Prefectural Police have been mired in scandals, according to the Sankei Shimbun (Sept. 23).

For engaging in a sex act on the job at the workplace, a 39-year-old male police inspector received a 10 percent pay cut for three months and a 30-year-old female officer in the same division was given a warning.

A 51-year-old male officer in Mita City was referred to prosecutors, who will decide whether he will stand trial, after he intentionally overlooked his superior's speeding violation.

Source: ANNnewsCH

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Japan's World Cup campaign begins on June 14 when the Samurai Blue face the Netherlands at Dallas Stadium in Texas, a clash that will showcase some of the game's most talented players and pit two ambitious teams against one another in a crucial Group F opener. While Japan arrives without injured winger Kaoru Mitoma, one of its most recognizable stars, the squad still boasts a wealth of talent drawn from Europe's top leagues.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) announced that an El Niño phenomenon is believed to have developed this spring, warning that Japan is likely to experience above-average temperatures nationwide this summer despite the climate pattern's traditional association with cooler summers.

Narita International Airport Corporation is expected to announce next month that it will apply to the national government for project certification as part of the process to enable compulsory land acquisition for the construction of a new runway at Narita Airport, according to sources familiar with the matter.

A fire broke out at Arima Inari Shrine near the Arima Onsen hot spring resort area in Kobe on the night of June 9th, destroying multiple buildings and leaving an elderly Shinto priest and his wife with minor injuries.

Japan's national soccer team arrived in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 8th from Monterrey, Mexico, where it had been conducting a pre-World Cup training camp, and held its first practice session at its base camp for the FIFA World Cup in North America.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Society NEWS

A fire broke out at Arima Inari Shrine near the Arima Onsen hot spring resort area in Kobe on the night of June 9th, destroying multiple buildings and leaving an elderly Shinto priest and his wife with minor injuries.

Two men, including the head of the Japan Cycling Association, have been arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department on suspicion of defrauding two men in Kagoshima Prefecture out of 30 million yen by falsely promising a massive return on a purported patent-related investment.

A bear that had been repeatedly spotted in commercial and residential areas of Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, was captured in a residential neighborhood at around 3:30 p.m. on June 9th after authorities used a tranquilizer gun, but the city remains on alert because police say they cannot rule out the possibility that another bear may still be roaming the area.

Nara Prefectural Police have arrested seven people, including a 46-year-old Yokohama man who described himself as a "messenger of God," on suspicion of unlawfully confining a teenage boy entrusted to their care by his parents, allegedly threatening him, confiscating his belongings, and forcing him to sleep naked.

A man believed to be in his 50s or 60s was found dead with knives lodged in his left eye and abdomen inside a container at a company property in Kobe's Suma Ward on June 8th, prompting police to investigate the possibility of a criminal case.

The family of James "Weston" Higginbotham, a 20-year-old Auburn University student who disappeared during a family vacation in Japan, announced on June 7th that he has been found dead after a volunteer search-and-rescue team located his body in a mountainous area outside Kyoto, bringing a week-long multinational search to a tragic end.

A clinic director and a former Peruvian staff member have been referred to prosecutors after the man allegedly performed medical procedures without a license, including an external cephalic version—a procedure used to manually turn a baby into the correct position before birth—at an obstetrics and gynecology clinic in Fukuoka City, raising concerns about patient safety and oversight in maternity care.

A 14-year-old junior high school girl was arrested on suspicion of robbery resulting in injury after allegedly spraying a woman in her 60s in the face and stealing her wallet during a robbery attempt in Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture.