News On Japan

Tweet leads to bust of bosozoku biker gang for reckless riding in Kanagawa

Oct 10, 2017 (tokyoreporter.com) - A post made on social media resulted in the arrest of three members of a bosozoku biker gang for riding recklessly on a highway in the southern part of the prefecture earlier this year, reports the Asahi Shimbun

On March 20 at around 1:20 a.m., Kohei Imanishi, a 21-year-old resident of Higashi-Osaka City, Hiroto Honda, a 40-year-old resident of Toride, Ibaraki Prefecture, and Akira Kakinuma, a 37-year-old resident of Yokohama, allegedly drove motorcycles in weaving patterns through traffic over a two-kilometer stretch of a highway between the town of Oiso to Hiratsuka City.

The suspects have been accused of violating the Road Traffic Law regarding dangerous riding as a group. Imanishi partially admits to the allegations while the other two suspects admit to the charges.

All of the suspects are members of the bosozoku gang Kibunsokai Gundan, which is headed by Kakinuma. During the incident, about 20 persons on motorcycles participated, according to police.

The matter emerged after Imanishi tweeted video showing the motorcycles in the group quickly weaving back and forth, the sides of the bikes kicking up sparks as they hit the pavement in changing direction.

Kakinuma participated in the production of a DVD that shows similar footage taken in Kanagawa and the Kinki area. The DVD, which went on sale in November of last year for 3,000 yen per copy, has accumulated 2.3 million yen in sales.

Police are now investigating the other riders in the group.

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Japan’s World Cup campaign ended in the cruelest possible fashion on June 29, as Gabriel Martinelli scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time to give Brazil a 2-1 victory over the Samurai Blue in their knockout match in Houston. Japan had led in the first half and were still level at 1-1 in the final moments, but Martinelli’s late strike sent Brazil into the Round of 16 and eliminated Japan from the tournament.

Strong earthquakes have continued to shake parts of Japan in recent weeks, with 11 temblors measuring lower 5 or above on the Japanese seismic intensity scale recorded across the country since April 2026.

A Kintetsu Railway train derailed inside Kyoto Station on the morning of June 29, forcing partial suspensions on the Kintetsu Kyoto Line for the rest of the day and causing long delays that hit commuters, students and tourists.

A section of stone wall at Hikone Castle, one of Japan’s few surviving original Edo-period castles and a National Treasure whose main keep remains intact more than 400 years after its construction, collapsed after heavy rain caused by Typhoons No. 7 and No. 8, Hikone city officials said.

Japan advanced to the knockout stage of the World Cup after a 1-1 draw with Sweden on June 25, finishing second in Group F and setting up a Round of 32 clash with Brazil in Houston.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Society NEWS

Prosecutors sought life imprisonment for Yukio Tanaka, a senior member of a gang affiliated with the Kudo-kai crime syndicate, as his trial over the 2013 fatal shooting of Osho Food Service president Takayuki Ohigashi concluded at the Kyoto District Court, with a verdict scheduled to be handed down on October 16.

Shinjuku Ward, the Tokyo metropolitan government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department have jointly established a Kabukicho measures council to strengthen efforts to prevent young people known as "Toyoko Kids" from being drawn into crime in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district.

A 23-year-old Chinese man has been arrested and sent to prosecutors on suspicion of dangerous driving resulting in injury after allegedly crashing a Porsche into two vehicles at an intersection in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward on June 9, leaving three people with minor injuries.

The number of people with dementia or suspected dementia who were reported missing to police totaled 17,345 in 2025, down by nearly 800 from the previous year but still at a high level, according to a National Police Agency summary.

Removal work has finally begun on a massive hose that washed ashore on the coast of Shika, Ishikawa Prefecture, six months ago, but crews are already facing difficulties because the structure is filled with a large volume of water.

A 50-year-old woman has been arrested in Kobe on suspicion of abandoning the dismembered body of her former husband in a large freezer at a condominium unit, where she allegedly continued paying rent for more than 14 years while hiding his death.

A 50-year-old member of an organization affiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate has been arrested in Yamaguchi Prefecture after nearly nine years on the run over the 2017 fatal shooting of a bodyguard for the leader of a rival group in Kobe.

An Iranian national has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to smuggle more than 40 kilograms of stimulants from the United Arab Emirates into Japan in March, after customs officers found the drugs hidden in the bottom section of a machine used in the process of making naan bread.