Zozo to raise part-timers' wages by up to 30%

Saitama Prefectural Police have discovered several million yen in cash during a search of the home shared by the wife and second son of Chizuo Matsumoto, the former Aum Shinrikyo cult leader who was executed in 2018, according to interviews with people involved in the investigation.

In Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture, a traditional thread-spinning craft used to produce strings for the koto and shamisen continues to be practiced using silk drawn directly from cocoons.

In Tokyo’s Shibuya district, the issue of people drinking alcohol outside convenience stores—known as “konbini drinking”—has already erupted into a full-fledged summer spectacle. Foreign visitors have begun gathering in Center Gai, bottles in hand, despite a ban on nighttime street drinking in place since October 2024.

A 52-year-old newspaper deliveryman was killed in the early hours of July 12th after being attacked by a bear in a residential area of Fukushima Town, Hokkaido.

A Tokyo court has sentenced Manabu Wakui to 15 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of a woman on the grounds of a high-rise condominium in Shinjuku Ward in May 2024. The Tokyo District Court ruled that Wakui carried out the attack to satisfy a personal grudge without first exhausting legal channels, stating that his actions could not be justified as revenge.

A Chinese man detained at an Osaka police facility has filed a lawsuit against the Osaka Prefectural Government, claiming that he was forcibly taken to an interrogation room despite refusing to participate and had his right to remain silent violated.

A vending machine equipped with a surveillance camera has been installed inside Aeon Mall Kyoto Katsuragawa as part of a new agreement between the Kyoto Minami Police Station and the mall operator to deter criminal activity and enhance regional security.

A 55-year-old company employee has been arrested for allegedly placing stones on the tracks of the Meitetsu Komaki Line in Komaki, Aichi Prefecture, disrupting train operations.