News On Japan

Man arrested for threats to organizer of contentious Tokyo art event

Dec 06, 2021 (Japan Today) - A 47-year-old man was arrested Sunday for allegedly threatening an organizer of a Tokyo art exhibition that was to feature a statue symbolizing "comfort women," who worked in Japan's wartime military brothels, but was canceled due to protests, police said.

Takahiro Unemoto, a resident of Amagasaki in Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, is suspected of sending a threatening email five times from his mobile phone between June 19 and July 14 to one of the organizers of the "Non-Freedom of Expression Exhibition," according to the police.

The event, which was scheduled to run from late June to early July in the capital, was canceled at the last minute due to protestors who denounced it as "anti-Japan" and used loudspeakers to create disruption.

Unemoto has admitted to sending a threatening email that included statements such as "It wouldn't be strange even if someone among you would die," according to the Tokyo police.

In July, an envelope containing firecrackers and addressed to the venue of an art exhibition in Osaka, featuring the same statue of a girl symbolizing Korean comfort women and other controversial works, was delivered to a post office.

Shortly before the Osaka exhibition, a suspicious package exploded at the venue of another controversial art event in Nagoya, central Japan, leading the exhibit to be canceled two days after its opening.

Police have been looking into the two cases, with both envelopes having been sent from Hyogo Prefecture. ...continue reading

Source: ANNnewsCH

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Japan began applying a new numerical alcohol threshold for dangerous driving offenses on July 21, introducing a clearer standard for cases involving impaired driving that could lead to fatal accidents.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government approved its first annual basic economic and fiscal policy on Tuesday, pledging "responsible and proactive fiscal policy" and envisioning about 370 trillion yen in public- and private-sector investment in strategic industries through fiscal 2040.

A covert network of shuttle tankers is carrying crude through the increasingly dangerous Strait of Hormuz as renewed fighting between the United States and Iran disrupts shipping and raises concerns over how Japan will secure the oil it needs.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko has criticized moves by Japanese and Ukrainian companies to cooperate on drone technology, warning that such ties would be regarded by Moscow as a "clear hostile act."

The rainy season ended in the Kanto-Koshin and Tokai regions on July 20 as strengthening high pressure brought intense heat across Japan, with temperatures forecast to reach 38 C in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, and Kofu.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Society NEWS

A police officer fired a warning shot into the air after a 42-year-old woman approached officers while pointing a kitchen knife at them on a street in Eniwa, Hokkaido, on July 17.

A 45-year-old man was arrested early July 20 after allegedly crashing a passenger car into a convenience store in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and walking around the parking lot carrying a kitchen knife and a golf club.

A 42-year-old man was arrested after allegedly driving under the influence and intentionally ramming a motorcycle in Togitsu, Nagasaki Prefecture, leaving its rider seriously injured.

More than a dozen people were injured after a massive rope suddenly snapped during a tug-of-war at a festival in Kitami, Hokkaido, sending participants falling backward onto an asphalt road.

A public housing complex in Aichi Prefecture where about 70% of households are occupied by foreign residents is showing signs of improvement after introducing multilingual communication, foreign-led neighborhood activities and a 3,000-yen fine for residents who skip community cleaning duties.

A fire that broke out at the long-established Echigo Tsurukame sake brewery in a densely populated residential district of Niigata City on July 19 destroyed the brewery and spread to at least six nearby homes, with firefighters still unable to declare the blaze fully extinguished by noon on July 20.

Two people found dead in a collapsed home following a landslide in Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, have been identified as a married couple in their 60s who lived at the property, city officials said.

Bacteria found in excrement on the uniform of a former nurse arrested on suspicion of killing a hospital patient by contaminating his intravenous drip matched bacteria detected in the victim's blood, investigators have found.