News On Japan

Kobe man arrested after threatening driving school with 1,500 origami cranes

May 18 (soranews24.com) - On 11 May Hyogo Prefectural Police in Kobe City arrested a 22-year-old man for sending 15 threatening letters and one case containing roughly 1,500 origami cranes to his former driving school.

The incidents occurred between 27 October of last year and 9 April this year, in which envelopes with a 39-year-old employee’s name on it were placed in the school’s mailbox. The letters reportedly had messages such as “Die!” and “Quit your job now!” written on them. The paper cranes, however, were simply paper cranes.

Police used surveillance video to track the suspect down and found that he was a former student of the driving school who had failed to get his truck driver’s license last year. After his arrest, the man admitted to the crime and said that he had gotten “angry at their poor teaching style.” When asked the million-dollar question of what was up with the cranes, he told police that folding them helped to calm him down.

...continue reading

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba held his first meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on the morning of the 7th (early on the 8th Japan time). During the talks, Trump pressed for a resolution to the US trade deficit with Japan, warning that tariffs could become an option if trade imbalances persist.

Boat travel from Kyoto to the Expo 2025 site in Yumeshima will become possible next month as a council promoting Yodogawa river transport announced the opening of a new route from Fushimi.

The Japanese government is set to raise the cap on high-cost medical expenses starting in August, a decision that has ignited intense debate among politicians, healthcare experts, and the general public.

Osaka-Kansai Expo will offer visitors a glimpse into the "future of food," with companies unveiling innovative dining experiences set to be featured at the event.

Panasonic Holdings has announced plans to dissolve its core subsidiary, Panasonic Corporation, and split it into three separate companies as part of its business restructuring efforts.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Society NEWS

The annual Otomo Festival took place on February 6th at Kamikura Shrine, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Shingu City, Wakayama Prefecture. The event saw men clad in white robes, each carrying a flaming torch, racing down the shrine’s steep stone steps in a centuries-old tradition.

A 55-year-old demolition worker has been arrested on suspicion of violating Hokkaido’s Public Nuisance Prevention Ordinance after entering a convenience store wearing only stockings on his lower body and exposing himself to a female clerk.

A newly built public toilet in a remote village in Nara Prefecture has become the subject of controversy—not for its design, but for its staggering cost of nearly 1 billion yen.

North Safari Sapporo, a zoo in Sapporo, Hokkaido, known for allowing visitors to stay near lions and seals and often referred to as Japan’s 'most dangerous zoo,' is now facing potential closure due to a dispute over its land use.

Two self-styled "private arrest" YouTubers have been handed suspended sentences after being convicted of inciting a man to bring illegal drugs.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of abandoning a body after a dismembered male corpse was discovered in a mountainous area of Higashi-Osaka.

Crimes committed by foreign visitors to Japan are on the rise, in particular, a growing trend of short-term visitors who commit crimes and immediately flee to their home countries, a pattern referred to as 'hit-and-run' crimes. Why is Japan being targeted?

A coalition of five cities across three prefectures, where traditional fishing methods such as cormorant fishing (ukai) and female free-diving (ama) remain practiced, has formed a council to seek joint registration as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. The council was officially established on February 1st.