News On Japan

Three people charged over Ghosn's escape found not guilty in Turkey retrial

Jun 01 (NHK) - A lawyer for three people who were charged with helping former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn flee Japan has told NHK they were acquitted by a Turkish court in a retrial.

Ghosn reportedly fled from Japan to Lebanon via Turkey on a private jet in 2019. He was out on bail in Tokyo at the time while awaiting trial for alleged financial misconduct.

A Turkish court in 2021 sentenced the three people -- an executive at an Istanbul-based jet firm and the two pilots who flew Ghosn to Turkey -- to 50 months in prison for migrant smuggling.

The three appealed the ruling, saying they were unaware Ghosn would be on board.

The lawyer told NHK that an appeals court ordered the retrial and sent the case back to the lower court, which acquitted the three in late April.

Three others, including two pilots who flew Ghosn from Turkey to Lebanon, were also indicted over his escape, but were found not guilty in February 2021.

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Southern Kyushu has entered the rainy season, marking the first time in 49 years that it has done so earlier than Okinawa. It is also the earliest rainy season start for any region in Japan since the Meteorological Agency began keeping records. Authorities are warning of heavy rainfall not only in Kyushu but across other parts of the country as well.

A road collapse in Yashio City, Saitama Prefecture is expected to take five to seven years to fully restore, local officials said on Friday, following the recovery of a truck cab that had remained lodged in the sewer system since the January accident.

Eighty years have passed since the end of World War II, yet the memories of its fiercest battles continue to echo in the heart of Okinawa. The district of Omoromachi in central Naha, now a lively urban hub filled with people, was once the site of one of the bloodiest clashes of the Battle of Okinawa—the Battle of Sugar Loaf Hill.

The Aoi Festival, one of Kyoto’s three major traditional festivals, began on May 15th with a vibrant procession of around 500 people dressed in elegant Heian-period garments making their way through the streets of the ancient capital.

Japan’s prototypes of the kilogram and meter, which once served as national standards for weight and length, were presented to the press this week ahead of the 150th anniversary of the Meter Convention, the international treaty that standardized global measurement systems, to be marked on May 20th.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Business NEWS

A Japanese man in his 50s was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a Chinese court on May 13 under the anti-espionage law, following his December 2021 detention in Shanghai and formal arrest in June 2022 after six months of interrogation.

Nissan's plan to shut down several of its production facilities has drawn concern from Kitakyushu Mayor Kenji Takeuchi, who said at a press conference on May 15th that the move is "a matter directly linked to citizens' employment and livelihoods."

Japan’s three largest banking groups have all reported record net profits for the past fiscal year, with their combined earnings nearing 4 trillion yen.

Toshiba announced that it returned to profitability in its earnings report for the fiscal year ending March 2025, posting a net profit of 279 billion yen. Operating profit, a key indicator of core business performance, surged nearly fivefold from the previous year to 198.5 billion yen, driven in part by increased sales of hard disk drives for data centers.

Sony Group announced on May 14th that its net profit for the year ending March 2025 rose 17.6% year-on-year to a record 1.1416 trillion yen. The strong performance was driven by brisk sales in its gaming division, including the PlayStation 5, as well as continued growth in its music and film business.

Kadoya Sesame Mills and Takemoto Oil & Fat have been accused of forming a cartel over the wholesale pricing of sesame oil and related products, prompting Japan’s Fair Trade Commission to issue an elimination order against the two companies.

The revised Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Act, passed by Japan's Upper House on May 14th, will allow over-the-counter drugs to be sold at convenience stores if consumers first receive online guidance from licensed pharmacists or other qualified professionals.

Zensho Holdings, operator of the Sukiya beef bowl chain, reported a 17.7% rise in annual revenue to 1.1366 trillion yen for the fiscal year ending March 2025—marking the first time a domestic restaurant company in Japan has exceeded 1 trillion yen in sales.