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QAnon's Japan arm searched over obstructing COVID vaccinations

Shizuoka, Dec 06, 2022 (Kyodo) - Police searched the head office of a group claiming to be the Japanese arm of U.S. conspiracy cult QAnon in Shizuoka Prefecture on Monday after its members were arrested last week for forcing their way into a local mass coronavirus vaccination site earlier this year.

Eight members of the YamatoQ group, including one of its leaders, were arrested Thursday on suspicion of trespassing after they intruded into the vaccination site in Yaizu in the central Japanese prefecture in March.

According to police, those arrested shouted "Vaccination is an act of murder" at the site. The prefectural police searched the group's head office in Fukuroi. ...continue reading

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Two typhoons are moving across the Pacific east and southeast of Japan, with both expected to change course around the weekend and remain well away from the main Japanese islands, though high waves and stronger winds could affect some areas. Typhoon No. 28, a strong storm, was moving west near Wake Island at about 45 kilometers per hour as of 3 a.m. on October 7, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

A core member of the international ransomware group Qilin was detained in Japan and handed over to German authorities, according to people familiar with the case, as Japanese companies and institutions face a growing wave of cyberattacks that has exposed nearly 15 million pieces of personal information this month alone.

A first-of-its-kind sleep competition was held in Tokyo on October 5, with contestants competing for a 2.22 million yen top prize by trying to achieve the deepest, fastest and most stable sleep during a 90-minute session.

Japan brought the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games to a close on October 4 with a record 83 gold medals and 269 medals overall, finishing second behind China after 16 days of competition that produced historic victories in swimming, athletics, judo, wrestling, softball and other sports, while a closing ceremony in Nagoya marked the end of the first Asian Games held in Japan in 32 years.

A Tokyo court has recognized the commercial rights of performers over their voices for the first time, ruling that unauthorized use of AI-generated voices resembling those of celebrities can constitute an infringement of publicity rights in a landmark lawsuit brought by popular voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda against the operator of TikTok.

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The Tokyo District Court on October 6 fined television personality Dewi Sukarno, widely known in Japan as Dewi Fujin, 200,000 yen after finding the 86-year-old guilty of assaulting two women who worked for her agency, including a former manager.

A 20-year-old US Marine arrested over the robbery and killing of a woman at a hotel in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, may have strangled her with the cord of a telephone installed in the room, investigators said.

Five boys aged 15 to 17 have been arrested on suspicion of robbing and confining a 17-year-old high school student in Akishima, Tokyo, after allegedly beating him with a baton, taking his cash and forcing him to travel around on motorcycles.

A 36-year-old Tokyo bar owner was arrested on October 5 on suspicion of abandoning the body of his 25-year-old girlfriend in a mountainous area of Miyagi Prefecture, with police also investigating whether he was involved in her death.

Eleven men were injured when a traditional danjiri festival float overturned while attempting to make a sharp left turn at an intersection in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on the evening of October 3, with all victims conscious when transported to hospitals and none suffering life-threatening injuries.

Police are investigating a possible case of arson after a fire broke out in the parking lot of a closed restaurant in Daito, Osaka Prefecture, early on October 3, damaging approximately 460 square meters of the property, which has become a popular gathering place for young people after being featured online as a haunted location.

A 35-year-old man has been rearrested on suspicion of persuading a high school girl to expose herself during a video call on social media and recording the footage, in a case that has revealed the growing dangers of "non-meeting sugar dating," in which adults offer money to minors in exchange for sexual images and videos without ever meeting them in person.

An Australian tourist who suffered a spinal cord injury after falling from a bridge near a popular sightseeing area in Hakodate, Hokkaido, has filed a lawsuit against the city seeking 400 million yen in damages, claiming that the bridge's railing was dangerously low.