Ex-head of inn with bacteria exceeding limit dies in apparent suicide
老舗旅館「お湯交換年2回」運営会社前社長が死亡
Kyodo -- Mar 12
The former head of the operator of a southwestern Japan inn, who came under fire for only changing hot spring bathwater twice a year, allowing legionella bacteria to proliferate beyond the allowable limit, has died in a suspected suicide, police said Sunday.
Makoto Yamada, 70, was found dead by a passerby on a mountain road in the city Sunday morning, with a suicide note discovered in a nearby car, the police said. After admitting the misconduct in February, Yamada resigned as head of the operator of Daimaru Besso, the century-old ryokan-style inn in Chikushino, Fukuoka Prefecture. ...continue reading
Mar 12 (ANNnewsCH) - 大浴場の湯の入れ替えを年に2回しか行わなかったなどとして家宅捜索を受けた福岡県筑紫野市の老舗旅館「大丸別荘」の前社長が12日朝に死亡したと警察が発表しました。自殺とみられています。 ...continue reading
Twin boys fall to death from 7th floor window
NOJ / TV Asahi - Mar 25
Two 2-year-old twin boys fell to their deaths from the 7th floor of their apartment in Nagoya City on Friday, with the possibility that furniture was used to step out of a window.
Vietnamese woman acquitted of abandoning stillborn twins
NHK - Mar 24
Japan's Supreme Court has acquitted a Vietnamese woman of abandoning the bodies of her stillborn twins, overturning lower court rulings.
Yakuza-related police investigations hit three-decade low
Japan Times - Mar 23
The number of members and associate members of yakuza crime syndicates investigated by police in 2022 fell below 10,000 for the first time since Japan enacted the anti-organized crime law in 1991, National Police Agency data showed Thursday.
Robbery at Tokyo apartment leaves one suspect dead; 4 get away
Japan Today - Mar 23
One man was stabbed to death after he and four other men forced their way into an apartment in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district on Tuesday. The resident of the apartment stabbed the intruder in the neck during a struggle.
Model Jessica Michibata, friend arrested over MDMA possession
Japan Today - Mar 22
Fashion model Jessica Michibata and a male friend have been arrested at a hotel in Tokyo on suspicion of possessing the synthetic drug MDMA, police said.
Mother arrested for abandoning baby in locker
TV Asahi News / NOJ - Mar 21
Police have arrested a 33-year-old mother on suspicion of abandoning the corpse of a baby in a coin locker at a station in Osaka.
Prosecutors will not file an appeal to top court in retrial of 1966 murder case
NHK - Mar 21
Tokyo prosecutors have decided not to appeal a Tokyo High Court decision ordering a retrial for an 87-year-old man convicted of killing a family nearly six decades ago.
Man arrested for arson after fire kills 3 at his family home in Nagano
Kyodo - Mar 19
A 32-year-old man was arrested Saturday for arson after a fire gutted the house where he lived in the central Japan prefecture of Nagano, apparently killing three of his family members, police said.
Japan's 'evaporated' people: Inside an industry that helps people disappear
South China Morning Post - Mar 19
In Japan, as some 80,000 people go missing every year, according to data from the National Police Agency. Some are later found, but others vanish completely, becoming what’s described as an "evaporated person" or johatsu-sha.
Doomsday prepping in Japan: Inside one woman’s living-room bunker
SBS - Mar 19
Tokyo residents are being told to prepare for X Day. That’s the day when a potential massive earthquake could strike the city.
Teenage girl arrested after saying she strangled man in central Japan
Kyodo - Mar 18
A teenage girl was arrested on Saturday for allegedly killing a man at a hotel in Toyama Prefecture in central Japan, police said.
How do so many endangered creatures end up in Japan’s animal cafes?
nytimes.com - Mar 18
Critically endangered species and ones banned from international trade are among the hundreds of types birds, reptiles and mammals that researchers identified at 142 animal cafes.
Japan prosecutors charge 3 ex-SDF officers with indecent assault
NHK - Mar 18
Japanese prosecutors have charged three former members of the Ground Self-Defense Force with indecent assault of a female colleague, reversing a previous decision not to indict them.
Former Tsukiji president arrested for selling 18 tons of frozen tuna without permission
TV Asahi News - Mar 16
The former president of a food processing company in Tsukiji, Tokyo, was arrested for selling about 18 tons of frozen tuna without permission.
Lamborghini stolen to punish cheating boyfriend
FNN - Mar 16
A 29-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of robbery causing injury after responding to a woman's request to punish her boyfriend who she believed was cheating on her.
Court orders Japan govt. to recognize lesbian Uganda refugee fleeing persecution
NHK - Mar 16
A district court in Osaka, western Japan, has ordered the central government to grant refugee status to a Ugandan woman who says she fled to Japan as she was persecuted for being homosexual.
