Japan grants long-term visa to gay U.S. man wed to Japanese
Japan Today -- Mar 14
Japan has granted a long-term visa to an American man who married his same-sex Japanese partner in the United States, in what his representative called on Monday a "breakthrough" move in a country that does not recognize same-sex marriage.
The designated activities visa will allow Andrew High, who has been seeking long-term residence through the legal system, to remain in Japan for up to a year. The visa was granted by the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau on Friday.
"The decision was made on a case-by-case basis, but it should be established as part of the system," his representative said.
Same-sex couples are eligible for a designated activities visa if both of them are foreign nationals but not if one of them is Japanese. High had previously only been granted a temporary visa. ...continue reading
"I was beaten by my son with an iron pipe" - 'Knife man' dies in police shooting
NOJ / TV Asahi - Mar 26
A man armed with a knife who barricaded himself in his house in Izumi City, Osaka, on Friday night has been shot by police after his mother claim he had been "beating her with an iron pipe."
Here's why Japanese gangsters are taking roadway authorities to court
Firstpost - Mar 26
Japan's notorious gangsters are taking the roadway authorities to court. Why?
Man indicted for killing university student with thallium
Japan Today - Mar 26
Prosecutors in Osaka have indicted a 37-year-old man on suspicion of killing a 21-year-old woman in Kyoto last October by poisoning her with thallium.
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.
