Okinawa police have arrested a 32-year-old U.S. citizen on suspicion of setting fire to a lodging facility in Chatan and attempting to kill 18 guests who were staying inside, following a blaze that left one man seriously injured on August 15.
Chiba Prefectural Police have arrested a 71-year-old former junior high school principal on suspicion of committing indecent acts against an elementary school girl at a welfare support facility in Yachimata, Chiba Prefecture, in May.
The traditional whale and dolphin drive hunt in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, opened for the season on September 1, with fishermen capturing about 200 bottlenose dolphins during the first hunt.
Police forces across Japan are struggling to recruit enough officers, with the number of people taking police recruitment examinations falling to less than half the level of a decade ago and concerns growing that persistent staffing shortages could eventually affect public safety.
A fire broke out at a shopping arcade near Ise Jingu in Ise, Mie Prefecture, on the afternoon of August 31, sending red flames and thick black smoke into the air as firefighters continued battling the blaze with no immediate prospect of bringing it under control.
About one in three unmarried young people in Japan say they have no intention of marrying, according to the first large-scale survey of young people conducted by the Children and Families Agency, with financial insecurity emerging as the biggest perceived obstacle to marriage.