Japan on Friday executed two death row prisoners, local media reported, as the government—backed by public opinion—continued to ignore calls by international rights groups to end capital punishment. Media identified the two inmates as Junko Yoshida, 56, a former nurse convicted of two murders for insurance in 1998 and 1999 in Fukuoka Prefecture, and Yasutoshi […]
Turkish media report that a Japanese man has been detained in Turkey on suspicion of seeking to join the Islamic State militant group.Multiple media report the 24-year-old was detained by security troops in southeast Turkey while heading by car for a town near the border with Syria.They say the man’s cell phone had records of […]
A woman dubbed the “black widow,” who is accused of murdering her husband and other partners with cyanide, is expected to plead not guilty to all charges in her upcoming trial, sources close to the matter said. Documents submitted by lawyers for 69-year-old defendant Chisako Kakehi indicate she will likely deny the charges of murder […]
Major restaurant chains in Japan are enhancing recruiting efforts in order to secure part-time workers. McDonald’s Japan released an animated short film online with the aim of attracting college freshmen to work for them. The academic year in Japan starts in April and ends in March. During this season, stores have to find new workers […]
Police have arrested a 69-year-old man on charges of assaulting his former wife in front of the Saitama District Court building. The incident occurred at around 10 a.m. on Tuesday morning, when Takahisa Matsumoto, a resident of Ageo, Saitama Prefecture, slashed his ex-wife’s left cheek with a knife in front of the entrance to the […]
A U.S. Navy sailor arrested on suspicion of raping a Japanese woman in Okinawa has admitted to the charge, having initially denied it, investigative sources said Wednesday. Justin Castellanos, 24, a seaman at the U.S. Marines’ Camp Schwab in northern Okinawa, was arrested on March 13 on suspicion of raping the woman in her 40s […]
A zebra that escaped overnight from a horse-riding club in Aichi Prefecture, Central Japan, has died after being shot with a tranquilizer dart.The 2-year-old male zebra was spotted on Wednesday at a golf course in neighboring Gifu Prefecture. It evaded police efforts to capture it for around 5 hours, and ended up in a pond […]
Safety concerns emerged Monday at an amusement park in Nagoya under scrutiny for a minor crash on one ride and failure to fully secure a carriage door on its ferris wheel. The safety mishaps occurred at Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens, where all 16 attractions have since been suspended for safety checks. According to the […]
Police suspect that two incidents that resulted in damage to property over the weekend in the Kansai area are the result of a dispute between the Yamaguchi-gumi organized crime group and its newly formed rival, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun(Mar. 20). At around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, police received a tip about a vehicle that had smashed into an office of the Oda-gumi, an […]
Cherry blossoms in Tokyo are officially in bloom, the Japan Meteorological Agency said Monday, in one of the most anticipated announcements of spring. The season’s first blooms of the beloved pale pink flowers in Tokyo were reported for the capital’s benchmark tree of the Someiyoshino variety at Yasukuni Shrine. The declaration, which marks the arrival […]
