Japanese police alerted child welfare centers of a record-high 122,806 suspected abuse victims in 2023, up 6.1 percent from the previous year, amid growing concern and awareness about the abuse of minors, the National Police Agency said Thursday. A record 2,385 criminal investigations into child abuse cases were conducted by… Read
Police in Abiko, Chiba Prefecture, have arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of sexually molesting a woman on a train in January. According to police, the incident occurred on an express train running between Abiko and Tennodai stations on the JR Joban Line between 12:15 and 20:20 a.m. on January 21,… Read
A man robbed a convenience store in Isesaki City, Gunma Prefecture, on Thursday morning, telling the female employee, “Sorry, I’m hungry,” before fleeing with several grocery items. According to police, the incident occurred at a 7-Eleven store just before 3 a.m., local media reported. Police said the man entered the… Read
The Toyama District Public Prosecutors Office has indicted a 52-year-old man for allegedly raping his teenage daughter at their home in Kurobe City between 2013 and 2016. According to the indictment, Koji Daimon sexually abused his daughter, Riho Fukuyama, at least eight times while her mother was away, starting around… Read
Police in Seika, Kyoto Prefecture, have arrested a 22-year-old unemployed man on suspicion of robbery resulting in bodily injury after he assaulted a former female classmate from high school and stole her smartphone. According to police reports, Hayato Furuta, a resident of Ikoma in Nara Prefecture, allegedly threatened the 22-year-old woman… Read
Japan's top court on Tuesday said same-sex partners are eligible for crime victims' benefits as surviving family members, the first such ruling in the country that does not recognize same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court's Third Petty Bench scrapped the Nagoya High Court ruling and sent back the case to the… Read
Aichi Prefectural Police have arrested three men, one a music composer, on suspicion of violating the Cannabis Control Act after they smuggled marijuana from the United States and sent some to a rival music composer in an attempt to put him out of business. Among the three men, one suspect… Read
Police in Hiroshima have arrested a 42-year-old unemployed man on suspicion of attempted murder after he tried to stab an 81-year-old Japanese tourist in front of the A-Bomb Dome on Monday. According to police, the incident occurred at around 11:20 a.m. near the dome within the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in… Read
Police in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, say they are unable to find any third-party involvement in the deaths of two nursing home residents whose bodies were found on Saturday, and now believe it was a murder-suicide. Police suspect Takeshi Egawa, 79, fatally stabbed a 70-year-old resident in the neck before… Read
A woman was found dead in her home in Tsu, Mie Prefecture, and her husband was found hanging outside on Sunday, in what police suspect may have been a murder-suicide. According to police, the bodies of the couple, both in their 50s, were found on the premises of their two-story… Read