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November 24, 2025
 

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JAPAN

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Yoichiro Otsu, the suspect arrested in connection with the stabbing of a woman in Akasaka, Tokyo, enters the Akasaka Police Station on Saturday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
GSDF officer arrested over stabbing of woman in Tokyo’s Akasaka area
The suspect, Lt. Col. Yoichiro Otsu, who belongs to the GSDF's Camp Asaka in Tokyo's Nerima Ward, has denied the allegations against him.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Two men suspected of smuggling 1 ton of gold into Japan from South Korea
Investigators believe the pair traveled 216 times between South Korea and Japan from 2023 to 2024, smuggling roughly 1 ton of gold worth about ¥10.8 billion.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
‘I should not have lived this long,’ man accused of killing Abe tells court
Describing his troubled upbringing and the misery caused by his mother’s devotion to the Unification Church, Tetsuya Yamagami expressed regret.
Cloudflare has been ordered to pay ¥500 million after four major publishing firms accused the firm of copyright infringement for its role in hosting sites that distribute pirated copies of manga titles.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 20, 2025
Japanese court orders Cloudflare to pay ¥500 million over manga piracy
Four major publishing firms accused Cloudflare of copyright infringement for its role in hosting sites that distribute pirated copies of manga titles.
Takehiro Matsubara, a University of Tokyo Hospital doctor, has been arrested for allegedly taking bribes.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 20, 2025
University of Tokyo Hospital doctor arrested for allegedly taking bribes
The suspects, a doctor and a medical equipment company official, are believed to have abused a system allowing for donations to support research.
U.S. military personnel join Japanese officials and residents for a one-off joint nighttime patrol on the streets of the city of Okinawa in April.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 19, 2025
U.S. Navy member suspected of sex crime against Okinawa minor
The police did not disclose whether the serviceman has admitted or denied the allegations.
The mother of the man on trial for the 2022 killing of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the Nara District Court that she feels responsible for her son’s actions.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 19, 2025
Even after Abe’s death, suspect’s mother stays faithful to Unification Church
By Tomoko Otake
The church’s influence on Tetsuya Yamagami's family has become a focal point of his trial, as a grudge he said he held against it had led him to target the prime minister.
A view of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward at night. Last year in Japan, 66 people were put in protective custody as victims of human trafficking. Among them, 58 — including all 41 minors — were Japanese nationals. International pressure to act on human trafficking led Japan to make efforts to crack down on the crime, such as a tightening of conditions in 2005 for entertainer visas.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Nov 19, 2025
The reality of human trafficking in Japan
By Yukana Inoue
Its shifting nature, as well as the ever-changing demographics of potential victims, make it hard for authorities to crack down on trafficking.
Authorities have determined that a woman in her 70s found in a rice field in Kazuno, Akita Prefecture, died of hypothermia.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 19, 2025
Akita woman thought to have been killed by a bear actually died of hypothermia
By Jessica Speed
Authorities concluded that a smaller animal had inflicted the wounds on the body of the woman, who was in her 70s, after her death.
Police officers examine a poster, marked with a large “X,” at a building where a woman was stabbed in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on Sunday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 18, 2025
Akasaka stabbing suspect carried out attack in under 30 seconds, police say
Footage captured near the commercial building’s entrance shows a man, believed to be the attacker, entering directly after the woman, then leaving about 30 seconds later.

Two men suspected of smuggling 1 ton of gold into Japan from South Korea
U.K. gold bullion bars and coins are displayed at Baird & Co. in Hatton Garden in London.
Japan plans higher visa fees for foreign residents
Along with planned higher fees for foreign residents to stay, Japan is looking to raise the ¥3,000 single-entry visa fee for inbound tourists to Western standards in the next fiscal year.
War refugee Aonishiki becomes first Ukrainian to win sumo tournament
Ukrainian sumo wrestler Aonishiki receives the Prime Minister's Cup from Takahiro Inoue, an adviser to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, on Sunday in Fukuoka after becoming the first from his nation to win a tournament in the traditional Japanese sport.
Americans with four-year degrees now comprise a record 25% of unemployed workers
A job fair in Fletcher, North Carolina. The unemployment rate for bachelor’s degree-holders in the U.S. rose to 2.8% in September, up a half-percentage point from a year earlier.
Top Chinese diplomat weighs in on Takaichi’s ‘shocking’ Taiwan remarks
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivers delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the Lanting Forum in Beijing on Oct. 27.
Japan plans higher visa fees for foreign residents
Along with planned higher fees for foreign residents to stay, Japan is looking to raise the ¥3,000 single-entry visa fee for inbound tourists to Western standards in the next fiscal year.
First foreign president of Hosei University looks abroad for change
Hosei University President Diana Khor, who herself was an international student, aims to encourage students to look outward and cultivate a global mindset.
Japanese companies advised to change mindset about investment in Africa
Bernard Laurendeau, chief of Enkopa Lab Japan, in Tokyo last month
Munetaka Murakami headlines quartet looking to move to MLB via posting system
The Swallows' Munetaka Murakami has 246 career home runs in eight NPB seasons.
The reality of human trafficking in Japan
A view of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward at night. Last year in Japan, 66 people were put in protective custody as victims of human trafficking. Among them, 58 — including all 41 minors — were Japanese nationals. International pressure to act on human trafficking led Japan to make efforts to crack down on the crime, such as a tightening of conditions in 2005 for entertainer visas.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Juzo Itami’s “Tampopo” was released Nov. 23, 1985, and though it wasn’t a hit at the time, it has gained a cult following in the years since.
Eat, slurp, love: 'Tampopo' turns 40
By Weiwen Lin

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