Jan 29, 2012

A victory for women

Voters in Otsu, Shiga elected Japan’s youngest-ever female mayor last week. Congratulations go out to Ms. Naomi Koshi, who is only 36, almost half the age of the outgoing mayor, Mr. Makoto Mekata, 70. Mr. Mekata held the post for two terms supported by ...

Jan 24, 2012

Akashi policing on trial

The criminal trial of Mr. Kazuaki Sakaki, former deputy police chief of Hyogo Prefecture’s Akashi police station, started Jan. 19 at the Kobe District Court. Acting on a January 2010 vote by Kobe’s No. 2 prosecution inquest committee (an 11-member citizens’ panel), court-appointed lawyers ...

Jan 20, 2012

Encouragement after tragedy

People in Kobe and adjacent areas on Tuesday prayed for the souls of the victims of the Jan. 17, 1995, earthquake, which killed 6,434 people. This year’s anniversary was special. It was the first anniversary remembered since the March 11 earthquake-tsunami, which devastated the ...

Jan 19, 2012

Case highlights trial limitations

The Kobe District Court on Jan. 11 found former West Japan Railway Co. President Masao Yamazaki not guilty of professional negligence in the April 25, 2005, commuter train accident on the Fukuchiyama Line in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture. The crash killed 106 passengers and the ...