Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
Crime & Legal Sep 24, 2013
Member of deadly Japanese cult will go on trial Jan. 16
The Tokyo District Court has decided that the trial of Makoto Hirata, a former senior member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult accused of helping abduct a Tokyo notary clerk in 1995, will begin Jan. 16. Hirata, 48, will be the first Aum member to ...
Crime & Legal Aug 8, 2013
Guam court grants rampage suspect second psychological evaluation
A court on Guam on Thursday said it will allow a psychologist to re-examine the man charged with killing three Japanese tourists and wounding 11 other people in a vehicular and knife rampage in February. Judge Anita Sukola, who is handling the murder case ...
National Aug 6, 2013
Test of Mount Fuji fee collection called success
by Masaaki Kameda
Yamanashi and Shizuoka took in more than ¥34 million from climbers willing to pay a fee to scale Mount Fuji, which straddles the prefectures, during a 10-day trial period this summer, prefectural officials said Tuesday. The voluntary admission fee of ¥1,000 charged between July ...
Crime & Legal Jul 30, 2013
Dumpling poisoner faces stiff sentence
A Chinese man admits putting poison in frozen "gyoza" dumplings that sickened 10 people in Japan 5½ years ago.
Crime & Legal Jun 27, 2013
Man to hang over Osaka murders
The Osaka District Court on Wednesday sentenced a 46-year-old man to death after a lay judge trial convicted him in the 2004 slaying of an elderly couple in the victims’ home. Ex-construction worker Katsuaki Suzuki had pleaded not guilty, but the panel of three ...
World May 11, 2013
Will the BBC learn anything from the Stuart Hall sex scandal?
by Tracy Mcveigh and Maggie Brown
The first Tuesday in May was an awkward day for BBC newsreaders. Once again the main headlines were dominated by scandals within their own institution. One of their most well-known presenters had admitted to 14 indecent assaults on 13 victims aged as young as ...
Crime & Legal Mar 21, 2013
Guam court sets another pretrial hearing for murder rampage case
A Guam court set another pretrial hearing Wednesday for a local man charged with slaying three Japanese tourists and wounding 11 other people in a vehicular and knife rampage. During the first pretrial hearing Wednesday in the multiple aggravated murder and multiple attempted aggravated ...
Crime & Legal Mar 20, 2013
U.S. minor gets five to 10 years for strangling Furlong
by Masami Ito
An American minor is handed an indefinite prison term of between five and 10 years for killing an Irish exchange student last May.
Crime & Legal Jan 29, 2013
12-year term urged in Somalis' piracy trial
by Masami Ito
Prosecutors on Monday demanded 12-year prison terms for two Somalis being tried on charges of boarding and attempting to hijack a Bahama-registered oil tanker operated by a Japanese company in the Indian Ocean in 2011. This is the first case being prosecuted under the ...
Crime & Legal Jan 16, 2013
Somali pair admit trying to hijack ship
by Masami Ito and Setsuko Kamiya
In the first case prosecuted under Japan’s 2009 antipiracy law, two Somali men pleaded guilty Tuesday in Tokyo District Court to charges of boarding and attempting to hijack a Bahamas-registered tanker operated by a Japanese shipping company. The ship, sailing in the Indian Ocean ...