The second ticket lottery for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics closed on Aug. 19 for an estimated 4.16 million residents of Japan who came up empty-handed in the initial draw. The results are expected to be announced on Sept. 11 for an additional 700,000 or so ...

Police have described the torching of Kyoto Animation, which killed 35 people, as the worst case of arson in postwar Japan. Given the shocking details of the attack that have emerged since July 18, it's certainly not hard to believe. For me, the fire brought ...

Japan is currently creating a legal framework to operate casinos via a system of integrated resorts, but concerns persist that they'll be prime targets for organized crime once they're finally up and running by 2024. "The yakuza have changed over the years, but one thing ...

With the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games a little more than a year away, it's time for Japan to turn the page on tattoos. It's hard to argue with a straight face in this day and age that tattoos are exclusively used by ...

Membership in organized crime syndicates has been decreasing about 10 percent each year since 2011, according to National Police Agency statistics. The reasons for the decline in membership are complex but we should give credit to the police for using every means at their disposal ...

"Imagine someone stole everything in your store and you reported the crime to the police," says Nobuyasu Ogata, defense lawyer for Mark Karpeles. Karpeles, 33, is the former CEO of Mt. Gox, once the largest bitcoin exchange in the world. "A year later," Ogata says, ...

One could almost be forgiven for thinking that con artists are a dime a dozen in Japan. They've been terrorizing elderly folk over the telephone in recent years with their ore-ore sagi ("It's me" scams) and sending threatening emails that warn recipients their computer ...

Ten minutes after midnight on Jan. 1, Kazuhiro Kusakabe drove a rental car into pedestrians on Harajuku's famed Takeshita-dori, injuring nine people. The 21-year-old college student drove around 140 meters the wrong way on the one-way street before crashing into a building, forcing him to ...

The Nov. 19 arrest of ousted Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn, his 23-day detention, his subsequent arrests and lengthy stay in detention has resulted in international scrutiny of Japan's criminal justice system. Is that fair? Shin Kukimoto, deputy public prosecutor at the Tokyo District ...

Freedom is easy to take for granted — at least until it is taken away from you without warning. Carlos Ghosn, chairman of the alliance between Nissan Motor Co., Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., was arrested on Nov. 19 for alleged financial violations. Two days ...