Rethinking the media's coverage of 'theatrical crime' in Japan
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 ...
Is international scrutiny of Japan's criminal justice system fair?
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 ...
23 days later: Getting arrested in Japan
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 ...
Fukuoka enlists artificial intelligence in fight against organized crime
Advances in artificial intelligence have come along in leaps and bounds in recent years, prompting police in Fukuoka and Kyoto to look into ways of using the technology to tackle organized crime. The Fukuoka Prefectural Police in Kyushu face a particularly daunting task, with some ...
Beware of the ¥10 million business card
Business cards carry a lot of weight in Japan, so much so that they can be used to devastating effect if someone decides to deploy them for criminal purposes. A recent case highlights the danger that comes with placing trust in such cards. At the ...
Examining the motives behind mass murder in Japan
Japan is for the most part a safe country. Gun-control laws are so strict in this East Asian nation of more than 120 million that fatalities remained in single digits last year. And yet we still feel a palpable sense of relief when we make ...
Giving visitors to Japan something they can dance to
Is this a case of deja vu on the dancefloor? In 2012, police in Osaka started raiding clubs for violating the adult entertainment business law, popularly known as fūeihō. The law forbids dancing after midnight. When pressed on the matter, police officials said they were simply ...
Can Hirokazu Kore-eda's success with 'Shoplifters' shed some light on poverty in Japan?
Director Hirokazu Kore-eda recently won the Palme d'Or at Cannes for "Shoplifters," a critically acclaimed family drama that was partially inspired by real-life events. It attempts to depict a slice of life in which people are struggling to make ends meet, a set of circumstances ...
In Japan, a high-profile former gangster struggles to go straight
Everyone loves a tale of redemption. Unfortunately, this isn't going to be one of them. In a previous column, I introduced a man who had gone from being a greedy, violent, self-centered boss of an organized crime syndicate to become a compassionate male nurse. It's ...
'The Outsider' scores a few hits among the misses
Netflix last month released a yakuza film starring Jared Leto titled "The Outsider" to critical disdain. And as much as I expected to hate the movie, I didn't. It's portrayal of the world of organized crime in Japan after World War II is not ...
Criminals in Japan are profiting from the public's fear of prosecutors
A new type of transfer fraud in which perpetrators take advantage of their victims' fear of prosecution has sparked concern among law enforcement officials in recent weeks. The Public Prosecutor's Office and the Metropolitan Police Department have issued a statement warning people about a "wire ...
Scrutiny on initial coin offerings rises in wake of Coincheck theft
Crime involving cryptocurrencies appears to be on the rise at a time when the total number of reported crimes in Japan is falling. The theft of 523 million NEM coins from Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck Inc. on Jan. 26 has brought this issue to a ...
