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September 01, 2025
 

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JAPANESE POLICE

Since June, at least 10 gold bar scams, including failed attempts, have been confirmed in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Aichi and Shizuoka prefectures.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 26, 2024
Gold bullion scams targeting elderly people on the rise in Japan
Criminals posing as police officers on Line have been persuading people to convert money into gold and then leave it outside their homes.
Kyoto police say there have been scams targeting gold bars in recent months.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 21, 2024
Kyoto man scammed out of ¥100 million in gold bars
The self-employed man, residing in Kyoto's Kamigyo Ward, received a call in late June from a man claiming to be from a mobile phone company.
The Metropolitan Police Department holds a workshop on dealing with cybercrimes in February.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 20, 2024
Tokyo police expand team for initial cybercrime investigations
The team will focus on investigations pertaining to online fraud, distribution of indecent images of children and drug trafficking.
Graffiti was found on the pillar bearing Yasukuni Shrine’s name and at its base at the Tokyo shrine's entrance Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 19, 2024
Pillar at entrance to war-linked Yasukuni Shrine vandalized again
Staff discovered Chinese characters for “toilet” and various letters of the English alphabet written on the pillar bearing the shrine’s name on Monday.
Popular commentator and journalist Akira Ikegami speaks about investment fraud on social media at the Aichi Prefectural Police in Nagoya in July.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 14, 2024
Japanese celebrities raising alarm over social media fraud
The amount of money stolen in social media investment fraud schemes between January-June rocketed about seven times from a year earlier, according to police.
Junya Ito (right) plays in a friendly match between Machida Zelvia and Stade de Reims at the Machida Gion Stadium in Tokyo on July 31.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 9, 2024
Japanese soccer player Ito avoids indictment over sexual assault
Two women filed a complaint in January accusing the 31-year-old soccer player of making them drunk and sexually assaulting them.
What is known as real money trading in online games is rife with issues, including account hijacking and fraud.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 8, 2024
Man arrested over alleged fraud involving Sega's in-game money
The suspect allegedly collected money by offering to sell the in-game currency at one-twentieth of the listed price on "real money trading" websites.
The Metropolitan Police Department headquarters in Tokyo
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 7, 2024
Former actor held over alleged break-in to smell Tokyo woman's underwear
The man was arrested while serving a suspended sentence after being convicted in 2022 for stealing another woman's underwear in Fukuoka Prefecture.
Kagoshima District Court has given a former Kagoshima Prefectural Police officer a suspended sentence for leaking investigative information.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 6, 2024
Former Kagoshima police officer found guilty of leaking investigation details
The judge said that the magnitude of the privacy violation was large as the officer shared information on personal criminal records and details of more than 100 cases.
Yoshifumi Matsumura (second from right), head of the National Public Safety Commission, inspects Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district in June.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 5, 2024
Tokyo host bar worker arrested over kickbacks for brokering prostitution
It is the first time a worker at a host bar has been arrested over receiving kickbacks for brokering prostitution.
As metal prices rise, so do cases of theft, with more and an increasing number of metal cables being stolen from solar power plants in Japan.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 1, 2024
Japan's solar plants see over 9,000 cases of cable theft since 2023
The survey were the first to be conducted by the National Police Agency on the situation, at a time when metal prices are rising.
A 28-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of deceiving a man she met on a dating app into paying her cash for sexually transmitted infection tests.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 1, 2024
Tokyo woman arrested on suspicion of STI test fraud
Police said Misaki Watanabe asked a man to pay for tests before engaging in sexual relations, but ceased all communication after receiving the money.
The amount of money stolen in fraud cases linked to social media in the first half of 2024 exceeded that of the whole 2023, the National Police Agency said.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 1, 2024
¥66 billion stolen in Japan via online scams in first half of 2024
Of the investment fraud cases reported, 51.6% involved advertisements on social media platforms.
The Shizuoka Prefectural Police headquarters (in background) in the city of Shizuoka
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 31, 2024
Grandson detained over Shizuoka triple murder case
Koichi Katayama, who allegedly killed his grandparents and aunt, has injuries to his abdomen, and police plan to formally arrest him once he recovers.
Footballer Kaishu Sano has been released after being arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 30, 2024
Japan footballer Kaishu Sano released after sexual assault arrest
It is not clear whether the case against the 23-year-old, who recently signed for top-flight German side Mainz, has been dropped.
Shizuoka Prefectural Police have put a suspect in a family murder case on their wanted list.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 30, 2024
Grandson wanted in Shizuoka triple murder case
Shizuoka police have issued an arrest warrant for Koichi Katayama, 27, in connection with the fatal stabbings of his grandparents and aunt.
Police are searching for a suspect in a family murder case in Shizuoka Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 29, 2024
Suspect at large after three killed in Shizuoka stabbings
A couple in their 80s and their 52-year-old daughter were found dead at their home in the city of Kikugawa, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Sunday.
A vehicle carrying Kohei Iitsuka, suspected of killing his probation officer, leaves the Otsu Kita Police Station in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, on June 10.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 26, 2024
Justice Ministry to assign multiple volunteer probation officers to watch over offenders
Previously in Japan, one volunteer probation officer was assigned to watch over one individual, except in rare cases.
Search operations for missing people from the Jan. 1 earthquake continue in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in June. A Saitama-man has been arrested for posting a fake rescue request on social media immediately after the quake.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2024
25-year-old arrested over fake rescue requests on social media
The man is suspected of posing as an individual affected by the Jan.1 Noto earthquake and posting requests for help on X.
A building in the city of Osaka where a syndicate suspected of conducting investment scams on social media operated from.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 24, 2024
90 arrested in Osaka over social media investment scam
Police raided four buildings in the city in the biggest bust of a syndicate involved in this kind of fraud in Japan.
Top Japan trade negotiator canceled U.S. trip over rice, report says
Ryosei Akazawa
‘Mount Fuji Lawson’ becomes a symbol of Japan’s overtourism problem
A couple poses for a wedding photo in front of a Lawson in the town of Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 25.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
The Nobel Prize and a testy phone call: How the Trump-Modi relationship unraveled
U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi greet one another at the start of a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington in February.
‘Mount Fuji Lawson’ becomes a symbol of Japan’s overtourism problem
A couple poses for a wedding photo in front of a Lawson in the town of Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 25.
How Tokyo's Ueno Zoo helps their animals cope with extreme heat
A polar bear at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on Thursday. The Arctic animals are among the most vulnerable species to Japan's scorching summer heat and zookeepers have to take a number of precautions in order to keep them safe.
Japan is warming up to tattoos — just not permanent ones
Tattoos have a complex history in Japan, but new types of temporary ink are letting locals curious about body art experiment without the commitment.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
Japan looks to build drone ‘shield’ in record defense budget request
A group of Ground Self-Defense Force service members discuss drone operations and capabilities at a joint static display during the Orient Shield 24 opening ceremony at the Yausubetsu Training Area in Hokkaido in July last year.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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