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June 06, 2025
 

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NPA

National Police Agency data showed a 24.1% increase in stalking-related arrests last year, with 1,341 individuals detained for violating the anti-stalking law, marking the highest figure since its revision in 2016.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 5, 2025
Stalking-related arrests surge by 24% in 2024 to record high
Restraining orders issued under the anti-stalking law also climbed 23% last year, according to the National Police Agency.
The National Police Agency headquarters in Tokyo
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2025
Child abuse cases hit record high in Japan in 2024
The number of victims rose by 285 from the previous year to 2,700.
"Handguns" sold over online shopping websites. The National Police Agency has issued a warning about toy pistols sold online that are capable of firing live ammunition.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 27, 2025
Police issue warning over toy pistols capable of firing live rounds
Possession of such products constitutes a violation of the firearms and swords control law, the National Police Agency said.
Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department headquarters. Along with the National Police Agency, the MPD will carry out a major reorganization to beef up investigations into tokuryū groups.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2025
Japan police to launch team targeting tokuryū masterminds
The new police office is set to gather and assess information on tokuryū leaders around the country and identify targets for crackdowns.
Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Itsunori Onodera (fourth from left) visits a driver's license center in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, on Wednesday to see how foreign driver's licenses are converted into Japanese ones.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2025
Japan considers toughening rules on driver's license conversions
The National Police Agency revealed the plan amid concerns that the system for converting a foreign license is too easy.
A vehicle carrying Hideyuki Shirai, who was arrested on suspicion of abandoning the body of ex-girlfriend Asahi Okazaki at his home, leaves the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters to be sent to prosecutors, in the city of Yokohama on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 9, 2025
NPA chief urges Kanagawa police to review response to stalker case
Asahi Okazaki, 20, was found at her ex-boyfriend's home last month. Her family claims she was stalked and that the police response was inadequate.
Two Japanese men are suspected of helping an IT worker from North Korea create an account for a job-matching service by sending driver's license photos and other information to the IT worker in September and October 2020.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 8, 2025
Pair suspected of helping North Korean IT worker pose as a Japanese citizen
Police in Tokyo believe the IT worker was involved in North Korea's efforts to obtain foreign currency.
Among those arrested, 1,011 were ringleaders or individuals who gave instructions. About 90% were perpetrators, including people who received defrauded money, and around 40% became involved in the crimes through recruitment via social media.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 3, 2025
New ‘tokuryū’ crime groups outpace yakuza in arrests
The term was coined by the National Police Agency to describe a new form of criminal group that has emerged as an alternative to traditional yakuza organizations.
Orix Buffaloes pitcher Taisuke Yamaoka speaks to reporters in the city of Osaka on Friday for the first time since he was reported to have participated in a poker tournament run by a foreign casino website.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 21, 2025
Cabinet approves strategy to battle illegal online casinos
A National Policy Agency survey released earlier this month showed that nearly 3.37 million Japanese are estimated to have used overseas online casinos to illegally gamble.
Japanese soldiers prepare to go underground amid a sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway system on March 20, 1995.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2025
Ex-police official regrets delays in raiding Aum facilities
A former National Police Agency executive regrets failing to raid Aum Shinrikyo bases before the doomsday cult mounted its sarin nerve gas attack in the Tokyo subway system.
Some 40% of online casino users are unaware that gambling via the casinos is illegal, a survey by the National Police Agency shows.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2025
3.37 million in Japan use overseas online casinos, police survey suggests
Around 40% of respondents in the survey said they were unaware using paid services offered by such sites was illegal, according to the National Police Agency.
By type of social media, crimes against children in which they were targeted through their use of social media took place most frequently through Instagram for the first time, at 461 victims, followed by X at 398 victims, and TikTok, at 82 victims.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 13, 2025
Children targeted for crime through social media fell 10.8% in 2024
The total was the lowest in the past 10 years and fell for the fifth consecutive year, the National Police Agency said.
The number of fatal bicycle accidents and those causing serious injury that were attributed to cyclists' mobile phone use totaled 28 in 2024, a record high. Similarly, the number of such accidents involving cars driven by drivers distracted by mobile phones rose to the highest on record, at 136 cases.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 27, 2025
Accidents caused by distracted drivers hit record high in 2024
A total of 136 fatal car accidents and those resulting in serious injury due to mobile phone use were recorded last year, the highest since at least 2007.
The National Police Agency has been warning people that gambling on online casinos is illegal in Japan even if they are operating legally overseas.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 16, 2025
Police investigate comedians over alleged online casino gambling
Officials warn that online casinos are illegal in Japan even if they are operating legally overseas, but the number accused of using them continues to rise.
According to the National Police Agency, 99% of speech venues during last year’s House of Representatives election had baggage inspections carried out.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 4, 2025
Election speech sites step up security after failed 2023 Kishida attack
The National Police Agency has applied greater pressure on speech organizers to enforce security measures following the 2023 failed attack on former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
National Police Agency Commissioner-General Yasuhiro Tsuyuki speaks during a news conference on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 23, 2025
Japan police agency sets rules for fake IDs in undercover yami baito probes
Investigations involving the use of fake IDs will target crimes such as robbery, special fraud, investment fraud and romance fraud.
Copper cables stolen from a solar power facility and cable cutters used for the theft
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 9, 2025
Japan eyeing mandatory ID check for scrap metal trading
Stolen copper wires are often brought to buyers as scrap metal, but there is no law requiring identity verification, making it easier to cash in stolen items.
Tokyo led the country's 47 prefectures with 146 traffic-related fatalities in 2024, followed by Aichi with 141 and Chiba with 131.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2025
Japan's traffic death toll falls to third-lowest in 2024
There were 2,663 traffic-related deaths in 2024. The government has a goal of lowering the annual toll below 2,000 by 2025.
National Police Agency Commissioner General Yasuhiro Tsuyuki
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 6, 2024
Police protected yami baito applicants in 125 cases
Since mid-October, the National Police Agency has been calling on applicants for such jobs to seek police advice and protection.
Some police officers will start wearing body cameras during patrols and for traffic and crowd-control duties from next spring on a trial basis.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2024
Police agency to test use of body cameras on patrol and in big crowds
The NPA has said it will consider whether to introduce the cameras nationwide based on the results of the trial.
Japan’s fertility rate hits record low despite government push
The total number of births dropped to about 686,000, marking the first time the figure has fallen below 700,000, according to a health ministry release on Wednesday.
Japan eyes tougher rules for foreign residents and tax hike for tourists
A tax-free shop in Kyoto in April 2024. Last week, members of a Liberal Democratic Party study group drafted a proposal seeking to scrap the country's tax-free shopping system altogether.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
Is Japan ready to say goodbye to tax-free shopping?
Arrows lead to the tax-free counter at a branch of discount retailer Don Quijote in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
New Naoshima museum bets on Asia, not the West
Detail of Takashi Murakami, “Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu Byobu: Iwasa Matabei RIP” (2023-25)
Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
Six months into 2025, J-pop is having a full-on identity crisis (and a great time)
The year so far is only proving that Mrs. Green Apple is the biggest band in Japan. Their success also seems to be hinting at a change in the musical landscape more broadly.
Nintendo’s Switch 2 console is finally here
The Switch 2 is Nintendo's first new gaming console in eight years.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.

Podcast

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

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
By Alex K.T. Martin

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