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August 29, 2025
 

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THEFT

A former MUFG Bank employee said in a court hearing that she committed thefts to make up for losses she had suffered from foreign exchange margin trading and horse-race betting.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 26, 2025
Ex-MUFG Bank employee reveals ¥1.7 billion safe-deposit thefts
A former MUFG Bank employee said during a court hearing on Monday that she stole items worth ¥1.7 billion to ¥1.8 billion, including cash and gold, from around 100 people, in a high-profile safe-deposit theft case.
A pachinko parlor worker and two others were arrested over a case of about ¥28 million in cash being stolen from the safe of the parlor in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 20, 2025
Pachinko parlor employee arrested for alleged role in robbery
The employee's involvement in the case came to light based on the statements of two others who had already been arrested for the robbery.
Police are looking for the whereabouts of cash taken from a pachinko parlor in Fukushima Prefecture where a robbery took place on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 14, 2025
Two men arrested for ¥28 million robbery at Fukushima pachinko parlor
Police believe that a 19-year-old brandished a fake gun to get the money while a 21-year-old drove the getaway car.
Tomonobu Kojima arrives at Tokyo's Haneda Airport in February 2023 after being deported from the Philippines.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 23, 2025
Senior member of 'Luffy' crime ring gets 20 years in prison
Tomonobu Kojima, 47, was the first of the four indicted members of the group, whose members went by the nickname "Luffy," to receive a court ruling.
The National Police Agency has drafted stricter identification rules for secondhand metal dealers in order to prevent the resale of stolen goods.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 26, 2025
NPA to toughen ID rules for metal dealers amid surge in stolen AC units
The National Police Agency drafted amendments that would require metal dealers to verify sellers’ identities and keep transaction records for three years.
The Japanese Bankers Association said Thursday that it has revised its sample agreement to explicitly prohibit the storage of cash in safe-deposit boxes.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 20, 2025
Japanese banks set to ban storage of cash in safe-deposit boxes
In recent months, incidents came to light in which workers at major lenders allegedly stole client valuables held in such boxes.
Osaka Prefectural Police have arrested two men for allegedly stealing a safe containing roughly ¥100 million ($702,500) from the home of a company president last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 27, 2025
Osaka police arrest two men in ¥100 million home burglary
Investigators believe the suspects may have had advance knowledge of both the cash and the location of a spare key inside the home for the safe they stole.
A stolen Kanzeon Bodhisattva statue in Daejeon, central South Korea, in January
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 11, 2025
Stolen Buddha statue handed over to Japan in South Korea
South Korea's Supreme Court recognized the Japanese temple's ownership of the statue in 2023, rejecting claims that it was stolen by Japanese pirates in the 14th century.
Among the proposals by the Financial Services Agency include removing cash and other items that have a high risk of being used for money laundering from a list of items that can be kept in safe deposit boxes.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 28, 2025
Japanese regulators seek stricter rules on safe deposit boxes
The Financial Services Agency is proposing, among others, barring the storage of cash and other items with high risk of being used for money laundering.
According to the Nippon Bonsai Growers Cooperative, there were about 30 cases of bonsai theft last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 14, 2025
Bonsai thefts sweep Japan as miniature trees grow more popular
About 30 cases of such theft occurred last year, according to the Nippon Bonsai Growers Cooperative.
The law will require scrap metal dealers to verify the identity of sellers during transactions.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 11, 2025
Japan moves to curb metal theft with new identity check laws
Metal theft has surged in recent years, driven by rising copper prices.
Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested a former deputy manager at Hana Credit Union’s Yokohama branch on suspicion of stealing ¥619 million in cash from the branch's safe deposit boxes.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 5, 2025
Hana Credit Union employee arrested on suspicion of safe deposit box theft
The suspect admitted to the allegations, telling police he used the stolen money to pay off debts and gamble.
A former employee of Mizuho Bank's Hiroo branch in Tokyo stole money from the safe deposit boxes of two clients between January 2016 and June 2019, according to the bank.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 27, 2025
Mizuho Bank confirms ¥66 million stolen from safe deposit boxes
A former employee stole the money from two clients' safe deposit boxes between January 2016 and June 2019.
Major Japanese banks are tightening controls on the management of safe-deposit boxes after a string of thefts involving bank employees rocked public confidence.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 24, 2025
Japanese banks to rethink security measures for safe-deposit boxes
A string of thefts involving bank employees have intensified scrutiny of a segment already grappling with weak demand and thin margins.
MUFG Bank President Junichi Hanzawa bows in apology in Tokyo on Jan. 17 following alleged massive thefts of customer assets by a former employee.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 5, 2025
Ex-MUFG bank worker paid interest to pawnshops to keep gold available to her
The bank worker is suspected of depositing in several pawnshops gold ingots worth several hundred million yen that she had stolen.
MUFG Bank's Nerima branch in Tokyo, where a former employee allegedly stole customer assets from safe deposit boxes
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2025
MUFG Bank punishes execs over customer asset thefts
President Junichi Hanzawa will take a 30% cut in monthly pay for three months.
Former MUFG Bank employee Yukari Imamura, a suspect in the theft of gold ingots worth ¥260 million, leaves the Nerima Police Station in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 15, 2025
Ex-MUFG Bank employee arrested over theft of 20 kg gold deposits
At least 60 clients have been victims of the safe deposit box thefts, with the total damage expected to exceed ¥1 billion.
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.
Two separate cases of attacks at homes in Chiba Prefecture were reported early Sunday morning.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 23, 2024
Suspects at large in dual Chiba armed robberies
Police are treating both incidents as armed robberies and are analyzing potential links between the two cases.
The rise in crypto heists comes as bitcoin jumped 140% this year to surpass the $100,000 mark.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 20, 2024
Losses from crypto hacks jump to $2.2 billion in 2024, report finds
The rise in crypto heists comes as bitcoin jumped 140% this year to surpass the $100,000 mark.
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.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Akazawa's trip to Washington for tariff talks abruptly canceled
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, had been set to fly to Washington on Thursday.
Confusion over Japan’s ‘hometown’ plan overshadows African development event
First Lady Yoshiko Ishiba (center, in white and blue dress) hosts an event on Japanese culture with the first ladies of African leaders on the sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Is Kishida plotting a return of the king? Or would he rather stay a kingmaker?
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida chairs a plenary session at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.
Philippines quietly deepening ‘unofficial’ defense ties with Taiwan
Filipino soldiers take part in a flag-raising ceremony on Mavulis Island during a visit by the Philippines' Armed Forces chief of staff, in Batanes, the Philippines, in June 2023. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, sits about 160 kilometers from Taiwan.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.

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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