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April 26, 2025
 

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TRAFFIC

Under new rules, those who use smartphones while riding a bicycle would be subject to the maximum fine of ¥12,000.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 24, 2025
Japan set to fine cyclists on the spot for rule violations from 2026
Until now, police have usually responded to cycling violations by issuing verbal warnings or handing out red tickets that can lead to prosecution.
Takuya Matsunaga (right), who lost his wife, Mana, and daughter, Riko, in a 2019 crash lays flowers next to Mana's father, Yoshinori Uehara, at the site of the crash, in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2025
Victims killed by a runaway car in Tokyo remembered six years on
Takuya Matsunaga, who lost his wife and young daughter in the crash, laid flowers at the site of the incident in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district.
The head of a child dummy hits the ground after falling from a balance bike on a slope during a simulation conducted by the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2025
Consumer watchdog warns about the dangers of balance bikes for children
Between April 2019 and December 2024, there were 101 reported accidents involving such bikes.
The Kanagawa branch of the transportation company Maruhari in the city of Atsugi, Hokkaido in May 2024
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 9, 2025
Ex-company president referred to prosecutors over 2024 truck accident
The former president is suspected of forcing an ill driver to drive the truck involved in the accident on the Metropolitan Expressway's Ikebukuro Line.
The logo of Xiaomi is seen on a tire wheel of the SU7, the company's first electric vehicle, on display at a showroom in Beijing on March 25.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 2, 2025
Three reported dead after Xiaomi car with driver assistance crashes
The incident is likely to spark scrutiny over the smart driving software deployed in many of today’s cars.
Aichi police investigate the scene of an accident where a passenger car barreled through a busy section of downtown Nagoya on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 1, 2025
Seven people injured after car runs into pedestrians in Nagoya
Police arrested the car's driver, a woman in her 70s, at the scene on suspicion of negligent driving resulting in injury.
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.
A slope (left) is built at the intersection of a sunken road in Yashio City, Saitama Prefecture on Saturday.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2025
Slope built to reach man trapped in sinkhole in Saitama
Firefighters will now launch a full-scale effort to find the 74-year-old driver as soon as preparations are made.
A sinkhole at an intersection on a road in the city of Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, on Thursday morning
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 31, 2025
Heavy machinery to be deployed in bid to save man trapped in Saitama sinkhole
To stabilize the site and facilitate rescue efforts, crews are excavating a 4-meter-wide, 30-meter-long ramp to deploy heavy equipment and clear debris.
Efforts continued Thursday to rescue a 74-year-old truck driver trapped in a massive sinkhole in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2025
74-year-old truck driver trapped in Saitama sinkhole for third day
Witnesses reported that the ground collapsed moments before the truck drove over the area, sending the vehicle plummeting into the chasm.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki told a news conference Tuesday that he wants recommendations on criteria for dangerous driving as soon as possible.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 28, 2025
Japan to set clearer standards for dangerous driving offenses
Under the current law, the criteria for applying a charge for dangerous driving, which can carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, are vague.
Fukushima Prefectural Police have arrested an alleged drunken driver who fatally struck a 19-year-old in Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 23, 2025
Drunken driver hits and kills 19-year-old student in Fukushima
The victim had traveled from her home in Osaka Prefecture to take a university entrance exam.
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.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police headquarters
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 28, 2024
Tokyo man accused of killing wife with car
The man has admitted to the allegations, saying that he killed his wife because he was angry and upset after she suspected him of having an affair, according to police sources.
A transport ministry panel experiments with a dummy to determine how quickly a person lying on the road during the night would be spotted when drivers use low and high beam lights.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 27, 2024
Japan drivers warned to steer clear of drunk pedestrians sleeping on road
Collisions involving pedestrians asleep on the road typically spike in December, when more people get imbibed at New Year's gatherings.
Police officers enforce electric scooter traffic regulations in Chuo Ward, Osaka, in July.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 3, 2024
Luup CEO blames repeat offenders for high e-scooter traffic violations
According to the National Police Agency, there were 25,156 e-scooter traffic violation cases in the year after e-scooter regulations were relaxed.
The Oita District Court sentenced a 23-year-old man to eight years in prison Thursday for causing a fatal crash in the city of Oita in 2021.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 28, 2024
Oita court sentences man to eight years in prison for dangerous driving
Initially filed as a case of negligent driving resulting in death, prosecutors later sought a dangerous driving charge, which carries harsher penalties.
Kozo Iizuka (center) takes part in an investigation of the site of an April 2019 car crash in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district that he was involved in, in June the same year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 25, 2024
93-year-old inmate imprisoned over fatal Tokyo car crash dies
Kozo Iizuka died while serving a five-year term for negligent driving that caused the deaths of a woman and her young daughter in Ikebukuro in April 2019.
Relatives of the victim of an accident in the city of Oita held a news conference on Nov. 5, following the first hearing of the jury trial.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 14, 2024
Justice Ministry panel proposes stricter criteria for dangerous driving
Experts are advocating for the introduction of specific numerical thresholds for speed and blood alcohol content, addressing criticisms of ambiguity in the current law.
Toyota Motor and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone will spend ¥500 billion together on a project to develop the traffic accident prevention technology, and aim to commercialize it in 2028.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 29, 2024
Toyota and NTT to jointly develop driver assistance technology that uses AI
The ¥500 billion project will use artificial inteligence and optical communication infrastructure, aiming to commercialize by 2028.
Naked man’s rampage in Saitama linked to one fatality and 10 injured
Police believe Daisuke Nishimura may have been involved in roughly 20 incidents in the 90 minutes leading up to his arrest, including a fatal hit-and-run and multiple assaults.
Japan set to fine cyclists on the spot for rule violations from 2026
Under new rules, those who use smartphones while riding a bicycle would be subject to the maximum fine of ¥12,000.
Japan brings forward deadline for electronic travel authorization system
Japan is planning to implement by March 2029 a new online screening system in which foreign visitors who don’t need a visa apply for a certification before entering the country.
Built in a flash, Osaka Expo pavilions wrestle with sustainability
Kengo Kuma & Associates oversaw the construction of the Malaysia pavilion, which is encased in interwoven rows of bamboo that appear to ripple.
Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan
People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.
Amid uncertain tariffs, is now the time to buy a new iPhone?
An Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in September. Prices for the newest iPhone models start at around ¥100,000 ($700) in Japan.
Built in a flash, Osaka Expo pavilions wrestle with sustainability
Kengo Kuma & Associates oversaw the construction of the Malaysia pavilion, which is encased in interwoven rows of bamboo that appear to ripple.
Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
Crow meat, goat tartare: Mauvaise Herbe raises its game
Crow meat, shaped into a ball and attached to a foot of the bird, is one of the peculiar offerings of game at Mauvaise Herbe.

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