According to Reuters and others, a major foreign-owned restaurant chain operating in China possibly used tainted meat products. An organized crime group exposed on May 2 is said to have sent falsely labeled meat products containing rat, fox and other contaminants to the Mongolian hot pot specialty restaurant chain Little Sheep which is owned by U.S.-based Yum! Brands of the U.S., operators of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and other well-known restaurant chains. This latest revelation comes to light not long after it was revealed this past January that KFC China was using chicken that had received excessive doses of growth promoting agents and antibiotics. China has become a major market for the restaurant titan, and the company is said to be at wits end as it deals with successive scandals occurring there.
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crime (Page 65)
On 8 May Wakayama Police announced that they arrested 26-year-old Masaya Ogawa for the indecent assault of a 23-year-old woman aboard a commuter train. Adding a bizarre twist to the story, Ogawa claims that she was asking for it. He doesn’t mean that in the lame wearing-a-mini-skirt-is-asking-for-it way that other sex offenders use. Ogawa says that this was a prearranged session of “molester-play” set up online between him and the woman.
Nandan County, Guangxhi, China. A girl in her sixth grade of elementary school, making her under 13 years old, has been found guilty of murdering her classmate out of jealousy, and chopping up her body. The reason for this brutality: “because she was prettier than me”. Read More
In a small ceremony at the Ukyo Ward Precinct of the Kyoto Prefectural Police, Chief Suzuki presented 13-year-old junior high student, Ryoga Nomura, with a certificate of appreciation for his bravery during a train ride home. Nomura was recognized for almost single-handedly leading police to the arrest of a drunken adult male for inappropriately touching the woman next to him.
In Sakai City, Osaka last November a woman in her 40s died from a case of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), a condition that occurs when oxygen is cut off from the brain.
A possible cause of the HIE is suspected to have been the 100kg (220lbs) police officer who had sat on the woman’s back like one would on a pony.
The noble daikon is a beloved vegetable of Japan with a wide range of culinary uses along with other uses like carving huge phalluses, making cute calendars, or avant-garde musical instruments.
However, during two days in December of last year 100 daikon were mercilessly snatched from their homes and brutally crushed in Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture.
After a tireless investigation the police announced on 22 April that the culprits have been apprehended. The ringleader was an unnamed 14 year-old junior high school girl with a very strange motive indeed…
An unemployed young woman was arrested in Shizuoka Prefecture this week after she tried to pay at a convenience store with an obviously photocopied counterfeit bill. The master criminal’s excuse? “I was in a bind because I didn’t have any money.” Read More
This week in Beijing, the trial began for a 45-year-old man accused of killing a man with a samurai sword after he picked a fight with the man’s 23-year-old son. The incident occurred on October 19 last year and started over an argument on the bus. Read More
Imagine the horror of having your toes suddenly start to die and need amputation for seemingly no reason. Then imagine it turned out to be the result of a colleague attempting to kill you.
This bizarre situation has been reality for one unnamed woman in Yamanashi Prefecture for the past four months. A fellow employee, 40-year-old Tatsujiro Fukuzawa, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder on 28 March.
Japan has had a complicated relationship with tattoos over its history. Unlike in most western countries where it’s simply considered a form of expression or drunkenly poor decisions, currently body art is generally looked down upon in Japanese society despite having some of the best artists and techniques in the world.
And yet most people in Japan are unaware that not too long ago, for a time during the Edo Period (1603-1868) the go-to form of punishment for non-violent crimes was a tattoo right in the center of your forehead.
Back in the day, delivering the morning newspaper was an honor bestowed on one lucky neighborhood child who could earn some cash and tips of peanut-butter M&M’s in exchange for providing their neighborhood with news from the world. Now, the local paperboy is a rare, if not extinct, breed.
In Sakai City, Osaka, one father has been arrested on suspicion of violating the Child Welfare Act after allegedly deciding to instill the values of hard work and responsibility which come with a paper route in his own children.
From November last year until this January, Nozato Elementary School in Osaka City had been the scene of a string of robberies. In 16 different incidents, up to 235,000 yen (US$2,500) was stolen from the wallets of teachers who worked there.
However, thanks to the efforts of one vigilant teacher, the culprit was finally identified and dealt with on 28 February.
In by far the saddest news story of the day so far, a 38-year-old Indonesian woman has been arrested after drowning her son in the family bathtub, giving the reason that his penis was “too small” for him to possibly enjoy a happy life.
A 15-year-old junior high school student in Aichi Prefecture, Japan has been arrested for the attempted murder of his father after stabbing him with a knife.
Survey Shows 85.2% of Japanese People Are In Favor of Death Penalty, Others Demand “Something Worse”
On 21 February, Japan hanged a trio of convicts for murders including the kidnapping death of a young girl and a stabbing rampage which left nine dead. Those executed were Masahiro Kanagawa, Kaoru Kobayashi and Keiki Kano (nee Muto).
As always, these hangings drew outrage from Amnesty International and the Japanese Federation of Bar Associations who made a statement saying they find “these executions unacceptable.”
However, this opposition is largely ignored by the government of Japan who maintains that the population at large supports their policy of penalty by death.
To confirm this, the following day, the Research Panel website posted the results of a survey conducted of 29,364 people asking them how they felt about the death penalty.
The above pictured tweet was posted at 1:27 p.m. JST yesterday. Despite ending with a smiley emoticon, the harrowing message openly states that “a random attack” will take place at 10 a.m. on the Japan Rail Gifu station, Gifu Prefecture, at around 10 a.m. today.
Any owner of a large corporation would be proud to have someone like Tomohiro Kimura on their payroll. This selfless employee really took one for the team by getting himself arrested on 17 February in Wakayama Prefecture on suspicion of destruction of property. In doing so he helped to generate more news for his employer, Japanese media giant, Asahi Shinbun.
On 6 February, Osaka Prefectural Police announced that a 45-year-old man working for the Osaka City Construction Bureau had been arrested on suspicion of destruction of property.
In what could best be described as “register rage” the man was upset with the speed of the cashier and took his aggression out on the store’s age verification check with his fist.
Officials in the city of Sanda, Hyogo Prefecture, have released a statement urging women to be on their guard after a man stopped to ask a woman directions on the street before telling her that he was going without any underwear.
Two members of the Kanagawa Prefecture Police Force were arrested late last week on charges of extortion. Sergeants Mori and Arakawa of the Traffic Division and Organized Crime Unit, respectively, are believed to have abused their higher rank in order to coerce two female junior police officers into exchanging clothes in front of them. Sgt. Mori, meanwhile, is facing assault charges after he is believed to have attempted to kiss the pair.
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