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crime (Page 65)

Homeless man mistakes phone straps for food, is arrested for theft

Japan has an unspoken problem with homelessness in its cities. It’s not uncommon to see tent cities along the edges of recreational parks or to see leather-skinned men sleeping on newspapers around the train stations. These people are largely ignored by the public and will keep to themselves unless provoked by some means. The vast majority do not even beg.

Unfortunately, the problem of poverty is not the only issue that these people face. Mental illness is not uncommon amongst the homeless, and the combination of hungry people and unstable mental states can lead to some especially unfortunate circumstances.

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Singapore “samurai” faces up to five years in jail after swinging sword on subway

It’s all happening on Asia’s trains this week, isn’t it? According to Southeast Asian news sources, a man dressed in “samurai” garb faces up to five years in prison and “flogging” after jumping the ticket gate and then brandishing a full-length samurai sword on board a busy subway train on Monday this week.

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Man arrested for year-long terrorism campaign against manga “Kuroko’s Basketball”

On 12 October, 2012 a plastic container was left on the second floor in the gymnasium of Tokyo’s Jochi University (aka Sophia University), one of Japan’s most prestigious schools and alma mater of Tadatoshi Fujimaki the writer of the hit manga series Kuroko’s Basketball (aka The Basketball Which Kuroko Plays).

Inside the container was a liquid capable of releasing poisonous hydrogen sulphide. Attached was a note which read, “I hate Fujimaki.”

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“Knockout Game” invading Japan? Violent attacks in Kobe, Osaka spark debate

With so many cool toys coming to stores this year, it is hard to believe kids would be so bored that they create a game where the “players” score points for each real-world stranger they render unconscious. But two recent attacks in Kobe and Osaka are making Japanese netizens scared that the so-called “Knockout Game,” which has been widely reported in American media, has now landed on Japanese streets. Some academics are concerned that this is just another sign of America’s “society of violence” importing itself to Japan.

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65-year-old arrested for theft: “I never worked”

On 28 November, Osaka Prefectural Police announced the arrest of 65-year-old Kiyomasa Shimabukuro for crimes including theft. According to police, the suspect confessed adding, “I never worked. I lived off stolen money.”

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It’s been three years since the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster swallowed up whole cities and caused one of the worst nuclear power disasters in history. For much of the world the devastating event is a distant memory – except for people in California who, for some reason, to this day think swimming in the ocean is going to give them three eyes or four boobs or something.

But for many living near the crippled Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant, like the inmates at a Kagoshima City prison located within the nuclear evacuation zone, the Tohoku earthquake and the persistent effects of the subsequent nuclear disaster altered their lives forever; so says a former inmate who is formally suing TEPCO for emotional distress.

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Teacher accidentally fires confiscated “fake” gun in Fukuoka Prefecture school

In Japan where guns are an incredibly rare sight, toy guns and replicas can often look like the real thing. So when a teacher at a middle school in Fukuoka Prefecture confiscated what they thought was a fake gun from a student, the teacher handled the “toy” with very little care, and ended up accidentally discharging it in the staff room.

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Elementary school teacher arrested and suspended after entering women’s restroom

On 22 November a 35-year-old man who taught at an Otsu City elementary school resigned after it came to light that he unlawfully entered the women’s restroom of Shiga University. However, according to the scant details of this case it appears this might just be a case of being in the absolute worst place at the wrong time.

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Missing 80 kg of nose candy? Huge cocaine stash found off Japanese beach

The beach can be a great place to go to get away from it all. From listening to the gently rolling waves to smelling the ocean air and picking up seashells, there is nothing quite like a relaxing visit to the shore. Usually the most surprising thing found in the sand or water is a strange-looking sea creature, but one man stumbled upon a record-breaking 80 kg of cocaine on November 19 off the shores of Yokosuka City in Kanagawa Prefecture. Police say its street value is about 4.8 billion yen (US$47 million) and they are now looking into whoever was wishing for an apparently very white Christmas.

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Osaka’s number one!!… for purse snatching

As a proud resident of Osaka Prefecture it’s always nice to see the place excel at something. Even for something as nefarious as purse snatching, it seems that the Osaka way is to go big or go home.

So let’s all give Osaka a big round of applause for being number one in incidents of purse snatching for the third year in a row! Even though stats are only available up until October, so many cases of people grabbing women’s bags and running away – or riding away as is often the case – have occurred that we have officially clinched the standings for 2013.

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Nerd crime: N00b online gamer stabbed in real life by L337 Hackz0r

In a slightly convoluted tale of intrigue and betrayal, a Saitama man was arrested for stabbing his online gaming buddy after the two got into an argument about a lack of gaming skills.

The two apparently met at a game arcade over a decade before the incident and had been keeping in touch, dabbling in multiplayer matches of a Gundam-themed online game together. After one apparently teased the other about his lack of skills, the two decided to settle the debate in person.

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Chinese man’s “hideous” face causes woman to fall and break four teeth

While looks may not kill, a woman in Dalian City, China found out last month that some guy’s ugly mug can scare you enough to make you to lose your balance and break four teeth. Although the beauty-deficient man said he was merely asking directions, the woman was apparently so frightened by his visage that after falling off her bike and hurting herself, she rushed to the police where she pressed charges.

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Trio busted for forging 3,700 idol group autographs

Diehard fans of popular Japanese idol groups like Arashi, Hey! Say! Jump! and AKB48 may want to double-check that signed poster they bought online. Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Chiba prefectural police arrested three people last week for an elaborate idol merchandise scam. It seems that the scheming trio forged signatures of eight popular idol groups onto merchandise, put the fake goods on online auctions, then defrauded the winning bidder. Police believe that the three made about 3,700 of these items, which duped people out of 6,700,000 yen (US$67,000)!

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Two Japanese high school kids arrested in “really bad” attempt at cash fraud

On 4 November Osaka Prefectural Police announced the arrest of two teenagers aged 15 and 16 for fraud. The two boys are accused of trying to pass off a fake one million yen (US$10,000) bank note at a small cigarette stand in Suita City.

Although, passing off counterfeit money is usually considered “uttering” and may be punishable by jail time, the pair were given a reduced charge of fraud because, according to police, “the fake money used was really bad.”

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Two middle-aged men use 3DS to meet, assault 12 year-old girl, Ibaraki police say

Japan’s Yomiuri Newspaper reported on Tuesday that Ibaraki Prefectural Police had arrested two men on suspicions that they abused a 12 year-old girl they had met using Nintendo’s Internet-connected 3DS portable gaming system. Even though the girl’s parents had used parental controls to disable the Internet access on the 3DS, she found a way to reconnect the device and go online, which led her to the two middle-aged men.

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Report finds a dramatic increase in Japanese men taking up stalking in their golden years

As Japan’s senior citizen population continues to steadily grow, changes in society occur regularly. We’ve seen inspiring tales of the elderly getting into modeling, mastering the latest technology, and forming idol groups. On the other hand we’ve also seen complaints of rampant spitting and pushing by Japan’s silver citizens.

And then we have a troubling trend which was discovered by the National Police Agency (NPA) which say that incidents of stalking perpetrated by people over 60 have increased 3.8 times in the past ten years.

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Bullying has become a major concern in Japan over the last few years. As even elementary school students increasingly communicate and connect with their peers through technology, evidence of these instances of child-on-child cruelty is often stored electronically. Unlike in previous generations, bullies today don’t have the option of simply denying any wrongdoing took place once a victim comes forward with records documenting the incident.

Of course, there’s still the need to track down the evidence in the first place. This depressing yet necessary task often falls to Hirotaka Abe, a private investigator who specializes in helping parents when their child is victimized by hateful peers.

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Nagano police bust up cannabis tempura camping party

Late last month 51-year-old resident of Azumino City, Nagano Prefecture, Kazuhiko Shirasaka, allegedly called together a camping party with around 30 other people including 62-year-old Naofumi Katsuragawa who lived in nearby Ikeda Town. Little did they know, these young rascals would be cooking up the makings of an after-school special, if late-middle-aged people still went to school.

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Two restaurants in China accused of adding poppy seeds to food hoping to get customers hooked

Reports out of China have revealed that two restaurants in the Guangzhou area were found to be using ground up poppy seeds in some of their dishes. The reports allege that the businesses were “using the seeds of addictive poppies in an underhanded way to get repeat business.”

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Japanese police officer sentenced to prison, found guilty of attempted extortion to settle his gaming debt

When Takahiro Ueyama was a boy he dreamed of becoming a police officer like his father. Rain or shine, even on holidays, he would remember his dad rushing out to help people when needed. Ueyama studied hard to achieve his goal and in 1989 he was finally able to be like his old man. It didn’t stop there either, up-and-coming Officer Ueyama continued to work hard and eventually outperformed his father in police work, earning an award in the process.

Takahiro Ueyama told all this to the Kobe District Court last month where he stood trial for extortion. By this time his crime had become widely publicized as it was carried out in order to pay off his mounting mobile phone game bills of 500,000 yen (US$5,000).

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