Featured

terrorism

Nine injured in Tokyo after man drives car into pedestrians on Takeshita Street in Harajuku

Police are investigating whether this was an act of terror in retaliation for the execution of Aum Shinrikyo cult members last year.

Read More

Jumpei Yasuda also explains why he said he was a South Korean man named Umaru in a video filmed by is captors.

Read More

Japanese journalist missing since 2015 appears in terrorist video: “Please send help immediately”

Journalist Jumpei Yasuda, missing for three years, was seen in a terrorist hostage video pleading for help, but under a different name and nationality.
Read More

Japan executes six Aum Shinrikyo cultists, bringing hanging total to 13 this month

Number of executions now equals that of Tokyo subway gas attack deaths.

Read More

Japanese cult leader behind Tokyo subway sarin gas attack executed

Aum Shinrikyo founder, three other members hanged 23 years after deadly subway attack, more executions likely to follow.

Read More

Kyoto counter-terrorism unit called in after senior citizen “reserves” parking space

Some in the media are calling this incident yet another indication that Japan’s entering an unprecedented era of geriatric delinquency.

Read More

Police arrest Korean national on suspicion of Tokyo shrine bombing

Explosion occurred at controversial Yasukuni religious site roughly two weeks ago.

Read More

Bomb disposal unit finds remnants of suspected incendiary device at shrine for Japanese war dead in Chiyoda Ward.

Read More

Last weekend, Tokyo’s two most famous structures switched their usual lighting to blue, white, and red in a showing of solidarity with the French people.

Read More

Japanese tourist injured in Tunisian terrorist attack also attacked by Japanese media in hospital

On March 18, three terrorists attacked and took hostage patrons at the Bardo National Museum in Tunisia, killing 21 people and injuring about 50 others. Among those injured was Noriko Yuki, a Japanese tourist visiting Tunisia with her mother.

Ms. Yuki sustained a gunshot wound in the attack and was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. There, shortly after her surgery, she was immediately bombarded by Japanese media looking to interview her, with some members of the press apparently going so far as to tell the Japanese ambassador watching over her that he did “not have the authority to stop us from interviewing her.”

Read More

Group of ISIS-inspired kids abuses, attempts to kill a goat as “practice for killing a person”

Earlier this month we saw what was beleived to be the first ISIS-inspired murder in Japan when a group of teenagers brutally killed a fellow classmate. However it has recently come to light that in the middle of February, a different group of Tokyo middle school students broke into an elementary school with the intent of murdering the school pet goat as “practice” for killing a fellow human being.

Read More

Toyota, being the largest, most internationalized of Japan’s automakers, tends to do a pretty decent job steering clear of picking car names that sound weird or shocking to non-Japanese consumers. Sure, its product lineup briefly included the Emina, but that only sounds gross if you’re too impatient to carefully read the letters in order.

Until now Toyota hasn’t had anything as unintentionally startling as the Mazda Bongo Friendee, Daihatsu Naked, or Nissan Fairlady. But if you’ve taken a look at Toyota’s Japanese website recently, you may have found yourself doing a double-take as you noticed one of its current offerings seems to share its name with a well-known jihadist rebel group.

Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the Toyota Isis.

Read More

“Passport confiscation robs us of rights”: Japanese journalist prevented from travelling to Syria

Japan’s Foreign Ministry has come under fire for confiscating the passport of a journalist who was intending to travel to Syria. War correspondent Yuichi Sugimoto, 58, was planning to visit Syria to cover events in refugee camps later this month, but was ordered to surrender his travel documents to authorities.

Under Japanese law, the ministry can confiscate a person’s passport to protect their life, but this is the first time the law has actually been used. Critics say the action contravenes the constitutional guarantee of freedom of movement and foreign travel.

Read More

Terrorists release third video of Japanese hostage, say it will be his last

More than a week has passed since terrorist organization ISIS released its first video of Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto. Days later, in a second video, a voice believed to be Goto’s was heard stating that Yukawa had been killed by the terrorists.

Now, a third statement has been released, in which a man identifying himself as Goto says that he has only 24 hours left before he will be murdered as well.

Read More

New video claims one Japanese ISIS hostage killed, authenticity of video under investigation

Earlier this week, a video that is thought to have been produced by Islamic State militants surfaced, demanding that Japan pay a ransom of $200 million within 72 hours for the release of two Japanese hostages, Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who had recently visited the Middle East and pledged $200 million in non-military aid, vowed to not give in to terrorism. The 72-hour time limit came and went, and on Saturday a new video was posted claiming that one hostage, Yukawa, was killed. While Abe and the Japanese people are angry, experts are taking a closer look to verify the authenticity of the somewhat questionable video.

Read More

Fuji TV faces harsh criticism over “ticker” counting down to Japanese hostages’ murder

As we reported earlier in the week, Islamic State militants are currently holding two Japanese nationals hostage. The militants have said that the men will be executed within 72 hours unless the Japanese government pays a ransom of US$200 million, something that seems highly unlikely to happen.

With this being a rather sensitive subject, many people were extremely shocked and angry when Japanese morning television show Mezamashi Television went on air with a “ticker” onscreen counting how much time had passed since the demands were made.

Read More

Knife Resistant Shirt Presented at Anti-Terrorist Convention

As a high ranking anti-terrorist agent in my fantasies off-time I’m often attacked by knife wielding maniacs.  This is why when I read Gigazine’s coverage of the recent Special Equipment Exhibition & Conference for Anti-Terrorism (SEECAT) 2012 in Tokyo I saw something that really piqued my interest.

On display at the Tanizawa Corp. booth was a sporty looking sweater that also prevents damage from knife slashes.  It could be the most comfy looking piece of armor I’ve seen.

Read More