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Japan Today
4 hours ago
- Japan Today
1995 Hachioji supermarket triple murder case remains unsolved after 30 years
Police in Tokyo on Wednesday renewed their call to the public for help in solving a triple murder at a supermarket in Tokyo's Hachioji in 1995. The National Police Agency is offering a 6 million yen reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the murders of Megumi Yabuki, 17, Hiromi Maeda, 16, and Noriko Inagaki, 47. The Special Investigation Headquarters has received a total of 1,678 tips over the past 30 years, and 32 in the past year, NHK reported. At around 9:15 p.m. on July 30, 1995, the three employees — all part-time workers at the Nampei Owada supermarket in Hachioji city — were shot and killed in the store's second floor office. Each had been bound with tape and killed with a single gunshot to the head. Thirty years on, there has been no resolution to the case, although there are some theories. Initial police reports described it as a failed robbery attempt, since none of the three employees knew the combination of the store's safe. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police said that fingerprints lifted off the tape used to bind the victims, believed to be that of the perpetrator, were found to match closely those of a Japanese male who died of natural causes in 2005. Initially, those fingerprints were not considered complete enough to make a conclusive match that would be admissible as evidence. However, investigators, after extensive searches of print databases, believe that the prints correspond closely with a man who lived in the Tama district in west Tokyo. Normally, the legal criteria for a fingerprint match are correspondence at 12 or more points, which is why the initial searches of data bases failed to narrow down a suspect. An 8-point match is still said to have an accuracy of about 100 million to one. While the prints left behind on the tape could not provide a 12-point match, the man's prints were in the data base due to his having a prior criminal record. At the time of the killings, police found nothing to suggest the man had been in the area where the crimes took place. At this point, police concede that the 8-point fingerprint match is not conclusive, and would be insufficient to be used as evidence in solving the case. Police said they are still trying to establish links between the dead suspect and the murder weapon, an illegal handgun believed to have been manufactured in the Philippines. Police pursued an earlier lead in 2009, when a Japanese man on death row in China for drug trafficking made a statement that a Chinese man in Canada was involved in the Hachioji murders, as part of a gang of Japanese and Chinese who carried out a series of robberies in Japan in the 1990s. The Chinese man, Liang He, had been wanted in Japan for using a forged passport to leave the country in 2002. He obtained Canadian citizenship in 2006. The National Police Agency first filed an extradition request with Canadian authorities in 2010 with the Ontario High Court. Liang filed an appeal that was rejected and he was extradited to Japan in 2013 where he was jailed for passport fraud. But he has refused to talk about the supermarket murders. Police ask that anyone with any information about the case call 042-621-0110. © Japan Today
Japan Times
a day ago
- Automotive
- Japan Times
Ratio of serious car accidents caused by foreign drivers hits record 2.1%
The ratio of car accidents in Japan resulting in death or serious injury that were caused by foreign drivers hit a record high of 2.1% in January-June, National Police Agency data showed Tuesday. According to the NPA, the number of such accidents in Japan in the first half of 2025 rose by 19 from a year earlier to 258, exceeding 250 for the first time since 2008. It was also the first time for the ratio to exceed 2.0%. The agency said that accidents caused by foreign drivers are on the rise with the increase in foreign residents and tourists. In response, the NPA plans to tighten the rules for the conversion of foreign driver's licenses to Japanese ones. The number of car accidents in Japan resulting in death or serious injury that occurred while drivers were using mobile phones, including those caused by Japanese, rose to 68, the highest according to data dating back to 2007. Meanwhile, the total number of deaths from car accidents nationwide decreased by 21 year on year to 1,161, the second-lowest figure since the survey began in 1956. The number of drunken driving cases totaled 49 in the first half of this year, the lowest since 2005. The number of traffic accidents involving electric kick scooters or other specified small motorized bicycles climbed by 29 to 163. Of these, 17.8% were caused by riders under the influence of alcohol, far higher than the shares of alcohol-linked accidents involving bicycles and mopeds. The NPA said that such accidents occurred mainly between late night and early morning. "It is believed that electric kick scooters are used by drunken people who missed the last train," an NPA official said, warning against such behavior.
2 days ago
- Automotive
Ratio of Car Accidents Caused by Foreign Drivers Hit Record
Tokyo, July 29 (Jiji Press)--The ratio of car accidents in Japan resulting in death or serious injury that were caused by foreign drivers hit a record high of 2.1 pct in January-June, National Police Agency data showed Tuesday. According to the NPA, the number of such accidents in Japan in the first half of 2025 rose 19 from the previous year to 258, exceeding 250 for the first time since 2008. It was also the first time for that ratio to exceed 2.0 pct. The agency said that accidents caused by foreign drivers are on the rise with the increase in foreign residents and tourists. In response, the NPA plans to tighten the rules for switching foreign driving licenses to Japanese ones. The number of car accidents in Japan resulting in death or serious injury that occurred while drivers were using mobile phones, including those caused by Japanese, rose to 68, the highest since currently available data began in 2007. Meanwhile, total deaths from car accidents nationwide decreased 21 from the previous year to 1,161, the second-lowest figure since the survey began in 1956. The number of drunken driving cases was 49, the lowest since 2005. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Japan Times
2 days ago
- Japan Times
NPA white paper highlights crimes surrounding social media
The National Police Agency on Tuesday published an annual white paper highlighting trends of crimes involving social media and investigation methods for such offenses. In a special section of the fiscal 2025 report, the NPA noted that the spread of social media has made it easy for tokuryū loosely organized crime groups comprising anonymous members to contact ordinary citizens and commit crimes. In 2024, the number of social media-linked investment and romance fraud cases detected by police around the country exceeded 10,000, with victims defrauded of some ¥127.2 billion in total, according to the report. Social media is also used for recruiting perpetrators of tokuryu groups, as well as drug trafficking and child prostitution. The report outlined investigative methods such as "digital forensics" for extracting data from confiscated items such as smartphones and recovering information contained in broken electronic devices for use as evidence. Also featured are cryptocurrency-tracking techniques and the use of artificial intelligence for cyber patrolling. Pointing to challenges such as strengthening the system for cyber personnel development and addressing encryption technology, the report said police will step up efforts to develop new investigation methods such as officers using fictitious identities to approach crime groups and opening bank accounts under the names of fictitious parties with the aim to have crime groups use them so that the flow of money is monitored.
2 days ago
Japan Police Report Highlights Crimes Surrounding Social Media
News from Japan Jul 29, 2025 14:47 (JST) Tokyo, July 29 (Jiji Press)--Japan's National Police Agency on Tuesday published an annual white paper highlighting trends of crimes involving social media and investigation methods for such offenses. In a special section of the fiscal 2025 report, the NPA noted that the spread of social media has made it easy for "tokuryu" loosely organized crime groups comprising anonymous members to contact ordinary citizens and commit crimes. In 2024, the number of social media-linked investment and romance fraud cases detected by police around the country exceeded 10,000, with victims defrauded of some 127.2 billion yen in total, according to the report. Social media is also used for the recruiting of perpetrators of tokuryu groups, as well as drug trafficking and child prostitution. The report outlined investigative methods such as "digital forensics" for extracting data from confiscated items such as smartphones and recovering information contained in broken electronic devices for use as evidence. Also featured are cryptocurrency tracking technique and the use of artificial intelligence for cyber patrolling. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
