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Japan Today
4 days ago
- Japan Today
Several people near Osaka fireworks venue complain of eye pain after being sprayed with mace
Several people suffered eye pain after being sprayed with mace after watching a fireworks festival in Osaka on Friday night. The incident occurred at around 10:15 p.m. at Kema Sakuranomiya Park in Miyakojima Ward, Sankei Shimbun reported. The park is near the Tenjin Festival fireworks venue, and many spectators were on their way home about an hour after the fireworks had finished. According to police, witnesses said that a shirtless man in his 20s suddenly called out to another man in his 20s, 'You want to fight?' He then started spraying a substance believed to be mace. Several men and women nearby complained of eye pain. The assailant fled the area. © Japan Today
Japan Today
5 days ago
- Japan Today
4 women arrested in Tokyo's Kabukicho district for soliciting foreign tourists for prostitution
Police in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward have arrested four women in their 20s on suspicion of soliciting foreign tourists for the purpose of prostitution. The four women were arrested earlier this week around Okubo Park in Kabukicho, police said Thursday. The park has become a popular spot for women offering sex services to foreign tourists since 2023 after a number of YouTube videos went viral. Police said 75 women have been arrested around the park between January and June of this year, Sankei Shimbun reported. This is more than double the number arrested during the same period last year. One of the four women arrested this week, Miyu Aoyagi, 20, told police she had earned about 110 million yen since July 2023. Aoyagi was quoted by police as saying, "I did it only with foreigners and elderly men who were definitely not plainclothes police officers.' According to police, in order to avoid detection, Aoyagi created a social networking site (SNS) chatroom for women waiting for customers and shared information about police patrols and photos of investigators. A total of 26 women participated in the group, negotiating the price for their 'services' with foreigners through a translation app. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said it is increasing patrols in the area and is urging foreign tourists to be careful. Police said there have been a growing number of complaints from local residents and passersby about the women who hang out in Okubo Park. The worsening public safety is also a problem at the park, with curious onlookers getting into trouble with the women, police said. © Japan Today
Tokyo Reported
18-07-2025
- Tokyo Reported
Pair suspected of using illegal online casino profits to buy Tokyo apartment
KANAGAWA (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested two men who are suspected of concealing illegal profits earned from an online casino site and using them to purchase an apartment in Tokyo, reports Nippon News Network (July 18). According to the police, Yoshinori Kurata, 42, and Yoshifumi Kuroki, 52, are suspected of concealing illegal profits earned from an online casino site in 2022 and using more than 98 million yen to purchase the apartment in a high-rise in Harumi, Chuo Ward. Police did not reveal whether the suspects admit to violating the Organized Crime Punishment Act regarding concealment of criminal proceeds. According to police, the two suspects conspired to create false documents stating that the funds were a loan to Kurata from a non-existent paper company when they purchased the apartment around July 2022. The apartment was on an upper floor of the 51-story high-rise apartment building. Kurata made the payment in cash. Yoshinori Kurata (X) Money laundering Kurata runs a company that manages payments. Last month, he was one of seven suspects accused of money laundering, reports the Sankei Shimbun (June 25). According to police, he and the other suspects laundered over 2.6 billion yen in bets on overseas online casinos by transferring the money to an account managed by his company. In April and May of last year, the company concealed a total of about 2.629 billion yen in casino bets collected from about 3,600 users by depositing the money into two accounts managed by his company 41,000 times in total. Police said previously that Kurata and his group may have been involved in the operation of payment systems related to at least six online casino sites. The two accounts were in the name of a paper company. It is believed that the company managed about 500 accounts, including these, and repeatedly transferred funds.
Tokyo Reported
17-07-2025
- Tokyo Reported
Nepalese man accused of raping woman in Arakawa park toilet
TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a male Nepalese over the alleged rape of a woman he had been drinking with in Arakawa Ward last month, reports the Sankei Shimbun (July 14). At around 11:35 p.m. on June 24, Tufan Thapa, 26, allegedly dragged the woman, aged in her 20s, to a park in the ward and sexually assaulted her inside a toilet. Upon his arrest on suspicion of non-consensual sexual intercourse, Thapa, who lives in Nakano Ward, denied the charges. 'I went into the toilet and touched her body, but I did not sexually assault her,' he told the Arakawa Police Station. Tufan Thapa (X) Prior to the incident, Thapa called out to the woman at a bar. When she was about to leave, he invited her out to the park. 'Let's have a drink,' he said. The two then made their way to the park and continued drinking. However, an examination of security camera footage showed the suspect carrying the woman over his shoulders and into the toilet. The incident came to light when the woman visited the police station the following day to lodge a report.
Japan Forward
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Japan Forward
Ex-Ambassador Tarumi: Realism Over Empty Mantras on China Policy
このページを 日本語 で読む Candidates in the July 20 Upper House election are engaged in an intense war of words. Members of the ruling coalition are likely to play key roles in setting policies that involve vital national interests. The Sankei Shimbun sat down with former Ambassador Hideo Tarumi to hear insights on where policy toward China fits into this setting. Now a professor at Ritsumeikan University, Tarumi is a former ambassador to China who spent his career involved with Tokyo's policy toward its giant neighbor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In June, he published his memoir, Secret Records of Japan-China Diplomacy: The Struggles of Tarumi Hideo, Ambassador to China. During the interview, Tarumi said, "Members of the Diet, go to China." Acknowledging that some critics see such visits as pro-China, the former ambassador, who Japanese media have described as "the man China fears most," stressed the essence of diplomacy. Excerpts from Ambassador Tarumi's statements in the interview follow. Not Kowtowing to China Last spring, at the invitation of Toshimitsu Endo, former Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and Ken Saito, former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, I gave a lecture to about 100 lawmakers at the LDP's study group. There, I emphasized the following: "Since I'm no longer a bureaucrat, I'll speak candidly. You are all national lawmakers. I understand that local legislators may visit Taiwan for sister city exchanges, but when it comes to national diplomacy, the most important countries are the United States and China. The US is a given — but why aren't you visiting China?" Liu Jianchao, head of the CCP's International Liaison Department (second from the right in the front row), and Toshihiro Nikai, Chairman of the Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union (third from the right in the front row), pose for a commemorative photo, August 27, 2024, in Beijing (pool photo). I wasn't saying to be "pro-China" or kowtow to them. You should go to China, carefully assess the situation on the ground, and communicate Japan's position clearly. That's what I did as an ambassador. If all you do is shout "China is unacceptable" from afar in Japan, nothing will change there, and our message won't get through. Is that really in Japan's national interest? You need to go there and say what must be said, face to face. Be More 'Strategic' We need to adopt a more strategic mindset than a simplistic one. Of course, if the purpose of a visit is simply to accept Beijing's claims uncritically, then it would be better not to go. But by the same token, visiting Taiwan solely as an expression of anti-China sentiment also limits the value of the visit. What are the challenges facing Taiwan? According to a report by the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan, the most pressing concern today is not geopolitical risk or the threat of military invasion. It's energy shortages. If China were to impose a maritime blockade, Taiwan's energy imports would be severely disrupted. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen presents Hideo Tarumi, former Japanese Ambassador to China, with the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon in May 2024. (©Office of the President, ROC) Moreover, Taiwan's most vital industry, semiconductors, requires vast amounts of electricity. Yet the country has shut down its nuclear power plants. This is not the decision of a responsible government. Even if it's uncomfortable for Taiwan to hear, it's essential to have frank and thorough discussions about strengthening resilience, including in the energy sector. [Author's note: Since the Democratic Progressive Party came to power, Taiwan has pursued a policy of phasing out nuclear energy. On May 17, the country shut down its last operating reactor: Unit 2 of the Taiwan Power Company's Third Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County, southern Taiwan. Nuclear power, which once supplied roughly half of Taiwan's electricity 40 years ago, has now fallen to zero.] Rethinking Ties with China Japan's diplomacy toward China has traditionally been led by politicians who cultivated close personal relationships with Beijing leaders like Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka. Toshihiro Nikai, chairman of the Japan-China Parliamentary Friendship League, meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on August 28, 2024. (Pool photo) Toshihiro Nikai, the former secretary-general of the LDP who carried on this tradition, retired from politics in the October 2024 House of Representatives election. At present, virtually no Japanese politicians have inherited these channels of communication. And on the Chinese side as well, there are no longer leaders who engage in diplomacy with Japan based on personal relationships and mutual trust. The era when we could rely on a single figure to manage relations with China is over. Mr Nikai was certainly pro-China, but within the LDP, there were also many lawmakers with a hardline stance toward China. Maintaining that internal balance was crucial. Now is the time to return to first principles: to ask what truly serves the national interest and to strategically rebuild our diplomacy with China. Abe's Strategic Diplomacy Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe exemplified this approach. He engaged with China based on a clear-eyed focus on our national interest. Abe was originally very pro-Taiwan, but he knew how to separate his personal views from his public role. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping shaking hands in November 2017, during the APEC Summit in Vietnam. (©Prime Minister's Office) When he first became prime minister in 2006, China viewed him as even more hawkish than Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. At the time, Abe prioritized diplomacy with China, but he needed a magic word to get Beijing to reengage. That word was "strategy." By proposing a "strategic mutually beneficial relationship," Abe aimed to expand the shared interests between Japan and China. Abe understood the government's official position and consistently spoke and acted based on national interests. If he had simply declared, "I'm pro-Taiwan and anti-China," his diplomacy would not have lasted long. Ishiba's Aimless Policy Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba also uses the phrase "strategic mutually beneficial relationship." However, it's becoming increasingly ineffective. Repeating a mantra a hundred or even a thousand times means nothing if there is no substance behind it. That substance, what truly matters, is strategy. Immediately after taking office in October 2024, Prime Minister Ishiba expressed a strong desire to visit China. But his enthusiasm is now said to be waning. Initially, the Chinese government saw the Ishiba administration as the emergence of a long-awaited pro-China government. Yet it's now reassessing that view. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba answers reporters' questions after he meets with US President Donald Trump. Minister in Charge of Economic Revitalization, Ryosei Akazawa, is on the left. June 16, Kananaskis, western Canada (Pool photo / Kyodo News). In February, Prime Minister Ishiba issued a joint statement concerning Taiwan at the Japan-US summit, declaring, "We oppose any attempt to change the status quo by force or coercion." The core of the joint statement is said to have been drafted under Japan's leadership. From Beijing's perspective, there was likely a feeling of "Ishiba, you too?" Even if Prime Minister Ishiba hoped to please both China and the US, diplomacy isn't that simple. Without a coherent strategy, China will see through it with ease. Tensions Ahead I'm concerned that this summer will be a very tense one for Japan. In China, a film titled 731 is set to be released on July 31. It focuses on Unit 731 of the Kwantung Army, which is argued to have conducted biological warfare research. This will be followed by a military parade on September 3 to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan. And then there is the anniversary of September 18, the date of the Mukden Incident that triggered the Manchurian Incident. Considering the current state of Japan-US and US-China relations, there is a chance that President Donald Trump might attend the military parade. If that occurs, it could be seen as "Japan facing another defeat." Such a scenario would be very serious. RELATED: Author: Shimpei Okuhara, The Sankei Shimbun このページを 日本語 で読む
