Psychiatric test shows Akita child murder suspect lost her memory
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Top court rules against tax breaks for Chongryon facility
November 30, 2007The Supreme Court upheld on Friday a lower court ruling that a facility in Kumamoto City owned by the pro-North Korea General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon, is not eligible for preferential tax treatment. The top court rejected an appeal by the Kumamoto city government against the ruling issued in February 2006 by the Fukuoka High Court, making its first judgment amid a spate of ongoing similar court cases.
Nukaga summoning plan scrapped, refueling bill debate eyed for Tues.
November 30, 2007The ruling and opposition camps agreed Friday to scrap a plan to summon Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga on Monday to appear before a House of Councillors committee over a defense-related collusion scandal and decided to start full debate Tuesday on a bill to resume Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, lawmakers said. Given that the opposition parties failed to maintain their unity over summoning Nukaga, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda instructed ruling Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Bummei Ibuki to press the opposition camp to hold a vote on the bill in the opposition-controlled upper house by the Dec. 15 end of the ongoing parliamentary session.
Moriya prods MSDF to choose GE's engine for destroyer
November 30, 2007Former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya, arrested Wednesday over bribe-taking charges, made comments apparently favoring General Electric Co. over Rolls-Royce Plc around January as the supplier of the engine of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's next-generation 19DD destroyer, sources familiar with the case said Friday. GE had an engine sales agent contract defense trader Nihon Mirise Corp. that Motonobu Miyazaki -- whom Moriya is suspected of receiving bribes from -- set up in September last year after leaving defense trading house Yamada Corp. Miyazaki, a former Yamada executive, was arrested in early November on suspicion of embezzling funds from Yamada.
Body of woman killed in Thailand returns to Japan
November 30, 2007The body of a 27-year-old Japanese woman, Tomoko Kawashita, who was killed in northern Thailand earlier this month, returned to Japan with her parents early Friday aboard a Thai Airways International flight to Kansai International Airport off Osaka. The Osaka prefectural police immediately conducted an autopsy under a relevant international criminal law, and found that Kawashita is suspected to have died of blood loss, the police said.
No abnormality detected in radiation in air: gov't council
October 10, 2006A government council did not detect abnormality in the amount of radiation in the air so far from ground observation points in Japan following North Korea's claimed nuclear test, a council member said Tuesday. An official of the science ministry said, ''Radioactive substance may not reach Japan because wind is blowing from the southwest these two days over the area where North Korea claims to have conducted the test.''
Nara girl murderer withdraws appeal over death sentence
October 10, 2006A former newspaper sales agent withdrew his appeal Tuesday against his death sentence for kidnapping and killing a 7-year-old girl in Nara Prefecture in 2004, his defense counsel said. Kaoru Kobayashi, 37, withdrew the appeal that his lawyers filed with the Osaka High Court immediately after the Nara District Court sentenced him to death on Sept. 26, an unusual decision that will mean the implementation of the death penalty for a defendant who killed only one victim.
Osaka Toyota employees nabbed for falsifying sales records
October 10, 2006Police arrested a former senior official and three current employees of a sales arm of Toyota Motor Corp., on Tuesday on suspicion of falsifying sales records of used passenger cars in an attempt to pad sales performances. The Osaka prefectural police said that under arrest are Toshio Fujita, 54, from Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, who once was in charge of the used vehicle division of Osaka Toyota Motor Co., and three current employees, all from Osaka Prefecture -- Koshiro Katayama, 51, Daisuke Yamamoto, 36, and Mitsugu Nojima, 43.
Horie ordered Livedoor Marketing results' fabrication, Miyauchi says
September 20, 2006Former Livedoor Co. President Takafumi Horie ordered Livedoor group executives in 2004 to dress up the financial results of Livedoor Marketing Co. by posting bogus sales, former Livedoor Chief Financial Officer Ryoji Miyauchi testified in court Wednesday. Miyauchi gave the testimony as a witness at the Tokyo District Court hearing in the presence of Horie, who was seen looking sharply at Miyauchi with his arms folded during the hearing.
3 women found dead at home in Yamagata Pref., suicide suspected
September 19, 2006Two sisters in their 80s and a daughter of one of them were found dead Tuesday at their home in Yamagata Prefecture in a suspected case of suicide, police officials said. Masako Hongo, 89, her sister Chizuru Shikama, 88, and Hongo's daughter Ritsuko, 60, were found dead inside their house in the city of Higashine by a relative living nearby who called the police at around 5 p.m.