logo
Mobile battery fire breaks out on Tokyo's main commuter line

Mobile battery fire breaks out on Tokyo's main commuter line

SoraNews2421-07-2025
Battery began to burn after less than a minute of use, owner says.
Tokyo's Yamanote Line, which loops around the center of the city, is Japan's most infamously crowded commuter train line, and a stressful should-to-shoulder stint on it is part of the daily trip to/from the office for many Tokyoites. The atmosphere tends to be more relaxed outside of rush hour, and on weekends in particular, but last Sunday was a startling exception.
At around 4:10 in the afternoon on July 20, passengers on a train traveling on the Yamanote's 'inner'/counterclockwise route between Shin Okubo and Shinjuku Stations noticed white smoke rising from the bag of a passenger. The bag's owner, a woman in her 30s, reached inside, where she had her smartphone connected to a mobile battery for charging. She disconnected her phone, but by this time the battery itself was on fire.
A passenger hit the emergency stop button while another quick-thinking individual grabbed the train car's onboard fire extinguisher and began spraying the bag. The woman sustained burns to her fingers and a total of four other passengers suffered injuries such as bruises and sprained ankles in the rush to evacuate the train, but all are expected to make quick and complete recoveries.
▼ A report showing images of the charred remains of the bag the battery was inside.
In speaking with investigators from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, the woman said that she'd only had her phone plugged into the battery for 'about 30 seconds' before it began to burn.
While there's obviously ever a good time for a fire to break out in an enclosed space, it's fortuitous that the incident happened when it did, at a time when the train was comparatively uncrowded. During weekday morning and evening rush hours, it's the norm for the Yamanote Line to be so crowded that it's impossible to take a step in any direction unless the train is stopped at a station with its doors open and providing the bare minimum of wriggle room. The weekend mid-afternoon time also likely meant a lower ratio of sleepy, work-exhausted, on-their-way-home-from-drinking, or otherwise slow-reacting demographics that sometimes make up a sizeable amount of Yamanote ridership. Had the timing been different, the results of a fire inside a Yamanote train and subsequent hurried evacuation would have been far worse than a half-dozen or so minor injuries.
The incident comes less than two weeks after Japanese airlines instituted new rules for passengers regarding mobile batteries onboard airplanes. Currently JR East/East Japan Railway Company, which operates the Yamanote Line, has no formal regulations about the use or transport of mobile batteries on its trains, but Sunday's fire may have the company considering adopting some, especially as the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation says that it has observed increased instances of mobile battery fires coinciding with higher temperatures during the summer months.
Source: NHK News Web, Nihon Keizai Shimbun via Hachima Kiko, YouTube/ANNNewsCH
Top image: Pakutaso
● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Court OKs provisional seizure of Unification Church's Tokyo HQ land
Court OKs provisional seizure of Unification Church's Tokyo HQ land

The Mainichi

time9 hours ago

  • The Mainichi

Court OKs provisional seizure of Unification Church's Tokyo HQ land

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A Japanese court has approved the provisional seizure of the Unification Church headquarters' land in Tokyo as sought by alleged victims of the entity's aggressive donation solicitation practices, a lawyers' group said Wednesday. The 10 people, who are negotiating damages payment by the Unification Church in a separate procedure, filed for the land seizure in June, fearing the church could hide its assets to evade payouts, the group said. In the decision dated July 18, the Tokyo District Court gave the green light to the seizure, based on a new law enacted in December 2023 to strengthen monitoring of religious corporation assets that could be subject to legal claims. The law was crafted amid concerns that the Unification Church, which may lose religious corporation status and related tax benefits, could attempt to transfer compensation-liable assets overseas. The Unification Church was designated as a religious corporation covered by the law in March 2024. With the seizure, the church can continue its activities at the headquarters' building but cannot sell or donate the land. While an application for provisional seizure requires collateral, the Japan Legal Support Center, a public organization, provided the financial support based on the law, the group said. The law strengthens surveillance of a group under the threat of losing its religious corporation status, such as by requiring the entity to give central or prefectural government authorities at least one month's notice of any plan to dispose of assets. If a notification is not given, the organization is prohibited from any further liquidation. The Tokyo District Court in March ordered that the Unification Church be stripped of its religious corporation status, as sought by the Japanese government. But the legal proceedings continue, as the religious group has appealed to a high court. Such a dissolution order, if finalized, would deprive the group, formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, of tax benefits as a religious corporation, although it would still be able to continue its activities in Japan. Following the finalization of the order, a liquidator will dispose of the Unification Church's assets, enabling victims who are recognized as creditors to receive compensation. Its practices came to the public eye after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022 by a man claiming to hold a grudge against the organization because of financially ruinous donations taken from his mother. Tetsuya Yamagami, who has been indicted over the shooting, told investigators that he targeted Abe over the role of the politician's grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, in helping establish the Unification Church in Japan in the 1960s. It was founded in South Korea by a staunch anti-communist in 1954.

Chinese company accused of bogus refund claim on consumption tax
Chinese company accused of bogus refund claim on consumption tax

Asahi Shimbun

time13 hours ago

  • Asahi Shimbun

Chinese company accused of bogus refund claim on consumption tax

Tax authorities have penalized a Hong Kong-based freight company for submitting a fraudulent refund claim on the consumption tax, the first such case to come to light. As the number of foreign companies required to pay the consumption tax is rapidly increasing, tax authorities have been struggling to keep track of dubious filings. According to sources, the international freight company hired a Japanese logistics firm to deliver goods, paid the charge, including the consumption tax, and claimed a refund on the grounds that the taxable amount was negative. The procedure was handled by a tax accountant firm in Osaka, which acted as the company's 'tax agent,' the sources said. However, an investigation by the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau found suspicions that the Chinese company had falsified a bill required for the refund and inflated the payment amount. The company was hit with about 30 million yen ($200,000) in back taxes and penalties in 2023. In principle, foreign companies are not obligated to pay corporate taxes unless they have a base in Japan. However, if they sell goods or provide services in Japan, the consumption tax is levied based on transaction amounts. Even if companies are based overseas, they must pay the consumption tax by subtracting the tax amount paid on purchases from the amount received on sales. If the resulting amount is negative, they are eligible for a refund. According to Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau documents, 8,148 foreign companies were required to pay only the consumption tax in 2024, including those eligible for refunds, a sharp increase from 4,086 companies in 2023 and 1,538 in 2022. A factor behind the increase is the invoice system introduced in 2023. The 'qualified invoice' contains the company's registration number, transaction details, tax amounts and other data. Japanese firms doing business with foreign companies in Japan need an invoice issued by the latter when paying the consumption tax. As a result, a growing number of foreign companies are registering with the National Tax Agency for issuing invoices. Tax authorities have increased surveillance of foreign companies suspected of failing to pay the consumption tax, such as game and app distributors, since around 2021. The monitoring system is far from robust, however. Of about 56,000 officials in charge of national taxes across Japan, only 50 or so at the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau are responsible for investigating foreign companies. 'We simply do not have the resources to investigate every foreign company,' a tax official said. Shigeru Ino, a professor of tax law at Asia University, said enhancing the collection of the consumption tax, which accounts for the largest share of tax revenue, is essential. 'We need to improve the monitoring system for foreign companies and strengthen the accountability of tax agents who handle procedures on their behalf,' said Ino, a former regional commissioner of the Sapporo Regional Taxation Bureau.

Hand grenade found near Fukuoka Pref. apartment sparks temporary evacuation
Hand grenade found near Fukuoka Pref. apartment sparks temporary evacuation

The Mainichi

time14 hours ago

  • The Mainichi

Hand grenade found near Fukuoka Pref. apartment sparks temporary evacuation

KITAKYUSHU -- A worker discovered a hand grenade while cutting grass in a thicket behind an apartment building in this southwestern Japan city on July 29, sparking the temporary evacuation of 25 residents, police said. Police received an emergency call from an apartment management company at about 12:25 p.m. on July 29, reporting the discovery of the grenade in Kitakyushu's Moji Ward. Ground Self-Defense Force members secured and retrieved the detonator the same day. According to Moji Police Station, the hand grenade was American-made, measuring about 11 centimeters in length with a diameter of 5.5 cm. At the instruction of the Fukuoka Prefectural Police, 25 residents in 19 households within a 30-meter radius of the grenade were temporarily evacuated. (Japanese original by Emi Izuchi, Kyushu News Department)

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store