Latest news with #TokyoMetropolitanPolice
Tokyo Reported
7 hours ago
- Tokyo Reported
Gang of four attacks Chinese men near JR Kanda Station
TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police are hunting for four men who attacked two male Chinese nationals in Chiyoda Ward on Thursday, reports Fuji News Network (Aug. 1). At just after 9:00 a.m., the four assailants used metal pipes to attack the pair, both aged in their 30s, as they walked on the sidewalk near JR Kanda Station. The two victims, who suffered injuries to their faces and other parts of their bodies, were taken a to hospital. Their injuries are not considered life-threatening, police said. The four then fled the scene in a car with a license plate registered in Osaka Prefecture. The car was later found abandoned in Adachi Ward, about 9 kilometers from the crime scene. The four assailants were wearing work clothes at the time of the incident. Police are seeking their whereabouts on suspicion of assault. A gang of four attacked two Chinese men with metal pipes near JR Kanda Station on Thursday morning (X) 'Just kept hitting him' At a little after 10:00 a.m., the rented car pulled into a parking space at an apartment complex in Adachi. It drove forward once, then backed up into the space. 'When I came out, I saw a car I didn't recognize parked in my spot,' a resident of the building told Nippon News Network (Aug. 1). About one hour before, the assault near JR Kanda Station took place. 'They were hitting [one of the victims] with a pipe. They were hitting him so hard that even when he managed to get away, the group just kept hitting him with all their might,' a witness said. Security cameras near the scene captured images of the two men, believed to be the victims, at the time of their incident. Their faces were covered in blood, and one of them was being supported as he walked away. 'I saw them as we passed by and their faces were red,' another witness said. 'They were bright red.' One witness intervened: 'I heard loud voices. I looked out the window and saw the fight,' the witness said. 'I put on a helmet and tried to stop them. I said, 'What are you guys doing?' They were hitting them with an iron pipe, and they stopped once, but then one guy kept hitting them. I told them to stop again, 'Stop it,' and then they stopped and ran away.' Another witness said that it was odd for the perpetrators to be wearing hoodies in this heat, implying that it was an ambush. 'All four of them were wearing hoodies, hoodies, and masks. It seemed like they were lying in wait. They were hitting the victim as a group, with all their might,' the witness said.
Tokyo Reported
5 days ago
- Tokyo Reported
Trio suspected in theft of 150,000 ‘One Piece' and ‘Pokemon' cards
Ryo Nakano (X) TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested three men over the alleged theft of more than 100,000 manga trading cards from two locations in the capital last year, reports the Asahi Shimbun (July 25). The three suspects are Ryo Nakano, 49, Yuki Yamazaki, 36, and 41-year-old Yuta Yoshihara. At around 3 a.m. on September 23, Nakano and one of the other suspects allegedly broke into a card store in Chiyoda Ward and stole 1.55 million yen in cash and 284 trading cards, with a total value of 34.08 million yen. Simultaneously, the third suspect allegedly broke into the office of the store's operating company in Bunkyo Ward and stole 1,778 trading cards, valued at 36.53 million yen. Upon their arrests, all three suspects denied the allegations. Nakano stated, 'I have no recollection of this.' Pokemon cards fetch more than 200,000 yen (X) Sakazuki card valued at 3.85 million yen All told, the trio is believed to have stolen about 150,000 cards, including those from popular manga such as 'One Piece' and 'Pokemon.' Of the cards stolen, the most expensive was a rare card of the character Sakazuki from 'One Piece,' which is valued at about 3.85 million yen. Police said that they found the lock for the trading card shop had been broken upon their arrival. As well, the glass of the entrance door had been smashed through. Some of the stolen cards were sold at another shop after the incident, police said.
SoraNews24
6 days ago
- SoraNews24
Tokyo prostitution ring members who targeted foreigners arrested
In possibly related incident, Tokyo Metropolitan Police received complaint from foreigner that 'I paid the woman the money, but didn't get to have sex.' On Thursday, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department announced that they have arrested a group of four women on charges of prostitution in the city's Kabukicho bar district. As there's been a troubling increase in brazen street prostitution in this part of the city in recent years, with a corresponding increase in attention from law enforcement, the arrests themselves aren't so shocking, but the women's methodology, and certain complaints the police have been receiving, are pretty startling. One of the four women, all of whom have admitted to the prostitution charges against them, has been identified as a sort of de-facto leader of the group, organizing a network with more than two dozen members who would share text messages and photos alerting each other to police patrols in the area. This wasn't their only strategy for avoiding arrest, however, as during questioning one of the woman told investigators: 'If we were [having sex with] foreigners, we figured there was no way they'd be undercover police officers and so we wouldn't get caught.' The details of exactly how the group, who used phone translation apps to negotiate terms with foreign customers, were identified by police as prostitutes hasn't been made public. The woman's past-tense framing that they 'thought' they'd be able to weed out plainclothes cops by focusing on foreigners makes one wonder if that eventually turned out to be not as safe a ploy as they'd expected. While foreign nationals cannot become police officers in Japan, there's no ethnicity requirement, meaning that non-ethnically Japanese citizens of Japan, including nationalized citizens who immigrated to the country and thus may still look like 'foreigners,' could theoretically be employed for sting operations against individuals offering illegal services to foreign tourists. On the other hand, it's possible that the woman's use of 'thought' is just a reflection that, with the quartet under arrest for prostitution, they're not currently plying their trade, putting all their related methods in the past. The group didn't completely ignore potential Japanese clients either, though in such cases they targeted older men, again under the logic that they were less likely to be undercover police officers. ▼ Probably not a cop. As such, it's hard to say whether or not there was non-ethnically Japanese personnel working on the side of the law making the arrests. However, the police do know that there have been instances of foreigners attempting to purchase the services of prostitutes in Tokyo, and by their own admission. Between October of 2024 and June of 2025, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police say that they have received 11 reports from foreigners with complaints such as 'I paid [a woman] the money, but was unable to have sex with her,' or 'A woman stole my money at a hotel.' Investigators are currently looking into whether the four women were involved in any of those instances, though in the context of seeing if they were involved in additional cases of illegal prostitution, not for charges of fraudulent failure to render services. This is a good time to take a moment and remember that while Japan has a wide variety of legal hostess bars, house-call erotic massage companies, and other entertainment services specializing in sexual titillation, prostitution, in the sense of exchanging money for sexual intercourse, is against the law. Somewhat confusingly, Japan's Anti-Prostitution Law only has specified penalties for those selling sex, and no codified punishment for those purchasing it, but both parties involved in the transaction are technically breaking the law. With prostitution concerns on the rise throughout Japanese society, and the recent arrests bringing a new wave of attention to undesirable conduct by foreign tourists, it wouldn't be surprising if police forces stop letting johns off the hook and start putting the cuffs on them too, since even if their case never makes it to trial because there's no punishment to render, the Japanese legal system can still make getting arrested very unpleasant. Source: Tokyo Shimbun, NHK News Web, Bengoshi JP News Top image: Pakutaso Insert images: Pakutaso ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
Tokyo Reported
6 days ago
- Tokyo Reported
Kabukicho prostitutes suspected of defrauding foreign tourists in Kabukicho
TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested four women on suspicion of soliciting prostitution in the Kabukicho red-light district of Shinjuku Ward. Though sex tourism is considered an issue, the suspects in this case were likely defrauding tourists instead of having sex with them for money, reports Jiji Press (July 24). Between May 14 and June 19, Miyu Aoyagi, 20, and the other three suspects are suspected of targeting foreign tourists for prostitution in the area around Okubo Park. According to police, the suspects stood and waited for customers in the area, which includes a row of love hotels, in a practice referred to as tachinbo . All four have admitted to violating the Anti-Prostitution Law. Aoyagi said, 'I engaged in prostitution only with foreigners and elderly men who I believed were definitely not plainclothes police officers. I created group chats with other girls to share information about police officers cracking down on them.' For the latter, she shared photos of investigators' faces and the patrol status around the park within the group, which has 26 members. The funds were used for gambling, to cover living expenses and pay for host club bills. Miyu Aoyagi, left, Sayaka Ando (26), second from left, Ami Nishimoto (25), second from right, and Yuka Uchiyama (24) 'My wallet was stolen' Through June, police had arrested 75 people for soliciting customers for prostitution in Kabukicho this year. That figure is 40 more than that over the same period last year. Among their customers are foreign tourists, who are increasingly looking to buy sex around Okubo Park — and they had better be on their guard. According to police, Aoyagi made about 110 million yen over the last two years. However, police believe a lot of those gains came from fraud. Between October last year and June, police received around 50 calls from customers. 'My wallet was stolen at a hotel,' one said. 'I paid but the deed wasn't done and then [a woman] called her accomplices and they threatened me,' another said. 'Pay me 10,000 yen first' Another suspect is Yuka Uchiyama. Just before her arrest, a camera for TBS News caught her putting cash she received from a man into her bag and disappearing into the night. Here's how she operated: After negotiating a deal — say, for 10,000 yen — with a foreign customer, they both go to a hotel. 'Pay me 10,000 yen first,' she will say. After receiving the amount, she'll announce, 'I came to the hotel for 10,000 yen. This is the end.' She'll then head for the door. 'Unique Japanese scene' However, many women actually engaged in sex with foreign tourists for money. The find out why foreign tourists prefer to pick up streetwalkers around Okubo Park, TBS News conducts several interviews. 'There is a YouTuber who introduces that there is a street in Kabukicho where you can have sexual relations [with women],' a Korean man says. A man from Finland shows the network a TikTok video. He says that he came across the video after it was recommended on the app. 'There are quite a lot [of these videos],' he says. 'I think it's a unique Japanese scene.' A man from France acknowledges that he went to a hotel with a woman. He says, 'This is the best place.' Sex tourism Kazunori Yamai, of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, raised the issue of foreign tourists visiting for the purpose of prostitution in the Diet 'Foreign men come to Tokyo for sex tourism,' said the House of Representatives member. 'Is this situation really something we can just ignore?' The Anti-Prostitution Law prohibits prostitution, but there are no penalties for those who buy sex. Kazuna Kanajiri is the director of PAPS (Organization for Pornography and Sexual Exploitation Survivors). She says that the law needs to be revised. '[Under the current circumstances] the buyers can approach women as much as they want without being punished If there are no buyers, [women] will not be forced to sell sex. We need legal penalties as soon as possible,' she says.
SoraNews24
21-07-2025
- SoraNews24
Mobile battery fire breaks out on Tokyo's main commuter line
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!
