OSAKA (Kyodo) A 58-year-old woman is suspected of keeping her father’s decomposed body inside a closet in their house in Izumi, Osaka Prefecture, for five years after his death and drawing off his pension, police said Wednesday. After the body of a man believed to be Asakichi Miyata — who would be 91 if alive — was found in the house, the woman claimed her father was dead when she came home one day five years ago and she put his corpse in the closet afterward, they said
Justice Minister Keiko Chiba, who will probably be replaced next month because she lost her Diet seat in the July 11 Upper House election, allowed journalists for the first time Friday to enter the Tokyo Detention House’s execution chamber.
The Tokyo Detention House opened its execution chamber to the media Friday, giving the public its first peek at the place where death-row inmates are hanged. The Justice Ministry organized the tour at the instructions of Justice Minister Keiko Chiba, who is trying to generate public debate on the death penalty. Despite being a longtime opponent of capital punishment, Chiba authorized the executions of two inmates in July and witnessed them in person
Police on Friday arrested the 81-year-old daughter and 53-year-old granddaughter of a Tokyo man whose mummified body was found in their home last month, on suspicion of fraudulently receiving pension payments he would have been entitled to. The discovery of the remains of Sogen Kato, who would be 111 if alive, at the house in Adachi Ward drew attention to the fact many elderly people, particularly centenarians, are unaccounted for despite being registered as alive
At the instruction of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, the Democratic Party of Japan created a team to discuss reducing the number of Diet seats with the opposition forces. Mr.
Police raided the house of a South Korean Christian activist and were questioning him for a second day on Saturday after he returned home from an illegal trip to North Korea, an official said.During h…
The Social Democratic Party on Thursday approved House of Representatives lawmaker Kiyomi Tsujimoto’s secession from the tiny opposition force, refraining from punishing her for leaving. The approval came after the SDP considered whether to punish her since she announced her plan in July to become an independent lawmaker.
CHIBA (Kyodo) Former lawmaker Koichi Hamada admitted before his arrest Tuesday on suspicion of breach of trust that he sold shares he had put up as collateral in a financial deal, although he is now refusing to answer questions, investigative sources said Wednesday. Hamada, 81, admitted to police during voluntary questioning that he sold the shares he put up as collateral to borrow ¥200 million from a company, the sources said. Hamada was a House of Representatives member until 1993 for the then ruling Liberal Democratic Party
By Bae Ji-sook Forty-nine-year-old office worker Kim leaves his house in Ilsan, northern Gyeonggi Province, around 7:40 a.m., to reach his office in Anguk-dong in northern Seoul before 8:50 a.m. ev…
The outcome of the July 11 Upper House election symbolized voters’ distrust of national politics in Japan. The ruling Democratic Party of Japan led by Prime Minister Naoto Kan took only 44 of the 121 contested seats against its pre-election share of 54 seats due for contention and the DPJ-led coalition lost a majority in the 242-seat chamber by a large margin