Category: Crime

by Michael Gillan Peckitt September 9, 2025 2
Abuse Care Crime Disability Japan

38-Year-Old Woman Dies at Disability Facility After Bath at 50°C Causes Burns, Police Investigate Possible Negligence

A 38-year-old woman with disabilities died after suffering severe burns while bathing at the Hitakami-en facility in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, police revealed. Kana Abe developed extensive skin damage following staff-assisted bathing in 2022, and later died in hospital from respiratory failure caused by burns covering 60 percent of her body. A facility report suggested the bathwater temperature was about 50 degrees Celsius. Police are investigating the incident on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt September 7, 2025 Number of comments0
Abuse Care Crime Disability Intellectual disabilities Japan

Former Nagasaki care worker admits assaulting three disabled people, says they “irritated” him

A former employee of a disability support facility in Nagasaki has been indicted for assaulting three residents with intellectual and physical disabilities, with prosecutors seeking an eight-month prison sentence at the Nagasaki District Court. The 49-year-old defendant admitted to striking the residents in the head and face, telling the court he became “irritated” when they did not listen to him. Prosecutors presented security footage showing the assaults and argued the violence had become habitual, while the defense sought a suspended sentence. A verdict is scheduled for October 1.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt September 4, 2025 1
Children Crime Disability Japan

(Update) Nagoya Prosecutors Urged to Deem Girl, Hinami, Born Severely Disabled after Accident as Victim

The family of a pregnant woman who died after being hit by a vehicle in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, is urging prosecutors to recognize her newborn daughter—left severely disabled due to the accident—as a legal victim. Sayaka Togitani, 31, died two days after the May 21 incident, and her daughter Hinami was delivered via emergency cesarean section but suffered brain damage from fetal hypoxia. While the 50-year-old driver has been indicted for negligent driving resulting in Sayaka’s death, no charges have been filed in relation to Hinami, as she was a fetus at the time under Japan’s Criminal Code. On September 2, Sayaka’s husband, Yudai, submitted a petition with over 112,000 signatures calling for prosecutors to also pursue charges for the injury to Hinami. At the driver’s first court hearing the same day, they admitted guilt and apologized, while Yudai emphasized the importance of acknowledging his daughter’s life and suffering.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt September 3, 2025 2
Crime Disability Japan

Family Seeks Recognition of Baby, Made Severely Disabled in Utero, as Victim in Ichinomiya Fatal Accident

The family of a pregnant woman killed in a May traffic accident is urging prosecutors to recognize her newborn daughter, left severely disabled, as a victim. Sayaka Togitani, 31, was struck by a car and gave birth by cesarean section before dying. Her baby, Hinami, requires a ventilator. The driver, Naoko Kono, 50, was indicted for negligent driving resulting in death, but not in relation to the baby. Over 112,000 signatures have been submitted supporting the family’s request.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt August 29, 2025 Number of comments0
Crime Japan

Japan Still Grappling with Problem of Groping

Voices have been raised in Japan demanding countermeasures for molestation, which shows no sign of disappearing. 
   In June, Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department arrested a man in his 30s on the spot on suspicion of groping a female high school student on a Tokyo Metro train running in the capital’s Koto Ward. The man had groped the student two or three times a week for some 10 months since August 2024. The number of molestation cases detected by the MPD reached 606 between January and June. Trains accounted for 70 pct of the crime scenes, while 30 pct of the victims were 10 to 19 years old.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt July 18, 2025 Number of comments0
Crime Japan Nursing Care

Shiga Govt Ordered to Compensate Ex-Assistant Nurse Acquitted of Murder

A district court in western Japan on Thursday ordered the Shiga prefectural government to pay about 31 million yen in damages to a former assistant nurse acquitted of murdering a patient. Sosuke Ikeda, presiding judge at Otsu District Court, said in the ruling that the investigation of Mika Nishiyama, 45, by officers of the Shiga prefectural police department went beyond socially acceptable levels. Meanwhile, the court rejected Nishiyama’s claim for damages from the Japanese government, saying that her indictment by public prosecutors was reasonable to a certain degree. The plaintiff side plans to appeal against the ruling.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt July 17, 2025 Number of comments0
Crime Health Japan Medical

Japan Government Says Its Taking Strict Fentanyl Countermeasures

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Tuesday that Japan is taking thorough measures against fentanyl, noting that Japanese customs have not uncovered any attempts to smuggle the synthetic opioid through the country in the past six years. Health minister Takamaro Fukuoka and Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato also mentioned fentanyl in separate press conferences on the day. The ministers’ remarks followed media reports that a Chinese organization is suspected of being involved in fentanyl-related exports from Japan to the United States.



by Michael Gillan Peckitt July 2, 2025 Number of comments0
Crime Japan Mental Health Podcast

Woman Handed Suspended Term over Attack at University Campus, Judge Attributes Attack to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder [Podcast Episode]

A Japanese court on Friday sentenced a woman to three years in prison, suspended for four years, for injuring eight students in a hammer attack at a university campus in suburban Tokyo. The court found Yoo Ju Hyun, a 23-year-old South Korean, guilty of injuring the students on Jan. 10 at Hosei University’s Tama Campus in Machida. The presiding judge put her actions down to a mental disorder she was suffering.