A Japanese court on Thursday is set to sentence Shinji Aoba, the man responsible for a 2019 arson attack at a Kyoto Animation Co. studio that killed 36 people in one of Japan’s worst-ever mass murders.
A place where children can come and play together and receive support has been offered on an island in the central Japan prefecture of Ishikawa, which was hit hard by a powerful earthquake on the first day of this year.
The man from Osaka Prefecture has admitted to the charge of attempted murder, saying he wanted to spend the rest of his life behind bars, said the police who withheld his name citing a mental disorder.
Four male passengers were injured in a knife attack on East Japan Railway Co.’s Yamanote Line in Tokyo Wednesday night, the Tokyo Fire Department said.
A knife-wielding woman, apparently in her 20s, was arrested at JR Akihabara Station by Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department on suspicion of attempted murder.
So-called senior cafeterias, where elderly people from the local community gather and dine together, are increasing in Japan amid an increase in elderly people living alone.
The scheme is aimed at preventing social isolation among the elderly and promoting their mental and physical health.
Bereaved relatives and others mourned on Sunday victims of an arson attack at a clinic in a multitenant building in the western Japan city of Osaka two years ago.
In front of the building, mourners laid flowers and offered prayers for the victims.
Prosecutors on Thursday demanded capital punishment for a man who has admitted to the 2019 arson attack at Kyoto Animation Co. that killed 36 people, while his defense counsel has called for an acquittal, arguing he was not mentally competent at the time.
A prosecutor asked the accused to elaborate on a previous comment in which he said he did not expect so many people would die and he went too far. The accused said his comment includes feelings of atonement and he is extremely sorry.
It is the first time for the accused to offer an apology in court.
The allegations the nine face include professional negligence resulting in the death of the 43-year-old man who was being held in a cell at the Okazaki police station in Aichi Prefecture. The man was battling schizophrenia and diabetes and died of kidney failure but is suspected of not receiving adequate medical care.
A woman who was reported to have been attacked with a knife at a music hall near Tokyo on Thursday has admitted that she stabbed herself, police said.
Barrier Free Japan