Two days after he fled in Osaka Prefecture, prosecutors on Monday caught a man indicted on drug charges who escaped while being transferred to police custody after his bail was revoked.
Ryotaro Oue, who was indicted for using illegal stimulants and possessing marijuana, was apprehended by the Osaka District Public Prosecutor’s Office on a bridge over the Yodo River in Osaka.
Authorities had been searching for Oue since his escape from a vehicle on Saturday, during which two male officials suffered minor injuries while trying to restrain the 42-year-old man.
A male acquaintance who sheltered Oue was also arrested by investigators on suspicion of harboring a fugitive.
According to investigative sources, a man resembling Oue’s description was spotted in a car on Sunday morning in the city’s Sumiyoshi Ward, located a dozen or so kilometers from where he escaped, as he attempted to shake off his pursuers.
The same vehicle was also seen traveling along a number of expressways before being abandoned in a parking lot in Kita Ward.
A former top bureaucrat at the farm ministry admitted Wednesday to killing his socially reclusive son, during the first day of his high-profile trial in Tokyo. (Japan Times)
Japan's environment minister has suggested his country has no plans to change its coal-fired power generation policy soon. Shinjiro Koizumi was speaking at the UN climate change summit in Spain. (NHK)
An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.2 struck northern Hokkaido early Thursday and measured lower 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7, Japan's weather agency said. (Japan Today)
Japanese scientist Akira Yoshino accepted the Nobel Prize in chemistry on Tuesday at a ceremony in Sweden for his contribution to the development of lithium-ion batteries. (Japan Times)
A former Japanese defense chief has been shot in the leg near his home in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, Sankei newspaper reported on Tuesday citing police sources. (Japan Today)
Russia may be banned from the next two Olympics but the door is open for Russian participation at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games if athletes can meet the rigid criteria laid out by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). (Japan Today)
Police referred a 17-year-old high school student and two men to prosecutors on Tuesday over their alleged involvement in the online trading of uranium in violation of Japanese law regulating nuclear materials. (Japan Today)
It might be the most Japanese of political scandals: a furor over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's guest list at a party to mark the annual cherry blossom season. (Japan Today)
Afghan police said Monday they have detained a total of six men in connection with the shooting death last week of a Japanese doctor who was a well-known aid worker in the central Asian country. (Japan Today)