A woman in her 20s and two other individuals were arrested on Thursday on suspicion of defrauding a visually impaired man by luring him through a dating app and charging him excessive fees at a bar.
Two 16-year-old girls have been referred to prosecutors on suspicion of obstructing business operations after drinking tea directly from a shared pitcher at a Sukiya beef bowl restaurant in Osaka.
The number of cormorants living near Lake Biwa has surged in recent years, and their impact is increasingly spilling into nearby residential neighborhoods. Once limited to the shoreline and riverbanks, the birds are now flocking to urban areas, causing serious problems with their droppings, foul odor, and incessant cries. Residents say the situation is becoming intolerable.
Loose socks, once a symbol of 1990s gyaru fashion, are making a stylish comeback among Japan's Gen Z, driven by a broader 'Heisei retro' trend that celebrates nostalgic aesthetics. In Harajuku, young people are pairing the evolved, shorter versions of the socks with miniskirts and shorts.
A 36-year-old unemployed man has been arrested on suspicion of abducting a teenage girl who was later found dead in Yamagata Prefecture. The suspect, Hiroki Kishinami from Fukushima City, has previously been arrested three times for offenses including the abduction of minors and assisting in suicides.
A growing number of credit card fraud cases in Japan has been linked to a shadowy underground labor network, where Chinese nationals are suspected of stealing Japanese consumers' card data.
A 30-year-old Vietnamese man has been arrested for allegedly stealing 22 high-end bonsai trees worth a total of 670,000 yen from a garden center in Akishima, Tokyo.
Shizuoka Prefectural Police have launched a new initiative offering gasoline discount coupons to promote the use of their crime prevention app. This is the first such campaign in Japan to tie fuel discounts to public safety app downloads.