Remains believed to be those of a missing woman, who would have been aged 104 if she were alive, have been found in a backpack at her son’s apartment in Tokyo’s Ota Ward after he admitted to the local authorities that his mother died about nine years ago, police said Friday.
The 64-year-old son of Kikue Mitsuishi initially told ward officials, who are trying to confirm the whereabouts of missing elderly people in the ward, that his mother was in Niigata Prefecture.
He has also admitted to having received his mother’s pension up until six years ago, investigators said. (AP)

A 23-year-old mother who was arrested Friday over the death of her two toddlers at their apartment in the city of Osaka after apparently neglecting them has told investigators that she wanted time for herself, police sources said Saturday.
Sanae Shimomura was quoted as saying she had “got sick of feeding them and giving them a bath” since moving to the apartment in around January when she began working at a sex parlor after getting divorced in May last year.
She was arrested on suspicion of abandoning the bodies of her 3-year- old daughter Sakurako and 1-year-old son Kaede in late June. (AP)

A 23-year-old woman was arrested Friday on suspicion of abandoning the bodies of her two children at her apartment in the city of Osaka, police said.
Sanae Shimomura, who works at an adult entertainment shop, was quoted as telling investigators, “I got sick of feeding them and giving them a bath.”
She is suspected of leaving the bodies of her 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son late June, although she was aware that they were dead, according to the police.
While there were no wounds on their bodies, they were thin, indicating they may have died of starvation, the police said. (AP)

A 31-year old unemployed man was arrested by police in Japan on July 20th for illegal transmission of TV programs over the controversial file sharing software BitTorrent.
According to Japanese news reports, under the support of the Metropolitan Police Department’s cyber crime division, investigators arrested Shuichiro Tanaka in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, on suspicion of uploading and sharing TV shows.
Police indicated that from June 4th to June 9th, Tanaka is believed to have recorded three programs on his computer, and then to have shared them via BitTorrent to an unspecified number of users. (examiner.com)

A 34-year-old former sumo wrestler who once belonged to Onomatsu stable has told investigators that he served as a bookmaker for illegal gambling on professional baseball games, investigative sources said Monday.
The former wrestler, who was believed to have acted as an intermediary in setting up sumo wrestlers with bookies, also indicated he had ties with syndicated crime organizations, according to the sources, in a challenge to Monday’s announcement by a special oversight panel investigating the illegal gambling which said it could not confirm such ties between wrestlers and crime organs. (AP)

A former Mazda Motor Corp. temporary worker arrested for killing one Mazda employee and injuring 10 others by hitting them with a car told investigators he tried to copy the 2008 murder spree in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, investigative sources said Wednesday.
Toshiaki Hikiji, 42, of the city of Hiroshima, was quoted as telling investigators he had planned to park his car inside the Mazda plant complex and attack people with a kitchen knife. He was arrested after running into the 11 as they headed to work Tuesday.
(Japan Times)

A 26-year-old unemployed man in Japan has been arrested for threatening to kill Princess Aiko - the daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito and Princess Masako.
Kengo Inami had posted a message on a popular internet forum, threatening to kill the princess with a hammer.
He is reported to have told investigators that he enjoyed the reactions of those who accessed the forum.
The incident comes at a time when the princess is making headlines of her own.
The daughter of Japan’s crown prince and princess is still missing classes, two months after she stopped going to school because of bullying.
(Channel NewsAsia)
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A 22-year-old man under arrest has admitted to killing his 6-month-old son, wife and mother-in-law in the city of Miyazaki, investigative sources said Wednesday.
Investigators said Akihiro Okumoto, who was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of abandoning the body of his son, Yuto, told them, “I killed the three.” (AP)
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A second-year middle school student under arrest for possessing marijuana told police that she could not stop smoking it with friends after trying it out of curiosity, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Friday.
Shortly after her arrest, she reportedly told investigators: “I’m relieved to be arrested. I was scared I’d never be able to stop using drugs.” (Yomiuri)
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A week after his arrest, Tatsuya Ichihashi is still not talking about his suspected abandonment of the body of English-language teacher Lindsay Hawker, who was found dead on the balcony of Ichihashi’s apartment in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, in March 2007, investigative sources said.
The 30-year-old Ichihashi drank tea that was offered to him during police questioning, but he has not eaten any food during the past week, possibly as an expression of defiance toward investigators, the sources said. (Yomiuri)
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