Friday Finish - Santa in Canoe Ornament

Two Men Arrested for Smuggling One Ton of Gold into Japan

Two men from Chiba Prefecture were arrested on suspicion of smuggling about one ton of gold from South Korea into Japan, evading consumption tax and profiting from the sales, according to police. This ton of gold is worth about 10.8 billion yen ($69 million).

Fifty-three year old Jin Tateno and 45 year old company executive, Jun Sakurai, are accused of making about 200 trips to South Korea between 2023 and 2024 to smuggle the gold, which was sold in Japan in about 150 transactions, according to police. The two were arrested last Wednesday. Smuggling the gold into Japan, evaded consumption tax totalling 4.68 million yen. They were caught when a pouch of gold was turned into Lost and Found at the airport, and Tateno checked at Lost and Found, saying he lost his gold.

Tateno claims he had no intention of smuggling, while Sakurai said the Tateno asked him to smuggle. I wonder what the penalty is for this crime.

Gold smuggling cases have greatly increased in recent years as demand for safe-haven assets grows amid global uncertainties.

Work In Progress Wednesday

I’m pleased with how all of these are coming along. 

New Start - Cross Stitch Fobs in progress 

The Tale of Genji progress

Dogwood Afghan progress - upper right corner

Hardanger progress -

Peace and Providence Place/Kawashiwakubo Castle Site

From the internet:

Peace and Providence Place, located in Ōdairakakigi, Japan, is a historic site and landmark known as the residence of the Kano clan. The Kano clan, descendants of the Fujiwara Minami family, gained prominence in painting as the Kano school. The castle grounds feature a parking lot and walking path for visitors. The site showcases mountain castle construction that integrates the natural landscape. Although little remains of the original castle, the site is well-maintained with explanatory signs. The altitude difference within the castle ruins is about 70m, offering a hiking experience.

This was a nice hike in the woods. I don’t know what the signs meant. I think they were designating different sights.  

The signs above tell how many minutes walk. 

This building was in a state of disrepair. The coin collection box in the entry made me think it was a shrine building.

It looks like some kind of crab in the photos below.

There is no shortage of interesting places to visit in Japan.

Monday Morning Star Count

I’m going through my fabric leftovers/scraps and cutting the pieces that are big enough (but not too big) into 2 1/2 inch squares. There’s no hurry on this and I can make the squares into hexagons when I have a few minutes here and there. 

Autumn in Ueno Park Tokyo

I was in Ueno Park in Tokyo a few days ago, and the trees were beautiful.  I don’t think they are peak color yet, but I still enjoyed them very much.

It was a week day, so the park wasn’t very crowded.

The lotus plants are done for the year, but they will be back again.

There was a flea market. I looked around but didn’t buy anything.

I visited this park in August and it looked very different. Japanese people like to say Japan has four seasons, and it is very true.