Breaking Update News - The Lip Sew-er Case

 If you haven’t already, read this post first.

A few days ago, I wrote about the woman who escaped her shared home with sewn lips to tell the police her roommate had done it the day before, but she couldn’t escape when it first happened.  Ibaraki Police have now rearrested 50 year old Masae Sakurai on suspicion of coercion after she allegedly intimidated her female roommate into sewing her own lips together previously.

Yes, you read that right. Masae Sakurai, a self described part-time worker, is accused of threatening the 42 year old victim at their shared residence in Koga City, Ibaraki Prefecture on the night of June 18. According to Koga Police, Sakurai is suspected of sewing a woman’s lips together on June 29 (causing injuries of undetermined severity) after having forced her to sew them herself ten days prior. Sakurai allegedly presented her roommate with a threaded needle and demanded she hurry up and do it. The terrified victim was forced to stitch her own lips together multiple times. When she was rearrested on July 24, Sakurai flatly denied the allegations. Police are continuing to investigate the living situation.

It is a Crime to Sew Your Roommate’s Lips Shut

This is a strange one that I read about in several different news sources. None of the sources answered the WHY of this strange occurrence. 

Koga City, Ibaraki Police arrested 49 year old, part-time worker, Masae Sakurai, on a suspicion of assault for sewing together the upper and lower lips of her 42 year old room mate with a needle and thread on June 29th of this year. The two women had been living together since April 2025. They shared a home with other roommates. 

The day following the sewing incident, the 42 year old with her lips sewn shut and wearing a white face mask, went to a nearby shop and handed the store clerk a note with “Please help me. I cannot speak. Please call the police.” written on it.The police were called and the woman was taken to the hospital by ambulance.  The woman told the police she was afraid of her roommate and couldn’t escape right away. 

Police are questioning the other people living in the house. Neighbors said seven or eight people were constantly coming and going and no one knew what any of them did for a living. They also said the residents of the house refused to interact with the neighborhood association. 

I will be watching for updates on this strange story.

(Not actual lips - picture from the internet.)

Another Dead Man Referred to Prosecutors for Murder

No matter how many times I read about these cases of dead people being prosecuted in Japan, I still feel there is something very strange. 

Police in Toyokawa City in Aichi Prefecture decided to send a recommendation to prosecutors to prosecute a dead man suspected of killing his girlfriend six months ago when he was alive.

On January 5th, police responded to an emergency call from Kurumi Baba, a 26 year old woman, crying for help. When police arrived, they found her collapsed and bleeding from stab wounds. She was transported to the hospital, but pronounced dead two hours later. Yu Nakayama, a man in his 30’s who was in a relationship with Kurumi Baba, was found with a neck wound. He was also transported to the hospital where he later died. Police believe Nakayama stabbed Baba, then attempted suicide by stabbing himself. A blood stained knife was found near him. 

I understand people wanting closure, but with both people dead, it seems pretty closed. Prosecution and trials are expensive. Is this the best use of public funds? What do you think?

New Bicycle Rules, New Scams

New bicycle laws went into effect in April of this year, in an effort to make cycling safer. In 2024, there were over 67,000 bicycle related traffic accidents in Japan.  Under the new system, police are able to issue on-the-spot tickets, incurring fines for 113 cycling offenses to cyclists 16 and over. If you are issued a ticket under the new system, you have eight days to pay the fine in cash at a bank or post office. 

Already criminals are at work, though! There have been multiple incidents of scammers all over Japan, posing as police officers, who stop bicycle riders and demand the fine be paid on the spot. If this happens to you, don’t pay! Real police officers will be wearing uniforms and will issue a ticket, but they do not collect money from the bicycle riders. 

One of  the new rules that seems to be in the gray area is failure to use arm signals before making a turn. The new rules require cyclists to indicate a turn by extending the arm for a turn in that direction, or a bent arm with finger tips upward for a turn in the other direction, with a fine of 5000 yen for failure to comply. Another rule requires both hands on the handlebars for safety.  Sounds like it is hard to be in compliance with the law, and easy for a scammer to try to get your money.

There have been quite a few reports of these scammers, but I haven’t read about any of them getting caught yet.

89 year old Man Bites and Dies

This is another strange case. An 89 year old man from Ikeda City, Osaka, was arrested for biting a 49 year old woman in a nature park in Kawanishi City, Hyogo. 

Two police officers attempted to escort the man to a police car, but he sat down on the ground and refused to move. The police officers put him on a stretcher borrowed from the park management office and carried him to the police car, about 200 meters away. The police officers said his face was pale and he appeared semiconscious after being put in the police car, so they drove him to the hospital where he died about 90 minutes later. 

An autopsy is being conducted to determine the cause of death. What happened here? I will probably never find out.

Buddhist Priest Arrested for Using Health Insurance Card He Found

Buddhist priest, Terukazu Hirokaga, was arrested after he was caught using another person’s health insurance card at an Osaka hospital to get treatment and prescription medication. The 55 year old Hirokaga said he found the card belonging to a man in his 60’s on the street in Tokyo. Police were able to track his illegal use of the card 115 times in numerous cities, including Okayama and Kyoto. He said he used the card in different cities to avoid detection.

I find this very sad. First of all, why doesn’t the priest have his own card? Next, why is he illegally using someone else’s card? Is he really ill, needing medical attention, or was he doing it to get the medication? What is he doing with all the medication he was prescribed at 115 visits? So many unanswered questions.

This type of card, with no picture, is what the priest was using. The newer “My Number” cards have the owner’s photo on it.

Hand-biting in the Public Toilet

This is another strange crime case. 

Police in Gifu City arrested 37 year old city employee, Yusuke Tsutsumi, on suspicion of assault for biting the left hand of a 46 year old man inside the public toilet in Meitetsu Gifu train station around 11 pm last Saturday. Mr. Tsutsumi denied the allegation, saying “I have no recollection of it”. Police said the two men do not know each other and Mr. Tsutsumi was not intoxicated.  

Does this sound weird or what?

Another Dead Man Indicted

This seems to be common in Japan, but it still feels very strange to me. Last May, a 70 year old man jumped from the 43rd floor of an apartment building, killing himself and a cyclist riding on the sidewalk below. As a result, the Osaka Prefectural Police have now referred the dead 70 year old to prosecutors with the charge of gross negligence resulting in death. Relatives of the man told police that he talked of suicide because of medical problems, and there were indications that he had climbed over the railing. Autopsies determined the causes of death for both the 70 year old man and the cyclist were due to multiple traumatic injuries.

I posted about another case of a dead man being indicted here. That case was also in Osaka Prefecture.

Arrested For Not Paying Bar Bill

A 61 year old man was arrested by police in Niigata City on suspicion of fraud when he said he couldn’t pay his 10,120 yen bar bill at the end of the night. According to police, between 6:30 and 10:30 pm on a Thursday evening, he was alone and consumed 10,120 yen worth of food and drink at the bar. When he was ready to leave and was presented with the bill, he said he could not pay. In fact, he had only 100 yen on him, so the bar employee called the police. The police said he had no intention of paying, so he was arrested. 

Sad situation, if you ask me.

Photo from the internet, not actual man.

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.

89 Year Old Man Arrested for Assaulting Taxi Driver and Fleeing Without Paying Fare

This is horrible and not what I would expect from any normal person, especially from an 89 year old. Police in Eto, Hiroshima arrested 89 year old Yukio Miura (no fixed address) on suspicion of assaulting a taxi driver and refusing to pay the fare. 

At 12:40 am Saturday, Miura got into the taxi in Hiroshima City and was traveling to Mitako Port passenger terminal. Police said that when the taxi stopped, Miura, is accused of punching the 64 year old male taxi driver in the face, saying “I’ll kill you”, then fled without paying the 28,739 yen fare. The taxi driver was not seriously injured. The taxi driver called the police who found Miura walking alone near the scene of the incident, where he was arrested. Police said Miura partially denied the allegation, quoting him as saying, “It’s true I took the taxi, but I didn’t hit the driver”. 

I’m guessing alcohol was involved.

99 Year Old Driver Crashes and Gets Fined

At what age should a person stop driving? 

A 99 year old man was fined 300,000 yen after driving the wrong way in a tunnel in Gifu Prefecture, crashing headfirst and severely injuring another driver in an oncoming car, according to police. The elderly driver was fined for “causing bodily injury through negligence” after hitting the car driven by a 41 year old man.  The 99 year old made a U-turn near the exit of the tunnel, then drove on the wrong side for 3.7 kilometers before causing the accident. 

As the population in Japan ages, the number of accidents involving elderly drivers is on the rise. Police are calling on elderly drivers to surrender their drivers licenses. This is a difficult problem, especially in rural areas where there are fewer public transportation options.

Dead Man Indicted for Murder

This is a strange one. Osaka Prefectural Police have indicted a 26 year old man for killing his wife and two daughters at their apartment before committing suicide in Suita City, Osaka Prefecture, in June. The man is already dead, and is being charged with murder! 

A jogger found the body of  Kyohei Akiyama, under a pedestrian bridge about one kilometer from the family’s apartment. Police were called and Mr. Akiyama was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 26 year old wife and two daughters, aged two and one, were found stabbed to death in their apartment by police, when they visited the address on the man/husband’s drivers license. A note saying “I’m sorry” was found in the living room of the apartment. According to police, the man had quit his job and was in a mentally unstable condition.

It seems that in Japan, it is not uncommon for a deceased person to be charged with a crime. The reason is to officially document that the case is closed. Does this happen in any other country?

Police Officer Arrested for Stealing Money from Elderly Woman at Police Station

This is a sad story. If this police officer is convicted, I hope he is punished to the full extent of the law. 

Hiroshima prefectural police arrested 31 year old police sergeant Shinya Masumoto on suspicion of stealing 10,000 yen in cash from a 78 year old woman who was at the police station to renew her driver’s license. Police report that this took place at 9:55 am on June 23 at the Takehara City Station. Sergeant Masumoto is accused of stealing the money from the woman’s handbag while he was testing her eyes. After the eye test, she realized she didn’t have the money when it was time to pay the fee. She notified the police at the time, but then thought she might have been mistaken about having the money in her bag and left.

Masumoto’s colleague was suspicious and discussed the matter with his superior. After being questioned, Masumoto admitted to the allegation. Chief Inspector Keiji Norimune said the act was unacceptable for a police officer and offered apologies to the victim and the people of the prefecture. 

What a sad situation! Ten thousand yen is only about $68 USD.

Tokyo Dog Thief

(Not actual dogs in this case)

Tokyo Police have arrested Daisuki Suzuki, a 46 year old unemployed man on suspicion of trespassing and allegedly stealing three Chihuahuas from a dog shelter cafe, between 11 pm on July 3rd and early the next morning. The dog shelter cafe in Arakawa Ward is a place where visitors can interact with rescued dogs. 

Initially Suzuki took only one dog, but after stopping at a convenience store, the dog escaped, so he went back to the cafe and stole two more. Next, Suzuki took a taxi to a snack bar, where he and the staff played with the dogs before letting the dogs loose outside. 

Police said all three dogs were found and returned to the dog shelter cafe. Police identified Suzuki using security camera footage taken outside. Police quoted Suzuki as saying, “I was drinking and don’t remember a lot, but I do remember playing with the dogs and taking a taxi.” 

This guy would be better off if he stayed away from alcohol and dogs.  I wonder what the penalty is for this crime.

Stealing Underwear

 

These underwear crime stories are too common in Japan. 

Osaka police arrested 44 year old Mitsuru Toyonaga on suspicion of attempting to steal four underwear items from a coin laundry in Miyakojima Ward, according to Sankei Shinbun (newspaper). 

A passerby was suspicious of Toyonaga’s behavior and detained him. Police said Toyonaga admitted to the allegation and confessed to having stolen women’s underwear about 100 times since last September. About 450 items of women’s underwear were found in his home, stored by color in a chest of drawers. 

This is strange on so many levels. Apart from the underwear stealing and having 450 items in a chest of drawers, what about the passerby who detained him? I’m pretty sure I have done things that might seem suspicious to a Japanese person. I don’t want anyone detaining me! Is detaining someone, as in this case, legal? What if the man was getting his own (women's) underwear out of the laundry? Surely it’s not illegal for a man to buy and own women’s underwear. Ok, so in this case Toyonaga really was stealing another person’s undergarments, but how could the passerby know?

Fired for stealing

The Imperial Palace fired an employee for stealing a total of 3.6 million yen over more than a year from Emperor Naruhito and his family. The suspect is identified as an employee in his 20’s, who was one of about 80 attendants assigned to the palace or the Imperial Agency building. Officials said this has been unheard of in modern history. It is an embarrassment for the royal household. 

The situation surfaced in March during an internal investigation when a discrepancy was notice between cash in the safe and the accounting book. When a loss of 30,000 yen was detected in late March, the suspect was asked about it.  He admitted to stealing a total of 3,600,000 yen from November 2023 to late March 2025, because he had financial difficulties. The employee was dismissed and a criminal complaint was filed. The assistant manager, an employee in his 40’s, was punished with a one month pay cut for being lax in his accounting duties. The Imperial Household Agency chief Yauhiko Nishimura said the theft was “extremely regrettable”.  

I think it is very sad that the young person, who was a trusted employee, stole money, not once but several times over the course of almost a year and a half. Now the former employee is in the criminal system, with an unknown future. What “financial difficulties” would make someone do this?

The missing money was part of the 324 million yen annual budget allocated as living expenses for the emperor and empress, their daughter Princess Aiko and the emperor’s parents.

Another Crazy Crime Story

Internet image - NOT ACTUAL FINGER

Osaka Police have arrested a 23 year old unemployed woman with three counts of assault after she allegedly cut off her 21 year old boyfriend’s ring finger with a hatchet and one nipple with scissors. Yikes! 

The victim told police that Saki Sato attacked him because she suspected him of cheating, and cut off his ring finger so he can’t marry another woman! Sato has denied the charges and said the man cut off his own finger. The police found the finger in a bottle of liquid in the refrigerator. The man’s bankbook and phone were found locked in Sato’s safe.

The two met on social media two years ago and have been living together since last July. The police have been called four times due to relationship troubles since then. 

This is really crazy. If she doesn’t go to jail, he needs to move out!

This Week’s Crime Story

 

A 37 year old unemployed woman was arrested on suspicion of trespassing on private property after she broke into a man’s apartment while he was in the bathtub, according to police in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture.

The incident happened about 2:40 am on Sunday. The man, said to be in his 20’s, heard a noise and saw the woman when he came out of the bath. The man then called the police and told them a woman he didn’t know broke into his apartment. Police took her into custody and said they did not know how she got into the apartment. 

This is such a weird story. What was she doing in the apartment - mistake, burglary, some other reason? Why didn’t she run away when the man saw her and before the police came? Was she drunk or mentally ill? There probably won’t be a follow up story, so I’ll be left wondering.

Death Penalty Support in Japan

The Japanese government reports that over 80% of Japanese support the death penalty. The government survey, which is taken every five years, showed support for the death penalty at 83.1%, up 2.3% from the previous survey in 2019. This is the fifth consecutive time support has exceeded 80%. The survey included 3,000 people, age 18 and over. 

In the survey, many people said the death penalty is “unavoidable”. A common reason for support was concern for the feelings of the victims of capital crimes and their families. Others in support of the death penalty said they were concerned the abolition of capital punishment would lead to a rise in terrible crimes. 

Of those who are against the death penalty, the most common reason given was that mistaken convictions become irreversible. Last fall, an 88 year old man, Iwao Hakamata, who spent more than 40 years on death row after being convicted in a 1966 quadruple murder case, was acquitted in a retrial. This is the main reason why I am against the death penalty. You can’t bring the person back after the sentence was carried out by mistake. 

According to Wikkipedia:

The 193 United Nations member states and two observer states fall into four categories based on their use of capital punishment. As of 2024:^[9]

• 53 (27%) maintain the death penalty in law and practice.
• 23 (12%) permit its use but have abolished it de facto: per Amnesty International standards, they have not used it for at least 10 years and are believed to have a policy or practice of not carrying out executions.^[10]
• 9 (5%) have abolished it for all crimes except those committed under exceptional circumstances (such as during war).
• 110 (56%) have completely abolished it, most recently Zimbabwe (2024).

I’m surprised such a high percentage of Japanese people are in favor of capital punishment here. I’ve  not talked with any of my friends here about the topic, so I don’t have any reason to say that. I read the news and learn new things.