It always behooves me when people look at asia and say they are much more well behaved than the west, experience less crime, respect authority more, etc. Well, I had a glance at a Japanese online news site and this is the typical stories of the past week.. No different than the typical stories in the US as shown on US media. Damn.. you think where the stereotypes come from, eh??

Sample the following...


Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 11:28 EDT
SENDAI — A female university student was arrested Thursday for abandoning the dead body of a newborn baby two years ago in Sendai. Haruka Yano, 20, allegedly abandoned the infant in a styrofoam box at an empty house that her grandfather owned in April of 2005.
According to police, she turned herself in Wednesday night, accompanied by her parents. Yano said she got pregnant when she was in high school, but her family was not aware of her pregnancy and delivery.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 15:58 EDT
TOKYO — A newborn baby girl was found in a large bag at a garbage disposal site in Kita-Otsuka, Toshima Ward, on Tuesday morning. Police said they received a call from the building janitor at 7:30 a.m., saying that a baby's cries could be heard coming from the garbage bag among other trash stacked up outside a condominium.
When police arrived at the condo, they found the infant, still with its umbilical cord attached, covered with a bathmat and placed in a paper bag on top of a plastic garbage bag. She was taken to hospital where doctors said she was was suffering from hypothermia and will need to be hospitalized for about two weeks, but her condition is not life-threatening. The child was born 5-7 days ago, doctors said.

Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 07:09 EDT
TOKYO — A 53-year-old woman died Wednesday after she was stabbed on a road in front of her home in Shinagawa Ward, and police found the body of a neighbor suspected of attacking her. Kaoru Ikesue told her husband before she died that she was stabbed in the back by "the man next door," who was found hanged on the premises of a hospital some 400 meters away in an apparent suicide, they said.
Ikesue was stabbed with a kitchen knife just after 11 a.m. on a road near JR Keihin-Tohoku Line in a residential area about 800 meters south of JR Oimachi Station. The 53-year-old man was found dead at around 6:15 p.m., about seven hours after the assault. He had been treated at a hospital for mental instability, investigative sources said. (Kyodo News)

Friday, May 25, 2007 at 05:00 EDT
HIROSHIMA — Prosecutors again sought the death penalty Thursday at the Hiroshima High Court for a man charged with killing a woman and her baby in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1999, when he was a minor, following a Supreme Court order that the high court review its previous ruling of life imprisonment.
In a decision in June 2006, the top court sent the case back to the high court for retrial, saying there was no sufficient reason for the court not to have given the death sentence as demanded by prosecutors and that capital punishment is the only option unless there are any "special circumstances" to be taken into consideration for leniency.
In March 2002, the high court upheld the life sentence handed down in March 2000 by the Yamaguchi District Court against the defendant, now 26, for strangling 23-year-old Yayoi Motomura with his hands and raping her, and also strangling her 11-month-old daughter Yuka with a rope after knocking her to the floor in the city of Hikari, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
At Thursday's hearing, lawyers for the defendant, whose name is being withheld as he was an 18-year-old minor at the time of the crime, said the death penalty should be avoided because he did not intend to kill them and he should be charged with inflicting injuries resulting in death instead of with murder. (Kyodo News)

Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 11:25 EDT
SAITAMA — Police said Thursday they have arrested a Saitama couple for beating their 3-year-old son as a means to discipline him. Arrested were company employee Tsuyoshi Sekine, 33, and his wife Yae, 22, who are suspected of repeatedly beating their son Yuya on a daily basis since March.
The beating came to light when Yuya threw up and fell unconscious around 2 p.m. on Wednesday. The parents called an ambulance. At the hospital, doctors notified the police after they discovered that Yuya's shoulder had been broken and he also had bruises on his head.
Meanwhile, in Saga Prefecture, a man was arrested Wednesday for pouring boiling water on his 8-month-old son. Kohei Sumi, 22, was quoted as telling police: "I was frustrated." He admitted to pouring boiling water on his son's face, chest and back on Tuesday night at his home.

Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 14:43 EDT
UTSUNOMIYA — The Tochigi prefectural government was ordered Thursday to pay 47 million yen in damages to family members of two victims in a fatal shooting for permitting the killer to own a shotgun. In ruling the permission as illegal, the Utsunomiya District Court said the shooting was "predictable" if the shotgun was permitted, especially by police officers who had handled disputes between the women and the killer, who were neighbors.
Kimiko Tanaka, 60, and another woman, 56, were shot by a man in their neighborhood in Utsunomiya in July 2002. Tanaka died and the other woman was seriously injured. The shooter killed himself shortly after the incident. The man obtained permission to possess a gun for the purpose of shooting skeet from the public safety commission on June 3, 2002, one month before the shooting. The judge pointed out the police misidentified facts in deciding to permit the man to possess a gun. (Kyodo News)



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I'm disgusted just as I am by American news. It might not be a good thing but that is why I don't watch the news now. The news seems to either cover what stupid act a star has been doing or the lasted crimes.

Well I guess the old saying fits, you can't judge a book by it's cover. I did fall into the group of people that think/thought Japan has less criminal activity than the US. My thought may also have to do with the idea that the grass is always greener on the other side (which usually isn't true). I see and hear so much bad in the US, that I believe other countries (not all mind you) must be calmer.

Please don't read this and think I hate the US. I don't, I wouldn't live anywhere else, I would just visit other countries to destress, haha.

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I just can't help myself. Risk it all with me.

just proves that people are people, no matter where you are, or what color your skin is.

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EXACTLY!!!

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ProAzn.com on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/ProAznCommunity

Wiki-ABOUT US
http://www.aboutus.org/Proazn.com

In other words ignorance doesn't discriminate.

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lol yup

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everywhere is fucked up yo. travel lots and you will see the light. intelligence is few and far between but stupidity lies a plenty. dayumm that sounded good... hahaha.

source: JT

Here's more from the same source. I can't believe this thread is almost a year old.

Ex-Vice Defense Minister Moriya, others plead guilty to bribery

Monday 21st April, 02:31 PM JST
TOKYO —
Former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya pleaded guilty Monday at the Tokyo District Court to taking a total of about 12.5 million yen in bribes from a defense equipment trader while serving as the top defense bureaucrat and to giving false testimony in parliament.

Motonobu Miyazaki, 69, a former executive of defense equipment trader Yamada Corp, and Osamu Akiyama, 70, a former president at Yamada’s U.S. subsidiary Yamada International Corp, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to bribing Moriya, 63. Tomonari Imaji, 57, a former executive director of Yamada Corp, pleaded guilty to a charge of forging signatures on private documents and using them.

According to the indictment, Moriya received a total of about 8.86 million yen worth of overnight trips, including one-day golf outings, on 120 occasions from August 2003 to April 2007 from Miyazaki as reward for giving special treatment to the trader in the procurement of defense equipment. Moriya also allegedly received $32,000, or 3.63 million yen, in cash through bank accounts of his wife and his second eldest daughter from Miyazaki from May 2004 to
February 2006.

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Death upheld for ex-construction firm president for killing employees

Monday 21st April, 10:45 AM JST
TOKYO —
The Tokyo High Court upheld the death sentence Monday for a former president of a bankrupt construction company for killing three employees in Yamanashi Prefecture in 1997 and 2000. The court dismissed an appeal by Yoshihiro Asa, 58, who has pleaded not guilty. The defendant has admitted to assaulting one of the employees, but says he had nothing to do with his death or the deaths of the two other employees.

Asa was charged with confining and strangling two employees of his company at a campsite in Tsuru, Yamanashi Prefecture, in May 2000, in conspiracy with other employees and a gangster boss, and of beating another employee with a wooden sword at the firm’s office in around March 1997 and causing his death several days later. Police in October 2003 dug up the bodies of the three victims at the campsite.

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Psychiatric tests find Aomori teen mentally competent over killings

Saturday 19th April, 11:11 PM JST
AOMORI —
A psychiatric evaluation by prosecutors has found that an 18-year-old male can be held criminally responsible for the alleged murders of his mother and two siblings in Aomori Prefecture in January, sources closes to the case said Friday. With the result, the prosecutors are likely to send the teen, whose name is being withheld because he is a minor, to a family court next week on suspicion of murder and other charges, judging that they can pursue charges of criminal responsibility against the youth.

The Aomori District Public Prosecutors Office decided in early February to conduct a psychiatric evaluation of the teen because of his bizarre criminal behavior, including cutting open his mother’s abdomen and inserting a doll. According to the investigation, the teen, the oldest of three children, is suspected of fatally stabbing his 43-year-old mother, 15-year-old brother and 13-year-old sister with a survival knife at their apartment in the city of Hachinohe on Jan. 9 and of later setting fire to the apartment.

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Task force eyes imprisonment for possession of child porn images

Saturday 19th April, 04:22 AM JST
TOKYO —
The ruling coalition parties decided Friday to seek a general ban on the possession of child porn images and to impose prison terms on those who posses or store such images to satisfy their sexual desire, lawmakers said.
The Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the New Komeito party, are aiming to craft a bill to amend the law against child prostitution and child pornography by mid-May and to submit it to the ongoing Diet session jointly with opposition parties.

The move comes as Japan is being pressured to revise the law to bring it into line with other Group of Eight member nations. Japan and Russia are the only members of the G-8 that do not prohibit the possession of such images.
The other G-8 member states are Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United States. The ruling bloc project team, meanwhile, plans to study the possibility of requiring Internet service providers to restrict access to child porn websites and the introduction of other measures to check the spread of child porn images online.
Meanwhile, a U.S. justice department official urged Japan on Friday to ban individual possession of child pornography as the country comes under pressure to step up its efforts to tackle the problem.
Andrew Oosterbaan, head of the department’s child exploitation and obscenity section, said the Internet was encouraging the creation and sharing of “horrific” images, including of tortured and sexually abused infants and toddlers.
“We must understand that a part of the reason this is difficult to beat is people everywhere have a lack of understanding why possession is as serious as any other crime of child pornography,” he told a press conference here.
U.S. police can access the computers of those who possess child porn to prevent further harm to children, said Oosterbaan, who has called on lawmakers to criminalize individual possession of such porn during his Japan visit.
“We are focusing on possessors because we know when we get that computer, there is a good chance the computer is going to show us that he was producing, that he was banking images, that he was abusing children, making images,” he said.
“Or, we are going to find out that the computer belongs to a teacher or a minister or a priest. While you are not going to prosecute the problem away, it’s important that you don’t ignore it either,” he said.
The United States and other developed countries, as well as the United Nations Children’s Fund, have accused Japan of laxity in allowing child pornography.
Japan, once under fierce criticism as a major producer of child pornography, passed a law in 1999 banning the production and sale of sexually arousing photos, videos and other materials involving children aged below 18.

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Man arrested for cutting electric wires for toilets at convenience stores in Tokyo

Thursday 17th April, 02:42 PM JST
TOKYO —
Police on Wednesday arrested a man for cutting electric wires for toilets at two convenience stores in Katsushika and Adachi Wards on March 5. According to police investigations, Hiromi Yamazaki, 32, was caught on film cutting the wires by security cameras at the two stores.
Yamazaki was quoted by police as saying, “I was stressed because I couldn’t find a job.”
Police said 13 similar cases have been reported so far and are investigating Yamazaki’s involvement in them.

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Man arrested for sneaking into school toilet to film female teachers in Saitama

Thursday 17th April, 02:39 PM JST
SAITAMA —
Police said Thursday they have arrested a man for sneaking into a school to take photos of female teachers in a toilet in Sayama City, Saitama Prefecture. When he was spotted by a teacher, he tried to flee but she caught him, police said.
Seiji Kono, 23, who lives in Tokyo, was arrested for allegedly sneaking into the school to take photos in the women’s toilet around 9:40 a.m. on Wednesday. According to police, he hid himself in one of the toilet cubicles, putting a note on the door saying “Out of service,” so no one would come in. But a female teacher, 36, spotted him and chased him out into the corridor where she caught him.
Police said Kono had two cameras on him.

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Suspect in Fukuoka murder says he just stabbed whoever 'happened to be there'

Thursday 17th April, 03:53 AM JST
FUKUOKA —
A 22-year-old man arrested Tuesday on suspicion of killing a 78-year-old woman in Fukuoka the previous day has told police he just attacked ‘‘whoever happened to be there,’’ investigative sources said Wednesday.

Suguru Noji, arrested on suspicion of murder-robbery and possession of a knife in violation of the firearm and sword control law, has also admitted he stabbed another woman, 31, in the city on March 25, the sources said.

Since the 31-year-old woman has denied knowing the man, police suspect Noji randomly attacked her as well.

According to the investigative sources, Noji said he attacked the people ‘‘for money.’’ However, no money was taken and the purses or wallets of the victims were left at the scenes of the incidents.

In the robbery-murder case, Noji is suspected of killing Hisako Tanaka on the premises of her apartment building in the city’s Sawara Ward, about 700 meters away from the first incident in Jonan Ward, using a fruit knife at around 7 p.m. Monday with the alleged intent to rob her.

According to neighbors of Noji, they have heard him scream phrases such as ‘‘Get out of here!’’ or ‘‘Open it!’’ in the middle of the night in his apartment or seen him yell ‘‘Be silent!’’ at a resident on the floor below.

A resident who became suspicious about Noji’s actions called the police last autumn. A police officer subsequently visited Noji’s apartment but was unable to get in touch with him at that time.
Fingerprints left on an old bicycle that was abandoned after the incident in front of Tanaka’s apartment matched those of Noji, leading to his arrest, according to police.



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Fake gas inspector gets life for 28 cases of rape, attempted rape

Thursday 17th April, 03:00 AM JST
OSAKA —
The Osaka District Court sentenced a 44-year-old man to life in prison Wednesday for committing rape or attempted rape on 28 women and girls in 2001-2006 in Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo and Nara prefectures, in some cases involving robbery. Kenji Ikeda, a 44-year-old former moneylender, ‘‘has committed extraordinarily heinous crimes, has strong recidivist tendencies and completely lacks a normal sense of morality,’’ Presiding Judge Hiroshi Akiyama said.

According to the ruling, Ikeda sometimes disguised himself as a gas inspector to be admitted into women’s homes or broke and entered unlocked apartments inhabited by women in the four prefectures between June 2001 and February 2006. In these incidents, he either raped or attempted to rape 28 women aged between 10 and 34. He also stole their cash and injured some of them, according to the court. Ikeda had previously been jailed twice for robbery-assault cases.


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Elderly woman killed in random stabbing in Fukuoka

Tuesday 15th April, 05:47 AM JST
FUKUOKA —
A 78-year-old woman died Monday shortly after being stabbed on the premises of her apartment building in Sawara Ward in Fukuoka City, with a young male suspect who escaped the scene remaining at large, police said. Hisako Tanaka, who was living alone in the apartment, was taken to hospital after being stabbed in the chest and about 10 other places at around 7 p.m. But she died shortly afterward from loss of blood, police said.

Another resident in the same building heard the woman screaming, hurried to the scene and tried to overpower the youth believed to be the assailant. But the man escaped, police said.
Fukuoka prefectural police mobilized 125 officers to locate the man.

On March 25, in the city’s Jonan Ward, about 700 meters south of the building, a woman on her way home was stabbed and sustained heavy injuries, according to police. The man who escaped from the scene of that crime had similar physical features to the man who stabbed Tanaka, they said.

The man appeared to be in his early 20s, thin, about 170-180 centimeters tall and was wearing brown jersey, police said.

It was not clear whether Tanaka was attacked on her way out or when she came home as her room was locked, police said.

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