Day for my former colleagues...

It was a day where the news was filled with crime reports!
The Defense Ministry's scandal was at its peak with former undersecretary being sacked with bribery.
And the sequels to the reports of the missing two children and their grandmother told of a sorrowful ending with their bodies being found in a port in Kagawa Prefecutre with the confession of her brother-in-law.
My former colleagues in the Current Events Division were running around and even though we had news about the Middle East Conference in the U.S. and President Musharraf stepping down as army chief in Pakistan, the news air time was limited with the main contents being filled with domestic stories with interests of the public.
Well it's actually a yearly event that reports of crime fill the front pages when it nears the end of the year. I hope it won't get too busy internationally...

Late at night, I was still able to go home by train at around 11PM...

but there were so many people out there in the station!

Going cheap!

It's really hard to forecast which news the chief editor will choose for the top news...
Ex-prime minister Miyazawa passing away, four family members killed by the breadwinner killing himself too in the north, Steel Partners losing each and every bid at the stockholders' meetings, gov't investigators releasing a report on the largest train accident at Amagasaki... much more I'd mention as the top news if it weren't today...

In the judicial section, we were bustling...

with the arrest of a VIP!

Still it was a crucial day for me... Did I get the right information? Did I make the right decision? I'll only know its value later on...

(article from Kyodo)
◆Ex-intelligence agency chief Ogata held over Chongryon premises deal
TOKYO, June 28 KYODO
Public prosecutors arrested former intelligence agency chief Shigetake Ogata and two other people Thursday on suspicion of fraud in connection with an aborted purchase of the head office of the pro-Pyongyang Korean residents group in Japan.
The prosecutors suspect that 73-year-old Ogata, a lawyer who formerly headed the government's Public Security Intelligence Agency, and the two others defrauded the General Association of Korean Residents of Japan, known as Chongryon, of the ownership of its headquarters building and associated land in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
The two others are Tadao Mitsui, the 73-year-old former president of a real estate company, and Koji Kawae, 42, a former bank official and company executive. Both are believed to have brokered the purported deal between Ogata and Chongryon.
Ogata and Mitsui have denied the allegation, while Kawae admitted to the charge when they were questioned after being arrested by a special squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, investigative sources said.
Asked to comment on the arrest of Ogata by reporters, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, ''It is highly regrettable as he once assumed a post of heavy responsibility as a public intelligence chief.''
The prosecutors moved to arrest the three after determining that they had intended to deceive Chongryon from the outset of the negotiations, while Chongryon was looking for a buyer for the head office to hamper the possible seizure of the property in connection with a lawsuit filed by a state-backed debt collector with the Tokyo District Court.
Investigators believe the three also intended to swindle Chongryon of 480 million yen in funds that were provided by the group's chief vice chairman Ho Jong Man to Mitsui in the form of compensation, the sources said.
The prosecutors had initially alleged that Ogata and Chongryon colluded to falsify the deal with the aim of eluding the possible compulsory seizure, and raided the home of Ogata and other related locations on suspicion the ownership transfer was falsely registered.
However, the prosecutors applied the charge of fraud to the three after learning that Chongryon had really intended to sell the head office.
According to investigations so far, the three are suspected of having lied to a Chongryon representative, claiming they could definitely find people interested in purchasing the head office, and of concluding a contract worth 3.5 billion yen on May 31.
Ogata is then alleged to have registered notary documents stating ownership had been transferred as of June 1 to the Harvest investment advisory company that he headed without any payment to Chongryon being made.
The registration of the ownership transfer was retracted on the morning of June 18 before the court ruling later that day.
Chongryon was represented in the deal by Koken Tsuchiya, former vice chairman of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, and it is believed that Mitsui introduced Ogata to Tsuchiya in mid-April and brought them together to negotiate the deal.
Commenting on the arrest, Tsuchiya said, ''I believed in him (Ogata). It is deplorable if he had not acquired sufficient funds for the deal.''
Tsuchiya at the time was searching for a buyer for the head office, fearing that the property could be seized if Chongryon lost the suit filed by Resolution and Collection Corp.
The RCC filed the lawsuit in November 2005 seeking repayment of the nonperforming loans it had taken over from 16 failed credit associations that had served Korean residents in Japan.
In its ruling on June 18, the court ordered Chongryon to repay around 62.7 billion yen to the RCC and effectively seized the head office Tuesday.
Kawae is said to be an acquaintance of Mitsui and helped found Harvest last September.
After the dubious transfer registration came to light on June 12, Ogata told reporters he had concluded the deal so that he could help maintain the operations of Chongryon to guarantee the protection of its affiliates' rights.
Ogata has denied that the deal was fake and said he intended to secure funds for it. ''I feel there is a political intent to scrap the deal,'' he said after the prosecutors raided his home on June 13.
==Kyodo

Circus at court...

It was like a circus at the press club. The press conference of two old men were longer than ever.

I did give a hand to covering the news that was featured in each and every piece of medium this past week, but it was nothing more than a helping hand, as I had to concentrate on the critical day coming at the end of this week...

what kind of circus is this!?

(aritcle from Kyodo)
◆Court orders Chongryon to repay RCC debts, OKs seizure of head office
TOKYO, June 18 KYODO
The Tokyo District Court on Monday ordered the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon, to repay 62.7 billion yen as demanded to a governmental debt-collection body, and allowed seizure of the premises of the Chongryon headquarters in lieu of payment.
The Resolution and Collection Corp. is expected to start procedures soon to impound the headquarters of Chongryon, which has functioned as the de facto North Korean embassy in Japan for decades as the two countries have no diplomatic ties.
The Chongryon headquarters has drawn public attention recently as an investment advisory firm headed by former governmental intelligence chief Shigetake Ogata, who had been involved in monitoring the moves of Chongryon, tried unsuccessfully to purchase it for 3.5 billion yen in an effort to avert seizure of the premises.
Rejecting Chongryon's claim that the RCC's demand is politically motivated, Presiding Judge Tsutomu Arai said, ''It cannot be recognized that there was any political purpose to deprive Chongryon of its premises, leading to its dissolution.''
An RCC spokesperson declined to comment on whether it would go ahead with forcible seizure of the headquarters.
Earlier in the day, meanwhile, veteran lawyer Koken Tsuchiya, representing Chongryon, said he had taken procedures to transfer ownership of the property on the official registry back to the association from Ogata's company.
The ownership of the Chongryon premises had been transferred in a deal that was not immediately accompanied by any payment, prompting law-enforcement officials to suspect it was a fake transaction and to search the homes and offices of Tsuchiya and Ogata last week.
Tsuchiya, a former chief of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, told a press conference in Tokyo, ''I apologize for causing a disturbance to the public, owing in part to misunderstanding.''
But Tsuchiya criticized the RCC, saying the purpose of the suit was to try to ''destroy the Chongryon organization and that could lead authorities to deprive innocent Korean residents in Japan of happiness and (affect their) lives.''
During the court hearings, the RCC claimed the 62.7 billion yen represents loans extended by now-defunct ''chogin'' credit unions associated with Chongryon which became bad. The unions were main lenders to pro-Pyongyang Korean residents in Japan.
The RCC, which took over the nonperforming loans from the credit unions, claimed Chongryon is bound to pay the 62.7 billion yen as the money was effectively handed over to Chongryon under arrangements made by the credit associations.
Chongryon acknowledged the existence of the debts but failed to reach an out-of-court settlement with the RCC.
==Kyodo

Futile!?

It's always posteriori reasoning, but all efforts were in vain today.
I had to wait for 8 hours outside taking part in a Japanese style way of covering the news, "hariban"(http://www.j-prep.com/reference/word?sub=tru&ss=%E7%95%AA&type=vocab&dex=100&type=vocab&bid=1797940), which is like a lookout waiting for something to happen...

doing "hariban" with other members from different stations and papers...

Our target was the prosecutors' raid about a bid rigging case.
Unfortunately they did not appear at the scene and we were left with futility.
But with all the media doing "hariban", it's not an easy decision to abandon the sight.
Well staying out under the sun, I think I had enough suntans and I'm tired enough as 2 glasses of beer had knocked me out!

(article by Kyodo)
◆Farm ministry affiliate officials, others arrested over bid rigging
TOKYO, May 24 KYODO
Prosecutors on Thursday arrested two senior officials of the government-affiliated Japan Green Resources Agency (J-Green) and four officials from its contractors over their alleged involvement in rigging bids for public works ordered by the agency, investigative sources said.
The six are accused of having colluded with other bidders and of deciding the expected winners and bid prices prior to public bidding invited by J-Green for forest road construction consultancy work in 2005 and 2006, so restricting competition in violation of the Antimonopoly Act.
The four contractors are also suspected of gaining priority in securing such work in return for rehiring former government officials, as they are known to employ many former officials from J-Green, an independent administrative entity which is under the jurisdiction of the farm ministry, as well as the governmental Forestry Agency.
Those arrested by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office include Muneo Takagi, a 59-year-old executive director in charge of the forest project management department at J-Green, which is based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture.
The others are Tsuneo Shimooki, 56, head of the forest road planning division under Takagi's department, and one official each from the four contractors, including former Forestry Agency official Nobumori Hashioka, 63, and two former J-Green officials.
The four contractors are two Forestry Agency-supervised public-interest corporations -- Shinko Kosaikai and Japan Forest Engineering Consultants -- and two joint-stock companies -- K.K. Forestech and Katahira & Engineers Inc.
The arrests came after the prosecutors received a criminal complaint against the four contractors from the Fair Trade Commission, which has been investigating the alleged antitrust violation case.
The prosecutors also raided J-Green's head office and other related locations Thursday.
Senior J-Green officials allegedly designated winners before bids were received based on reports from its regional offices about their order plans and estimated contract prices, and also taking into account the contracts awarded the previous fiscal year to each bidder.
Having listed the winners on a ''score sheet,'' they conveyed their decision to the contractors through division chiefs at eight regional construction offices across Japan, according to the sources.
In line with the agency's decision, the four contractors are suspected of having colluded in rigging their bid prices, they said. The contractors won nearly 70 percent of J-Green tender orders over the past three years.
Such antitrust practices initiated by the government entities are believed to have continued for at least 10 years.
J-Green, which the government nominally spun off in 2003 as part of administrative reform, is promoting a 2,053-kilometer forest roads construction project that is two-thirds financed by central government subsidies, with the rest financed by prefectural governments.
Having completed 1,288 km of the project by fiscal 2006, which ended in March, J-Green has allocated 12.4 billion yen of forest project budgets for the project in fiscal 2007.
It is likely that government subsidies for forest road construction have been diverted to hire former government officials, said Nobuo Gohara, a former prosecutor and a Toin University of Yokohama Law School professor who is versed in bid-rigging cases.
All of the contractors except for Katahira have made political donations to Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka, a veteran lawmaker who has been criticized by opposition lawmakers for not providing a clear-cut account of expenditures to run his office.
After the arrests, the head of each of the four contractors issued an apology and pledged efforts to prevent bid-rigging from recurring as well as full cooperation with the investigation.
J-Green said it has fired arrested director Takagi and removed Shimooki from his post of division chief, effective Thursday.
Matsuoka said, ''The case should not have occurred and is extremely regrettable as it is not only a case of bid-rigging involving public works but also one initiated by the public sector in which a public entity placing orders was deeply involved.''
''As a supervisory authority, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry is really ashamed that the case resulted in a serious betrayal of public trust,'' he said. ''We hope to regain public trust as quickly as possible.''
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhira Shiozaki indicated separately that the farm ministry is considering taking action against J-Green, calling the case ''outrageous.''
Having openly investigated the case since it raided the offices belonging to J-Green and the contractors in October, the FTC is also considering filing a criminal complaint under the law for the prevention of collusive bidding initiated by government agencies and officials, the sources said.
Thursday's complaint on antitrust charges was the third since the competition policy watchdog was empowered to conduct raids under an amendment to the Antimonopoly Act last year.
The prosecutors began questioning agency employees at the head office and regional offices as well as senior officials of the contractors in mid-April.
As for political donations from J-Green contractors, Matsuoka told reporters earlier Thursday, ''I have received no donations in the past seven to 10 years or so (from such contractors). I have personally returned the money to entities which gave me donations.''
But a number of J-Green contractors gave a total of 8.5 million yen in political donations to Matsuoka's political fund control group among others over the 10 years through 2005, according to its political funds reports.
==Kyodo

End of a pleasant week...

A very peaceful day in Tokyo, but not in central Japan.
Continuing from last night at Aichi was a brutal and selfish standoff by a former gangster barricading himself in his house .
All we could do in Tokyo was just to watch through television the tense situation at the scene with one cop shot to death.

getting disgusted watching so many murders with guns these several months...
we have to find an effective way to end these kind of unjust crimes!

Still with no sign of an end to the standoff, I went out to Ginza to attend a drinking party with the members of the press club to say thanks to a former PA officer of the courthouse.
Flash news that the criminal surrendering came in before nine, but I was all drunk at that point.

I spent a pleasant week, and in consequence, it will probably an unpleasant one next week!!

(article by Kyodo)
◆Armed suspect in shooting standoff surrenders after woman escapes
NAGOYA, May 18 KYODO
The suspect in a shooting standoff left his home and was taken into police custody Friday night after his former wife taken hostage by him managed to escape several hours earlier in Nagakute, Aichi Prefecture.
The man, Hisato Obayashi, 50, was captured by the police at 8:48 p.m., nearly 30 hours after the standoff began Thursday, Aichi prefectural police said.
The woman, Michiko Mori, 50, was immediately taken into protective custody just before 3 p.m. She has bruises around her left eye and looks tired but is otherwise in good shape, the police said. She told the police she escaped from a toilet window while her former husband Obayashi was talking over the phone.
Obayashi fatally shot a riot police officer Thursday night after injuring another police officer, as well as his son Kento, 25, and one of his daughters Risa, 24, by firing a weapon several hours earlier.
The police said Obayashi had been a member of a gangster group affiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest crime syndicate, but left the group around 1993, before moving into the current residence.
According to the police, Obayashi, who was believed to be regularly taking tranquillizers, started acting violently on Thursday while discussing a possible reconciliation with his former wife Mori, who was invited to the home by Kento and Risa.
The family members called the police just before 4 p.m. and Sgt. Akifumi Kimoto, 54, who rushed to their home, along with Kento and Risa were shot, the police said. The three were not in a life-threatening condition, according to the police.
Mori consulted the police in November 2005, saying she was beaten by her then husband Obayashi, the police said. A court issued a restraining order against Obayashi to protect Mori for a while, they said. The two divorced in May last year.
The police are investigating the latest incident as a case of murder, attempted murder and violation of the firearms control law.
Riot police officer Kazuho Hayashi, 23, was shot by Obayashi around 9:30 p.m. Thursday near his house while other officers were engaged in rescuing Kimoto, who had been left lying near the entrance of Obayashi's home. Hayashi died early Friday.
Prime Minister Shintaro Abe told reporters Friday night, ''It is indeed heart-rending that a young police officer with a future died while on duty for resolving this case.'' He added that the government needs to consider ways to eradicate firearm uses as in the latest incident.
Hayashi, a sergeant, was shot in the chest near the collarbone and was the first riot police officer from the elite SAT to be killed in the line of duty, the police said. He was survived by his 24-year-old wife and a 10-month-old daughter.
Hayashi joined the police force in April 2002 and was assigned to the special assault team in October 2005. He was posthumously given double promotions to captain.
The police maintained a 50-member team led by the head of the prefectural police at its headquarters, in addition to a 170-member team near the scene. They expanded parts of a 300-meter radius cordoned off earlier.
The Nagakute education board closed all municipal elementary, junior high schools and kindergartens, while Aichi Gakuin University near by also closed.
==Kyodo

Nothin' in particular!

Why did you kill your mother!? Doushite!?
Whatever... Betsuni...

"Betsuni" (「別に」) is such an impersonal way of answering to a "why" question. Answering "there's no reason in particular"... It might be worse than answering "ah, forget it", or "leave me alone"...

The boy committing murder in Fukushima, who also had cut off his mother's right arm after killing and beheading her, had nothing to say but "betsuni" about his motive, and as early as it can be espected, there's reports about a need of a psychiatric test.

Killing a parent... reason: whatever... unbelievable... but it's for real...

the articles are getting smaller...
but I hope no chain reactions will occur...
I'd quit writing about this sad news myself...

Macabre...

A gruesome antisocial incident in the northeast, I'd rather just turn my face away from...

A juvenile crime by a 17-year-older today in Fukushima.
History repeats itself, as I've experienced a similar crime in Kobe when I was in my third year as a reporter, I could never forget about...

I took out this book to read for the first time in 8 years...

"Will You Still Punish a Juvenile?" by Yoshikuni Noguchi, the chief defense counsel for the Kobe Children's Serial Murder Case (a serial murder case in 1997 in which a 14-year-old boy murdered 2 children and injured 3 others in Kobe... it will be exactly a decade since the horrific killing took place on May 27th... see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakakibara)

What is it with teenagers!?
I still don't get it...

(short article by Kyodo)
◆Teen holding severed head reports to police, says he killed mother
FUKUSHIMA, Japan, May 15 KYODO
A 17-year-old boy holding a severed head in a bag appeared Tuesday morning at a police station in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, telling police that he killed his mother, the police said.
A headless body has been found at the apartment where the teen, a high school student from the city, lives, the police said. The victim was beheaded with a knife-like object, the police said.

Partially but critically acquitted...

タイトル：一部だが決定的に無罪…

I was banged on the head when the presiding judge started...
"And about the indictment on April 24th, 2001 about Kidnapping for Forcible Indecency, Quasi Rape Causing Death, Destruciton and Abandonment of Corpses:
THE ACCUSED IS NOT GUILTY!"

The indictment that was done on April 24th of 2001 was about the all but famous "Lucy Blackman Case" that caught quite a bit of attention 6-7 years ago.

It was my first year here in Tokyo, and I walked around Roppongi for more than a month to cover the story.

It's one of those days I'd rather forget about.

my memories refreshed by this surprising decision with a partial but critical acquittal sentencing!

With this decision given out at 10AM, it became a really long and busy day.
The accused was sentenced to life anyways... And only the media were hyped up with the outcome...

頭をガツンと殴られた気がしたよ。裁判長がこう話し始めたときは…
「そして平成１３年４月２４日付け起訴事実のわいせつ誘拐、準強姦致死、死体損壊については、被告人は無罪！」

平成１３年４月２４日に起訴されたのは６、７年前に結構注目を浴びた有名以外の何物でも無い「ルーシー・ブラックマン事件」。

そのとき東京に来て１年目だったが、取材するために１か月以上も六本木をうろうろしたもんだ。

どっちかと言えば忘れたい日々だ。

写真：一部ではあるが決定的な無罪のびっくり判決で色々な思い出が呼び起こされ！

午前１０時に出されたこの判断で、かなり長く忙しい日になった。
どちらにしろ、被告は無期懲役を言い渡されたんだ…メディアだけが結果に大盛り上がりになってたよ…。

（以下に共同とＢＢＣの記事。和訳は略）

(ariticle from Kyodo)
◆Obara acquitted over Blackman's death, gets life for 9 other cases
TOKYO, April 24 KYODO
The Tokyo District Court sentenced Joji Obara to life in prison Tuesday for raping and drugging nine women, one fatally, but acquitted him of all charges involving the death of Briton Lucie Blackman due to lack of evidence.
The court handed Obara, 54, the life sentence -- as sought by the prosecution -- in the cases of five foreign and four Japanese women, of whom Australian Carita Ridgway died and two others were injured.
But the Tokyo businessman was found not guilty of the charges relating to Blackman, who was 21 at the time of her death in 2000, which included raping and fatally drugging her, and mutilating and abandoning her body.
Obara appealed the life sentence to a higher court shortly after the ruling was handed down.
Presiding Judge Tsutomu Tochigi said of the dismembering and abandonment of Blackman's body, ''There is no doubt (Obara) was involved in one way or another, but there is no evidence to link the defendant directly to the crime.''
''But the possibility that the act may have been committed by a third person cannot be denied and the purpose of dismembering (the body) has not been explained, so there remains reasonable doubt in terms of recognizing it as the defendant's crime,'' he said in handing down the ruling.
On the charge of raping Blackman resulting in her death, Tochigi said that, unlike with the other victims, there is no video recording of the rape and no evidence to prove that the defendant administered any drugs to her or assaulted her.
Although the judge said there is suspicion that Obara may have been involved in Blackman's death and that there are similarities between her case and the other women's, he said the court cannot determine he raped her based on supposition as long as the cause of her death is unknown.
Regarding the nine other cases, the judge described them as ''abnormal crimes involving unilaterally assaulting victims whose consciousness had been impaired due to drugs.''
According to the ruling, Obara brought the nine women to his condominium in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, between February 1992 and June 2000, and raped them after drugging them using chloroform and other drugs.
Obara pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in all 10 cases in the course of the trial, which lasted about six-and-a-half years.
On Blackman's case, the center of attention in the trial, the indictment said Obara made her drink a beverage laced with a drug before raping her at his condominium in July 2000. She subsequently died, and Obara was accused of dismembering her corpse and abandoning it in a beachside cave nearby.
The dismembered body of Blackman, who worked as a hostess in Tokyo before she went missing in early July 2000 -- about two months after arriving in Japan -- was found in the cave in Miura, Kanagawa Prefecture, in February 2001.
Obara, who had already been arrested over the cases involving other women, was served a sixth fresh arrest warrant in April 2001 over the case involving Blackman and indicted based on the fact that his mobile phone call records matched Blackman's movements and that he was suspected of committing similar crimes.
In April 2006, Blackman's parents testified in court, calling for the ''maximum penalty'' for Obara.
Blackman's father Tim, 53, and sister Sophie, 26, who were in the courtroom to hear the ruling Tuesday, later told a press conference in Tokyo they were satisfied that Obara was sentenced to life imprisonment, the maximum penalty possible in the cases.
But they also expressed disappointment that the defendant was found not guilty over Lucie's death and that they discovered later that the prosecution had not put forward in the trial a key piece of evidence related to the case.
''I think our whole family who were in the courtroom today felt an immediate rush of elation,'' Tim Blackman said. ''We thought, 'Fantastic. That is a real wonderful result.' And then suddenly within three or four seconds, our balloon was burst when we found that the prosecution had failed to prosecute justice for Lucie.''
He said he was all the more upset to find out in the course of a meeting with the prosecution team following the ruling that certain evidence, which he declined to elaborate on at this stage, was not presented in the trial.
The prosecutors had said in their closing statement that the defendant committed ''bizarre acts unprecedented in the history of sexual crimes.''
Obara's lawyers argued, however, that there is no decisive evidence to implicate him in Blackman's death, saying his DNA was not detected on the woman's body and that the cause of her death has not been determined.
Concerning Ridgway, the defense team said there is no proof that her death was caused by drugs, but Tochigi said she suffered fulminant hepatitis as a result of the use of chloroform and subsequently died.
Ridgway died Feb. 29, 1992, at age 21 at a Tokyo hospital about two weeks after she was drugged and raped by Obara.
The Australian victim's family released a statement Tuesday afternoon as they met reporters in Tokyo stating, ''The sentence handed down by the court ensures that Obara will never be allowed to harm others. This, in itself, is of some comfort to Carita's family.''
The statement, read out by Ridgway's mother, Annette Foster, 58, alleged that the Japanese police did not adequately investigate Obara over the Australian's death.
''Carita's family do not understand how, despite their concerns raised with the police about Obara's involvement with Carita's death, that the police did not even interview Obara in 1992,'' the statement said.
''Carita's family firmly believe that if Obara had been interviewed and properly investigated in 1992, he would have been stopped at that time,'' it said.
==Kyodo

(article from BBC)
Man cleared over death of Lucie
A 54-year-old Japanese businessman has been cleared of raping and killing British bar hostess Lucie Blackman.
But Joji Obara was jailed for life for raping nine other women, including one - Australian Carita Ridgway - who died.
The judge said there was no proof Obara alone was responsible for the death of Miss Blackman, 21, of Sevenoaks, Kent, who disappeared in Tokyo in July 2000.
Lucie's mother, Jane Steare, said: "I'm heartbroken. I just can't believe this. My worst fears have come true."
Miss Blackman was working in a Tokyo bar when she vanished.
Her dismembered body was found in a cave near Obara's home in the village of Miura in February 2001.
Miss Blackman's father, Tim Blackman, and her sister Sophie, were in court to hear the verdict. They immediately left to consult their lawyers and have not yet commented on Obara's acquittal.
BBC Tokyo correspondent Chris Hogg said that under Japanese law the Blackman family themselves have no grounds to appeal against the court's decision.
They could try to mount a form of civil action but as Obara has been declared bankrupt there would seem to be little point.
Our correspondent said Obara showed little emotion as the judge told him he would be sentenced to life in prison for killing Carita Ridgway in 1992 and eight other rapes.
Obara lured Miss Ridgway to his apartment just south of Tokyo, where he drugged her and raped her. She later died in hospital of liver failure.

Videotapes found
A video seized from his home showed him attacking Miss Ridgway and using a towel soaked with chloroform to keep her unconscious.
Miss Ridgway's mother, Annette Foster, welcomed the conviction but criticised the Japanese police.
"If Obara had been investigated in 1992, it would have stopped the crimes he committed for the next eight years," she said.
Obara admitted he had been with Miss Blackman on the day she disappeared but claimed she became unwell at his apartment after taking drugs.
He said he then called an acquaintance, known by the nickname Kacchan, and asked him to take her back to Tokyo. Kacchan has since died which meant his story could not be challenged.
Judge Tsutomu Tochigi said: "There is nothing to prove that [Obara] was involved in the rape and her death. The court cannot prove he was single-handedly involved in her death."
The judge said it was clear the victim and the accused were together before she vanished and then died but he said this was not enough to secure a conviction.

Planning to appeal
Obara's lawyer, Yasuo Shionoya, said his client would lodge an appeal against his conviction in the Carita Ridgway case.
"Regarding Carita's case, I think we will have to file an appeal. It's very plausible that we would file an appeal in the other cases as well," said Mr Shionoya.
The judge said Ms Ridgway, who died of hepatitis at a Tokyo hospital in February 1992, had been drugged with chloroform by Obara.
But Mr Shionoya said: "I doubt whether liver failure could have been triggered by the use of chloroform."
Obara was arrested on charges of rape resulting in the death of Ms Blackman in 2001 and had been on trial at Tokyo District Court since 2003.
Mr Blackman, from the Isle of Wight, spent thousands of pounds travelling to Japan to try to get the local police to investigate his daughter's disappearance as a suspected crime.
Eventually, after he enlisted the support of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Japanese counterpart, the police arrested Obara, a property developer who had a seaside home at Miura, outside Tokyo.
Last year Mr Blackman accepted 100 million yen (￡450,000) from a friend of Obara, but he denied it was "blood money" and said such "offers of condolence" were common in Japan and did not affect the court case.

TIMELINE
1 Jul 2000: Lucie Blackman vanishes in Tokyo
21 Jul 2000: Tony Blair meets Lucie's parents and promises to raise their daughter's disappearance with Japan's PM
11 Oct 2000: Japanese police arrest and question Joji Obara, who is in custody in connection with several other rapes
9 Feb 2001: Police find Miss Blackman's body parts in a cave at Miura, near Tokyo.
27 Nov 2003: Obara goes on trial in Tokyo
24 Apr 2007: Obara acquitted of killing Miss Blackman
Last Updated: Tuesday, 24 April 2007, 11:09 GMT 12:09 UK

Another wild day...

タイトル：またトチ狂った日…

For me, it was just another busy day at the press club, being fed up with trifling matters I was told to cover.
For my colleagues at the Current Affairs Division, it surely was a wild day!

In the morning, a tsunami alert was issued in the southwestern islands, and in the afternoon...
Another crime with gunfires!

(photo by Jiji, article from Kyodo)
◆ Man fires 9 shots from apartment after shooting gangster to death
TOKYO, April 20 KYODO
A man armed with a handgun locked himself in an apartment room in suburban Tokyo and fired nine shots out of a window noon Friday, apparently after shooting a gangster to death several kilometers away in Kanagawa Prefecture across the prefectural border, police said.
One of the shots hit a police patrol car which rushed to the apartment in the city of Machida, around 30 km southwest of central Tokyo. No one has been hurt so far and no hostages appear to have been taken, the police said.

I had no time to spare to leave the press club, just hoping my distinguished colleagues will do fine at the crime scene!

俺にとってはまた記者クラブで忙しい日に過ぎなかった。しょーもない取材でくたくたになりながら。
社会部の同僚たちにとっては間違いなくトチ狂った日だったろう！
朝に南西諸島で津波注意報が出され、午後には…
また銃を使った犯罪だ！
（写真は時事、記事は共同、和訳は略：銃を持った男が暴力団員を殺害した後、町田市で銃を９発発射し、その後もアパートに立てこもったままという記事）

記者クラブを離れる時間はなかったんで、とにかく優秀な同僚たちが現場できっちり仕事をこなすことを祈ってた。

Day to mourn...

タイトル：哀悼の日…

Murder is never a rational crime.

Taking away lives is much more than some spilt milk story, as it will never be the same as before...

the Nagasaki City Mayor was energetic as always till this moment...
the students at Virginia were promising till this moment...
(pic from Jiji)

May their soul rest in peace...

殺人は理性がある犯罪とは絶対に言えない。
命を奪うことは、牛乳をこぼす話と比べようもなく、元通りに戻すことが不可能なものだ…
写真：長崎市長はこの瞬間までいつもと同じように活気に満ちあふれていた…
バージニアの学生たちもこの瞬間まで未来に満ちあふれていた…
（写真は時事より）

ご冥福を祈ります…

Glued to the TV...

タイトル：テレビに釘付け…

I had to clean up a lot more tonight, but I couldn't.
If the massacre at Virginia Tech had been the top news as expected, I would have concentrated on my work, but...

shocking news of the night: the Nagasaki City mayor shot and severely wounded!

I was glued to the television, as all the news programs had this story on the top. I was rather a one of the audience rather than the member of the broadcasting team tonight!

And without finishing any of the things I had to, I have a pile of work waiting for me tomorrow!

今夜もっと片付けなきゃいけなかったのに、無理だった。
予定通りバージニア工科大の大量殺人がトップニュースだったんなら、仕事に集中できたかもしれないけど…
写真：夜の衝撃的なニュース：長崎市長が撃たれて、重態に！
テレビに釘付けになった。すべてのニュース番組がこの事件をトップニュースにしていた。今夜は放送する側というより、視聴者の一人として見ていたよ！
やらなきゃいけないことが全く終わらず、明日山積みになった仕事が待っているよ！

（共同の記事、以下に。和訳は略）

(news from Kyodo)

◆Nagasaki Mayor Ito shot, still in critical condition
NAGASAKI, April 18 KYODO
Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito was shot twice by a gunman Tuesday evening in front of JR Nagasaki Station and is in a life-threatening condition, an incident that has shocked citizens in the city where Ito's predecessor was also seriously injured by a gunman in 1990, and outraged government leaders.
It is not known whether Tuesday's incident in the western Japan city, which suffered a U.S. atomic bomb attack in 1945, was for political motives against Ito who has been working for the abolition of nuclear arms and helping atomic-bomb victims.
The alleged shooter, Tetsuya Shiroo, 59, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder after being subdued by staff members of Ito's office when he tried to run away, the police said. The suspect is an acting leader of the Suishin-kai gang group affiliated with Japan's largest organized crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi.
Shiroo admitted to shooting the 61-year-old mayor and said he had trouble with the city office over public works biddings, the police said, adding they seized a revolver.
''I fired several shots for the purpose of killing Mayor Ito,'' the suspect was quoted as telling the police.
Meanwhile, broadcaster TV Asahi Corp. said in a program that it has received a postal mail bearing Shiroo's name which reads, ''I cannot forgive Mayor Itcho Ito.''
The mail also referred to matters including trouble with the city office over public works biddings, according to the report by the Tokyo-based TV network.
People close to the suspects said Shiroo made complaints to the city government in 2003 over an accident in which part of his vehicle fell into a hole at a construction site of the project ordered by the city.
The attack prompted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other lawmakers both in ruling and opposition camps to voice their anger and call for a thorough investigation.
''I want the investigating authorities to conduct a rigorous probe and get to the truth,'' Abe said in a statement. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki called the shooting ''absolutely unforgivable.''
Ito was seeking his fourth four-year term in Sunday's mayoral election in the city.
Ito was shot twice in the back at a one-meter point-blank range at 7:52 p.m. in front of the station shortly after getting off a campaign vehicle near his campaign office, according to the police and Ito's office.
He was immediately taken to a hospital, where his heart and lungs have ceased movement, the police said.
After the mayor underwent an emergency operation from around 8:45 p.m., the hospital said Ito remains unconscious and in an extremely serious condition with an artificial heart-lung machine attached.
''The prospects for resuscitation are very bleak,'' the hospital said at a press conference, noting that a bullet had reached his heart and that he had a feeble pulse.
Hiroki Hisano, 51, who runs a convenience store near the station, said, ''It is unforgivable to resort to violence regardless of motives. In Nagasaki, a former mayor was assaulted in the past. I'm worried that no one will come forward to become mayor.''
Shoko Takahira, a 59-year-old self-employed woman, said, ''I feel sorry and mortified to see a person who led citizens in promoting peace in the world being gunned down.''
Ito, formerly a Nagasaki city assembly member and Nagasaki prefectural assembly member, has made a number of statements and remarks to promote peace since he was first elected in 1995 as mayor of Nagasaki, which was devastated by the atomic bomb dropped in World War II.
In January 1990 in the city, former Mayor Hitoshi Motoshima was shot and seriously injured by a right-wing extremist after he refused to retract controversial remarks that the late Emperor Hirohito was partially responsible for the war.
==Kyodo

Another one pleading not guilty...

タイトル：もう１人無罪を主張する人が…

Once known as the "Mirror Man", as he was once convicted of peeping into a girl's skirt using a hand glass in 2004, he has returned to the courthouse again!
Today, at the first day of hearings for this ex-professor, he declared: I swear to heaven that I'm innocent!
This time he's accused of molesting a schoolgirl on the Keihin Express train this September. It's known that molesters have habits they can't break, and it will be something to see how he will be able to prove he's done with that habit.
(reference: http://www.answers.com/topic/chikan-body-contact)

catching attention once again!

２００４年に女のコのスカートの中を手鏡で除いて有罪となったことから、一時期「ミラーマン」と知られた彼がまた法廷に戻ってきた！
きょう、この元教授の初公判が行われ、こう話した：天に誓って私は無罪だ！
今回、彼はこの９月に京浜急行で女子生徒に痴漢をしたと起訴されている。痴漢は常習性があると知られているし、そのような悪い癖は無くなっているとどう立証するのか見物だ。（参考：痴漢を説明する英語のサイト）
写真：再び脚光を浴びて！

(today's term)
molest　（性的に）いたずらする、いじめる
痴漢をすることを指す動詞。名詞形ならmolestation。
痴漢を指す名詞は、molestする人で、"molester"。
痴漢は、万引きや放火などと一緒で、常習性がある
犯罪だと思う。「癖」というのは、なかなか治らないものだと
度々同じ罪で起訴される人を見ると思う。
そういう「癖」が無くなったということをどのように
立証するのか、いや、立証できるのか、
全国の痴漢癖が注目しているかも知れない。

Getting all wet in the rain...

タイトル：雨の中ずぶ濡れになって…

In the daytime... it was Horiemon day again... 3 days of trial this week for this man and it was his 17th today.

The rain was lulled in the morn, but it brutally resumed to rain hard in the evening.
And the prosecutors arrested the ex-governor of Fukushima Pref.

in the heavy rain I was helping out my colleague reporting in front of the prosecutors' office together with the others in the same business

日中は…またホリエモンの日だった…今週は３日もあるが、きょうが１７回目の公判だった。
朝に雨は小康状態だったが、夕方には急に強雨に戻った。
そして検察官たちは福島県前知事を逮捕した。
写真：強い雨の中、検察庁の前でリポートする同僚を手伝った。同業他社も一緒だった。

(article from Kyodo below)
（以下に共同の記事・和訳は略）

◆ Ex-Fukushima Gov. Sato arrested over payoff scandal
TOKYO, Oct. 23 KYODO
Tokyo public prosecutors arrested former Fukushima Gov. Eisaku Sato on Monday for his suspected involvement in a payoff scandal over a dam construction project the prefectural government had ordered, the prosecutors said.
Sato, 67, is charged with bribe-taking benefits from Mizutani Kensetu Co., a subcontractor in the project, as the company paid in excess of 970 million yen to purchase land from a menswear maker run by the governor's brother, Yuji, 63, from August to September 2002.
The deal between Mizutani Kensetsu, based in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, and the brother's company, was made apparently as a reward to the governor's side for allegedly helping a joint venture to win the dam project in a public tender.
The joint venture of Maeda Corp., a Tokyo-based major contractor currently called Nissan Rinkai Construction Co., and a local constructor won the project at some 20.6 billion yen in bidding in August 2000.
The brother, who has been indicted over a bid rigging in a separate public works project was served a fresh arrest warrant Monday for alleged conspiracy with the former governor in the payoff scandal.
The former governor is a major shareholder of the menswear maker, Santo Suit, and had been a director of the company until May 2002.
The suspected briber is former Mizutani Kensetsu Chairman Isao Mizutani, 61, but a three-year statute of limitations has already expired on the briber's side. Mizutani has been inducted on a corporate tax evasion charge.
Maeda extended 400 million yen of loans to Santo Suit in 2001. Santo Suit paid back the debts through the profit of the land deal in question.
While Maeda officials told investigators it lent the money to Yuji as a reward for his support for winning the bidding, Yuji has denied his involvement and elder Sato's in the alleged payoff scandal, investigative sources said.
Sato resigned last month after his younger brother was arrested.
Yuji Sato was already indicted for prearranging contractor bids to help a joint venture led by Tokyu Construction Co. win the contract for a public sewage project the Fukushima prefectural government had ordered, urging other participants to offer higher prices in the bidding in August 2004.
After serving as a House of Councillors member, the elder Sato won the gubernatorial seat in 1988 and was in his fifth straight four-year term when he stepped down.
==Kyodo