Deadly fire raises Japan building safety fears (AP)

AP – As police questioned an unemployed man suspected of setting fire to a crowded adult video theater in western Japan, killing 15, fire officials warned Thursday that thousands of karaoke, video and comic book lounges across the country may be potential death traps because of widespread safety violations.

A man how was suspected of murder. And is being questioned by police.

Policeman held for posting nude photos of children on Internet site

Thursday 02nd October, 05:46 PM JST

YOKOHAMA —

A 25-year-old police officer was arrested Thursday on suspicion of posting nude photos of children on a child pornography site on the Internet in violation of the law banning child prostitution and child pornography, Kanagawa prefectural police said. Toshiyuki Kobayashi, a police officer at the Seijo station of the Metropolitan Police Department, admitted to the allegation, saying he has posted child porn materials on Internet sites on several other occasions as well, police said.

According to investigators, Kobayashi allegedly posted five photos of naked girls around 10 years old, which he had copied from other Internet sites, on the child pornography site using his cellphone on Sept 12 last year. Police on Wednesday arrested the operator of the site in question, which was accessed tens of thousands of times a day, on suspicion of violating the same law. An official of the personnel division of the MPD said, ‘‘It’s very regrettable that one of our officers was arrested. We will handle this matter strictly after investigations by the Kanagawa police are completed.’’

police cought posting nude children photos. Because he broke the law.

5 Hosei University students arrested for possessing marijuana

Thursday 02nd October, 03:58 PM JST

TOKYO —

Five students of Hosei University aged 19 to 20 have been arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana in violation of the Cannabis Control Law, the Metropolitan Police Department said Thursday.

The five male suspects, sophomores and members of a snowboarding circle, have told investigators that they smoked and distributed marijuana in a library room at the university’s campus in Machida, western Tokyo, with one of them saying he started smoking marijuana during a trip to India and continued to smoke it in Japan, police said.

According to the investigation, two of the five allegedly possessed about 0.3 gram of dried plant material including cannabis in a car in a parking lot of a convenience store in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, on the night of May 27.

Two others were allegedly caught in possession of marijuana when they were in a parking lot in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward, while the fifth man is suspected of hiding marijuana at his home in Yokosuka, police said.

Police arrested the two suspects on the spot in Shibuya in June and the rest were arrested following an investigation into the supply route for the drugs, they said.

The suspect who said he smoked the drug in India obtained marijuana and supplied it to the four others, according to police.

A Hosei University official said, ‘‘It is a regrettable incident if the allegations are true and we would like to verify the incident as soon as possible.’’

People having marijuana in school campus. The violated the law called Cannabis Control Law.

Colonel sacked for allegedly leaking China sub info to reporter

Thursday 02nd October, 03:40 PM JST

TOKYO —

The Defense Ministry dismissed an Air Self-Defense Force colonel Thursday, accusing him of leaking confidential information about a Chinese submarine to a reporter in 2005, ministry officials said. Hideki Kitazumi, 50, allegedly leaked the information to a reporter for the major daily Yomiuri Shimbun on May 30, 2005, when he was working at the ministry’s Defense Intelligence Headquarters despite knowing it was classified, the officials said.

The information in question concerned a Chinese submarine which was in difficulty in the South China Sea earlier in the month due to a fire on board. The leak resulted in an article in the newspaper’s May 31, 2005 morning editions.

Japan Keeps Warnings as Tropical Storm Fades; Flights Canceled
Japan kept in place warnings for potentially damaging rains and flooding as Tropical Storm Jangmi faded and changed direction to a path that is expected to take it away from Kyushu and over the Pacific Ocean. (Bloomberg)

Tropical storm happening. Their has been warnings.

Japan’s Transportation Minister Quits

TOKYO — Prime Minister Taro Aso’s fledgling government suffered an early blow on Sunday night when the transportation minister resigned for verbal gaffes that had outraged school teachers and the nation’s ethnic minorities and foreign residents.

The minister, Nariaki Nakayama, quit just five days into office, after causing an uproar for calling the powerful left-leaning teachers union “a cancer on Japanese education” and the Japanese people a “homogeneous race” that “dislikes foreigners.”

While Mr. Nakayama hastily apologized, his quick departure appeared to be an effort at damage control by Mr. Aso, who was elected prime minister last week by the governing Liberal Democratic Party ahead of tightly fought national elections that could take place as early as next month.

Prime Minister Taro Aso’s quit. He apologized for quiting.