Overview
- Kobe prosecutors declined to indict Hyogo Governor Motohiko Saito over alleged election-law violations tied to payments to PR firm Meruchu, citing insufficient suspicion.
- The Fukuoka High Court Naha Branch ruled the July upper-house election was in an “unconstitutional state” due to up to a 3.13-fold vote-value gap, contrasting with a Tokyo High Court finding of constitutionality.
- Sapporo said a brown bear that had repeatedly entered Maruyama Zoo since November 9 was captured in a box trap and culled after the city installed surveillance cameras and electric fencing and fully closed adjacent Maruyama Park on November 11.
- Tsu police arrested a 20-year-old Mie prefectural employee on suspicion of inserting a smartphone into a women’s restroom stall to film, on charges including violating the prefectural nuisance prevention ordinance and trespass.
- In Otaru, police arrested a 30-year-old man on suspicion of non-consensual intercourse and manufacturing child pornography, and separately sought information after an unidentified man’s body was found on Zenibako Beach.