Overview
- Prosecutors in Kobe declined to charge Hyogo Governor Motohiko Saitō over alleged vote-buying tied to about ¥715,000 in campaign payments, citing insufficient evidence.
- The PR company president accused of being paid for election work was also not indicted, and six additional complaints related to the election and other matters were likewise dropped for lack of proof.
- A Hokkaido–Hyogo joint unit arrested Amami Mizukami, 29, in Yao, Osaka, on Nov. 11 on suspicion of serving as a phone caller in a Dubai-based fraud that impersonated police officers.
- Authorities say about ¥27.7 million was stolen from elderly victims in the cross-border scheme, and this latest detention is the fifth arrest in the ongoing investigation.
- Sapporo announced on Nov. 12 that a brown bear caught in a box trap inside Maruyama Zoo was culled, with officials believing it to be the animal repeatedly entering the grounds despite a fence over two meters high after adding cameras, electric fencing, and closing adjacent Maruyama Park on Nov. 11.