Overview
- Firefighting continued in Oita’s Saganoseki district with Self-Defense Force helicopters conducting aerial water drops, as the burned area reached about 48,900 square meters and officials reported no clear timeline for containment.
- A morning fire in Asahikawa’s downtown 3-6 district spread to adjacent buildings and sent heavy smoke through the area, with no injuries reported.
- Tokyo Metropolitan Police carried out street outreach in Edogawa Ward to warn motorcyclists and hand out flyers urging slower speeds following a rise in fatal crashes.
- Police arrested three men tied to the large sex-industry scout group “Natural” on suspicion of confinement and coercion after a June incident near Haneda Airport that investigators view as internal discipline.
- Aichi police reported finding 194 cannabis plants and arrested a yakuza-affiliated executive and a woman on drug charges, while separate cases included the arrest of a firefighter in Fukuoka on suspicion of non-consensual indecent acts and a Gifu cram-school instructor on suspicion of theft; a court ruling on injunctions to halt operations at Mihama and Takahama nuclear units is set for November 28.