Overview

• Hyogo prefectural police are verifying a statement from arrested suspect Tanimoto Masashi that he followed a woman he thought was his type two days before the Aug. 20 fatal stabbing in Kobe.
• Investigators say CCTV shows the suspect trailing the victim from near her workplace on the day of the killing and following other women near his hotel; he claims he did not previously know the victim.
• Tokyo Metropolitan Police opened a case after staff at Meiji Jingu found carved letters on the nationally designated Important Cultural Property east gate, with damage roughly 5 cm by 20 cm under review for Cultural Properties Protection Law violations.
• A fire in an apartment in Gifu Prefecture’s Ginan Town burned about 45 square meters, left one man dead on a balcony, and caused minor injuries to two others, with police investigating the identity and cause.
• Emperor’s Cup semifinals were set as Machida vs FC Tokyo and Vissel Kobe vs Hiroshima, and the 96th Intercity corporate baseball tournament opened at Tokyo Dome with a first-inning call overturned on video review.