Overview
- The Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office declined to indict Governor Motohiko Saito over alleged Public Offices Election Law violations, citing insufficient evidence, and also dropped the case against the PR firm president.
- Prosecutors likewise dismissed six additional complaints tied to the governor and the 2024–25 election controversy on grounds of insufficient suspicion, according to Asahi Shimbun reporting.
- Sapporo city said a brown bear caught in a box trap at Maruyama Zoo was culled and is believed to be the same animal repeatedly entering the grounds; the city installed cameras and electric fencing and closed adjacent Maruyama Park on November 11.
- In the July Upper House election disparity suits, the Fukuoka High Court’s Naha branch found a state of unconstitutionality, while the Tokyo High Court ruled the vote-weight gap—peaking at 3.13 times—constitutional.
- Police investigations continue into local incidents, including the death of a boy found injured at a Sendai apartment building and an unidentified roughly 180-centimeter-tall male body discovered on Otaru’s Zenibako coast, with a public appeal for information.