Overview
- Kuwana police identified the man found on a prefectural road shoulder on January 2 as a 41-year-old local company employee after a family member contacted investigators.
- Investigators suspect the Kuwana man fell or jumped from a nearby overpass about 10 meters above the scene, with a judicial autopsy planned for January 5 or later to determine the cause of death.
- The initial Kuwana report noted no ID on the body and only ear bleeding as a visible injury, and police said they were examining both criminal and accidental scenarios.
- In Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, 49-year-old Kanae Kitamura died on December 31 from diffuse brain injury after being struck by a car the previous night, a death announced by police on January 1.
- Otsu Kita Police arrested siblings Riri Kawasaki, 63, and Masumi Kawasaki, 58, on January 3 on suspicion of abandoning the body of their 89-year-old mother, alleged to have been left in their home from around October until January 2.