Overview
- Tokyo Metropolitan Police plan to re-arrest three men, including 52-year-old Han Kōchul, on investment law violations tied to unregistered high-interest lending targeting women in Kabukicho.
- Investigators say at least a dozen women borrowed around ¥1 million in total while roughly ¥4 million was collected as interest, including a cited case of ¥320,000 lent with ¥80,000 interest.
- Separately, police arrested the manager of a Tokyo shop in Bunkyo Ward on suspicion of forcing a 12-year-old Thai girl to provide sexual services, with proceeds reportedly flowing to the manager and the child's mother.
- Sapporo city replaced glass smoke-screen panels with shatter-resistant resin at the Subway’s Sapporo Station and plans similar work at Kita-24-jō Station in fiscal 2026 after a fall revealed decades without inspections.
- City officials say new inspection standards will be finalized within the fiscal year, while police investigations into the lending ring and the alleged trafficking case remain active.