Man arrested for holding daughter hostage at knifepoint in Kagawa

A 50-year-old man was arrested Friday for holding his daughter hostage with a knife and locking himself inside his home in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, police said. Yusuke Murakami, a part-time worker, released his 26-year-old daughter about an hour after police officers arrived at the scene and persuaded him to surrender. The daughter was unharmed.

When police arrived at the scene in response to an emergency call from his 57-year-old wife, Murakami threatened to kill his daughter and kill himself as well, and locked himself inside the living room on the first floor, they said. "I had a quarrel with my wife and became outraged. I did not intend to harm my daughter," he was quoted by police as saying after his arrest.

Man fires 9 shots from Machida apartment after shooting gangster to death in Kanagawa

A man armed with a handgun locked himself in an apartment in suburban Tokyo and fired nine shots out into the open around noon Friday apparently after shooting a gangster to death several kilometers away in Kanagawa Prefecture across the prefectural border, police said.

One of the shots hit a police patrol car which rushed to the apartment in the city of Machida, around 30 km southwest of central Tokyo. No one has been hurt so far and no hostages appear to have been taken, the police said.

The Metropolitan Police Department has deployed a contingent around the site while the Tokyo Fire Department has mobilized five ambulances to prepare for possible emergencies.

Investigators are positioned on both sides of the apartment building.

Education authorities have instructed primary and junior high schools near the scene not to allow students to leave until safety is ensured.

Residents around the apartment were evacuated on the instruction of the police.

Police said the armed man is the occupant of the apartment and has been identified as Yuji Takeshita, a member of a gang affiliated with the Kyokuto-kai underworld syndicate.

While a senior member of the gang group has continued efforts via mobile phone to persuade Takeshita to surrender to police, he was quoted as telling the senior member that he would kill himself in a sign of apology, according to police.

Earlier, a man was shot in the head at around 11:30 a.m. near a Family Mart convenience store in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and was pronounced dead shortly afterwards at a hospital.

He was identified as a 37-year-old member of a gang also under the Kyokuto-kai syndicate.

The man who shot the gangster fled from the scene in a car to the apartment in Machida, a few kilometers to the northeast, police said.

The registered owner of the car is the same as the occupant of the apartment unit in Machida, police said.

A total of 44 primary and junior high schools near the apartment in the cities of Machida and Sagamihara closed their school gates and kept students inside, local government officials said. School guards are patrolling the school premises, they said.

Funeral held for slain Nagasaki mayor

A private funeral was held Thursday for Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito, who died after being shot by a gangster, in the Nagasaki prefectural capital.

Relatives, friends, supporters and city officials attended the funeral to mourn for Ito, who had worked for the abolition of nuclear arms and to help atomic-bomb victims as head of a city devastated by the 1945 U.S. atomic-bombing in World War II, participants said.

Ito's murder sparks anger among politicians; Abe calls it challenge to democracy

The murder of Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito prompted outrage among politicians Wednesday, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calling it a challenge to democracy. "We have to eradicate this kind of violence," Abe told reporters. "I want a stringent investigation to be conducted by investigative authorities and for the truth to be discovered."

Ito's predecessor, former Mayor Hitoshi Motoshima, who was shot and seriously injured by a right-wing extremist in 1990 for his remarks about the late Emperor Hirohito's war responsibility, said: "We have to renew our vow that violence is wrong, first and foremost."

The 85-year-old said he could barely sleep last night. "I was lucky because I was only injured...I feel terribly for his wife. I would like to pray for him from my heart and offer condolences to his family," he added.

Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, expressed outrage at the incident, noting that Ito had worked to have nuclear weapons declared illegal and had appealed for world peace.

"It's extremely regrettable and I feel very outraged at the fact that such an outstanding person has lost his life," he told reporters in Kagoshima Prefecture.

The DPJ's acting leader, Naoto Kan, said freedom of speech should never be taken away. He also criticized Abe's remarks. "Prime Minister Abe only mentioned a stringent investigation. We cannot feel any sense of crisis from such a comment about the shooting of a political leader."

Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima had similar words for the incident. "This is very shocking to me. I can never condone a short-sighted act that takes away the life of a municipal leader with bullets and obstructs political activities," she said, offering her condolences to the late mayor's family.

Nagasaki Gov Genjiro Kaneko also offered condolences to Ito's family in a statement after his death was confirmed and expressed his anger at the shooting, in which a local gangster allegedly shot Ito twice in the back outside his election campaign office on Tuesday evening.

"This is the most painful thing of all because I was praying for his recovery, and I feel a strong sense of outrage at the vicious, violent act of shooting a mayor," he said.

The incident represents "a challenge to freedom and democracy" given that it took place during an election campaign period, he said, expressing hope that it will be investigated thoroughly.

Other municipal leaders, including Fukuoka Gov Wataru Aso, Saga Gov Yasushi Furukawa and Okinawa Gov Hirokazu Nakaima, also offered condolences to Ito's family and vowed not to tolerate any violence against politicians.

Nagasaki Mayor Ito shot in back while campaigning outside train station; in serious condition

Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito was shot twice in the back by a gunman at 7:50 p.m. Tuesday in front of Japan Railway's Nagasaki Station and is in a serious condition with his heart not moving, local authorities said. The alleged shooter, Tetsuya Shiroo, 59, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder, police said, adding he is believed to be a member of a gang affiliated with Japan's largest organized crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi. The motive is unknown.

Ito, 61, was shot twice in the back while campaigning for his fourth four-year term in Sunday's mayoral election in the western Japan city. He was immediately taken to a hospital past 8 p.m., a hospital official said.

Ito was shot near his campaign office and fell on his stomach.

Ito, formerly a Nagasaki city assembly member and Nagasaki prefectural assembly member, has made a number of statements and remarks to promote peace since he was first elected in 1995 as mayor of Nagasaki, which was devastated by an atomic bomb dropped by the United States in 1945 in World War II.

Debate on constitutional referendum bill begins in upper house

The House of Councillors on Monday began debating a bill setting procedures to amend Japan's pacifist Constitution, which has been unrevised since coming into force in 1947. The governing coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito party called for an early enactment at a plenary session of the upper house, while opposition parties stressed the need for thorough deliberations.

The governing coalition's bill, revised in March in the course of deliberation, proposes that the referendum be held only for the purpose of constitutional revision and with eligible voters being Japanese citizens aged 18 and older. One of the focal points in a revision is Article 9, which says, "Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes."

U.S. asks Japan to relax beef import conditions with deadline

The United States has requested that Japan consider softening a condition it has attached to importing beef from the United States by setting a concrete deadline by which Tokyo should abide by, sources informed on bilateral relations said Sunday.

The request, which the sources said includes a hint that Washington would file a complaint with the World Trade Organization over the matter, could put pressure on Tokyo ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the U.S. capital for summit talks later this month. Japan, which banned beef imports from the United States following the discovery, resumed the imports in December 2005 on the condition that the beef be limited to those from cattle aged up to 20 months and that dangerous parts be removed completely.

Washington has since been asking Tokyo to soften the age restriction and is now threatening to take the matter to the WTO, the sources said. Those who have referred to the move are senior officials of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, they added.

North Korean female agent linked to abduction of 2 kids ordered terror attack, police say

Japanese police have learned from testimonies that a woman believed to be the leader of North Korean agents involved in a 1974 abduction case in Japan allegedly ordered another agent to carry out a terrorist attack in South Korea in the 1970s, investigative sources said Saturday.

In the alleged abduction case of two children born to a Japanese mother and Korean father who went missing in 1973, the police have found a high possibility that a husband of the 59-year-old female agent knew of the kidnapping plan, the sources said.

The sources said the police obtained the testimonies from people related to Universe Trading — a now-defunct trading company in Tokyo's Shinagawa believed to have served as a base for covert North Korean operations in Japan. The woman also worked there.

Police believe the terrorism order was based on an instruction from North Korea, and came shortly after the failed assassination attempt in August 1974 of then South Korean President Park Chung Hee.

According to the testimonies, the female agent ordered a male agent who worked under her to "do something like that" after the failed assassination incident, the sources said.

The male agent left Japan in 1978 after disappearing from the company because of what was then explained as his increasing distrust of the female agent.

In the assassination attempt on Aug 15, 1974, Mun Se Gwang, a South Korean resident of Japan, shot at the president and his wife at a ceremony marking the 29th anniversary of the liberation of Korea from Japanese occupation. Park survived, but his wife and a female high school student died. Mun was sentenced to death and executed later that year.

The male agent is believed to have been involved in the suspected killing of Hideko Watanabe, the Japanese mother of the two children who went missing together in 1973.

The man had allegedly told acquaintances about circumstances before and after the killing, the sources said.

The sources said the husband, who married the female agent after the abduction incident occurred in 1974, had told workers of Universe Trading and other people about the kidnapping.

The man told them of such abduction circumstances as the children being given sleeping pills but waking up in the middle of being taken to North Korea on a spy ship, and the children having bad motion sickness, the sources said.

Given such testimonies from related people, police suspect the man was either directly involved in the abduction or received detailed reports.

The female agent and the man were allegedly in an intimate relationship before their marriage, the sources said. They left Japan in 1979 and there are no confirmed records of their return, leading the police to believe that they are now living in North Korea, the sources said.

The female agent is suspected of ordering her group of agents to abduct the two children in 1974 after receiving instructions in North Korea where she went after leaving Japan with the passport of another person, the sources said.

On Thursday, police designated two children as having been abducted by North Korean agents, and set up an investigation headquarters to start a full-fledged probe into the case.

The two children are Ko Gyong Mi, then a 6-year-old girl whose Japanese name is Kiyomi, and Ko Gang, then a 3-year-old boy whose Japanese name is Tsuyoshi.

They were born to Ko Dae Gi, a pro-Pyongyang Korean resident in Japan, and his Japanese wife Watanabe, who was 32 when she went missing.

Watanabe is suspected of having been murdered before the children were taken to North Korea.

Ko Dae Gi, who had gone missing earlier, worked for Universe Trading, and is believed to have led the group there before the female agent took over the leading role.

Abe hosts 11,000 guests at garden party; pledges to create 'beautiful Japan'

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hosted the government's annual cherry blossom viewing party at Shinjuku Gyoen park on Saturday and told the 11,000 invited guests that he would work hard to create a "beautiful Japan." Speaking under clear skies, Abe mingled with guests invited from the business, sporting and entertainment worlds. Since coming to power last year, Abe has vowed to create a more assertive Japan under his favorite campaign phrase "a beautiful nation" and made revising the 1947 constitution the top item on his political agenda.

"We have fair weather today with the cherry flowers in full bloom because your wishes reached up there, I believe," Abe told guests.

Wen meets farmers, plays baseball with students in Kyoto

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Kyoto to add a human touch on the final day Friday of his three-day visit to Japan, chatting with local farmers and enjoying baseball with university students. When asked about the outlook for bilateral ties, Wen said, "I can't say all the problems have been solved. We need more time."

In Kyoto, he visited a farmer's house, toured historic spots and took part in baseball and other exchange programs with Ritsumeikan University students. Wen will have a meeting in Osaka on Friday night with government and business leaders in the Kansai region.

Man arrested for groping woman cop on train

A man was arrested last week for groping a woman who happened to be a police officer, police revealed Thursday. The incident happened on JR's Yamanote Line on April 6, they said. The 20-year-old police officer felt her coat lifted and her buttocks touched between Kanda and Akihabara stations, they said.

The officer immediately grabbed the man and hauled him off at Akihabara. The suspect, a 39-year-old construction worker, has denied the allegation. The police officer was in plain clothes at the time.

Wen calls for Sino-Japanese friendship, but urges Japanese leaders to face up to history

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday called for friendship and cooperation to "thaw the ice" of years of strained relations, while urging Japanese leaders to act in line with past apologies for Japanese wartime aggression.

In a speech in the Diet aimed at wooing the Japanese public as well as subduing anti-Japanese sentiment back home, Wen laid out China's vision for developing closer, forward-looking strategic ties with Japan through building mutual trust and working on common interests.

Stressing that both Chinese and Japanese people were victims of wartime suffering that should be blamed on "a handful of militarists," Wen acknowledged Japan's repeated apologies over its deeds before and during World War II.

But he added, "We sincerely hope that Japan will demonstrate its past statements and promises with actual concrete actions."

The premier avoided reference to specific issues, but his remark was apparently made in connection with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent denial of the Japanese military's involvement in wartime sex slavery.

Wen's remark was also an apparent warning to Abe not to visit Tokyo's war-related Yasukuni Shrine like his predecessor Junichiro Koizumi did, which angered Japan's neighbors.

Wen was clear in speaking about Taiwan. He reiterated that China would "absolutely not tolerate" Taiwanese independence, urging Japan to understand the sensitivity of the issue, deal with it cautiously and uphold its one-China policy.

In the background of Beijing's concerns is the fact that Japan and its ally the United States included the Taiwan issue as part of their common strategic objectives in a security alliance statement in February 2005.

Citing the more than 2,000 years of "friendly exchanges" between the people of the two nations — albeit disrupted by "painful and unfortunate" rancor in the postwar decades — Wen called for future-oriented friendship between the Chinese and Japanese people "with history as the mirror."

"For the sake of friendship and cooperation, it is necessary to sum up and remember the lessons of the unfortunate past history," he said.

The premier, on the first Japan visit by a Chinese leader in nearly seven years, also noted that the Chinese people will never forget the "support and assistance" from the Japanese government and public of China's reform and modernization.

The speech, broadcast live nationwide in both countries, was made at a time chilled relations are recovering with the resumption of top-level political dialogue following Abe's Beijing visit last October.

Wen, as the first Chinese leader to speak at Japan's parliament in 22 years, made the speech not only in hopes of dispelling negative feelings and anxiety toward China among some Japanese, but also to deliver the message to the Chinese public to calm anti-Japanese sentiment that developed into riots two years ago.

The speech was well received by the Japanese side, with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki describing it as "very positive" and House of Councillors President Chikage Ogi saying, "I believe the ice has melted here right now."

Later in the day, Abe described Wen's visit as "the first step of a major breakthrough." Asked by reporters if he felt the "ice" has melted, Abe said, "The cherry blossoms were in full bloom at the Iikura guesthouse where we took a commemorative photo just now. I believe the season has already arrived."

In building a strategic and mutually beneficial relationship, Wen called for more mutual trust and to work for common interests without dwelling on differences.

He also expressed China's understanding of Japan's desire to play a larger international role and said China is prepared for more dialogue with Japan on international affairs including U.N. reforms, hinting at a softening of Beijing's reluctance toward Japan's desire for a permanent U.N. Security Council seat.

Describing bilateral economic cooperation as a "win-win relationship," Wen expressed a positive attitude toward resolving the bilateral dispute over gas exploration rights in the East China Sea, stressing it is important to realize the agreed joint development project.

"Economic development on both sides is an opportunity, not a threat, to both sides," he said, dismissing concerns that China's rapid growth threatens the Japanese economy.

Wen emphasized that China will stay on the path of peaceful development, in words apparently meant to dissipate Abe's concerns a day earlier of the lack of transparency in China's military buildup.

The Chinese premier, who arrived in Tokyo on Wednesday and held talks with Abe, was the first Chinese leader to address the Japanese Diet since Peng Zhen, then chairman of the Standing Committee of China's parliament, delivered a speech in 1985.

Abe, Wen meet to build strategic ties

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met in Tokyo on Wednesday evening to seek concrete steps to build mutually beneficial strategic ties and underscore a steady improvement in relations, highlighted by the first visit to Japan by a Chinese leader since 2000. Abe praised Wen's visit as "a big step forward" toward nurturing the strategic relationship and Wen responded by saying the trip "will lead to significant achievements and reflects both sides' desires."

Despite a drizzle, Abe hosted a welcoming ceremony for Wen in the garden of the prime minister's residence and told his counterpart he looked forward to talks in "a relaxed atmosphere," their third in just half a year. Abe and Wen are expected to issue a joint document confirming cooperation in areas of common interests as well as separate documents on collaboration on environmental and energy issues. Enhancing economic dialogue is also a main item on the agenda.

Japan extends economic sanctions on N Korea for 6 more months

The government decided in a cabinet meeting Tuesday to extend the economic sanctions Japan imposed on North Korea after Pyongyang's first nuclear test last October, officials said.

The sanctions prohibit North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports, ban imports of all items from North Korea, and block all North Korean people from entering Japan. Japan imposed more limited sanctions after North Korea conducted missile tests last July. These sanctions banned a cargo-passenger ferry link between the two countries and barred North Korean officials from entering Japan.

GSDF camp's internal info leaked from PC via Winny

The layout of an arms dump and other internal information from the Ground Self-Defense Force's Matsudo garrison in Chiba Prefecture was leaked onto the Internet in late March from a personal computer of a sergeant who used to work there via the Winny file-sharing software, Defense Ministry sources said Monday.

Although the data leaked did not include confidential information, the Defense Ministry plans to punish the officer ranked sergeant first class as he has not complied with the ministry's ban on storage of professional data on any privately owned PC.

Murder suspect Ichihashi living on 50,000 yen

Two weeks after the murder of English teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, prime suspect Tatsuya Ichihashi is still on the run, most likely living on 50,000 yen in cash, police said Monday. Further investigations have revealed that Ichihashi, 28, ran off with 50,000 yen in cash he had withdrawn from a bank ATM after getting away from police who came to his apartment on March 26. Police said they are watching his account and said he had made no cash withdrawals since then.

Police also said that Ichihashi's bicycle had been left at nearest station to his home before the murder, refuting rumors that he had used it to make his getaway from the area.

No. of homeless people down 6,700 to 18,500

The number of homeless people in Japan decreased from about 25,300 four years ago to about 18,500 as of January this year apparently due to economic recovery and welfare, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Friday. "It is apparently a result of employment due to economic recovery and state assistance measures," a ministry official said.

The ministry conducted the survey in January following the first of its kind in 2003, by consigning the project to prefectural governments across Japan with prefectural officials visually counting the number of homeless people living at parks, riversides, roads, stations or other public facilities. By prefecture, the homeless population was largest in Osaka at 4,911, followed by Tokyo at 4,690, Kanagawa at 2,020, Fukuoka at 1,177 and Aichi at 1,023.

Abe eyes allowing Japan forces to defend U.S. in missile attacks

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is leaning toward allowing Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense — currently banned in line with an official interpretation of the Constitution — in a limited number of cases such as a ballistic missile attack against the United States, a government source said Saturday.

The government is expected to form a panel of handpicked experts later this month to conduct detailed discussions on four situations in which Japan could mobilize its forces when an ally comes under attack, with the aim of reaching a conclusion possibly this fall on whether to lift the self-imposed ban under those limited circumstances, according to the source.

The panel, chaired by former Japanese Ambassador to Washington Shunji Yanai, is expected to examine employing Japan's missile defense shield to intercept a ballistic missile targeted at an ally as well as staging a counterattack when a warship of another country sailing along with a Japanese Self-Defense Forces vessel comes under attack on the high seas, the source said.

These two cases are subject to a ban under the Cabinet Legislation Bureau's interpretation of the pacifist Article 9 of the Constitution on the grounds that either of them is tantamount to exercising the right to collective self-defense beyond the necessary minimum self-defense.

But calls for reviewing the interpretation for limited cases are growing around Abe, who is keen on bolstering Japan's lesser role in its bilateral security arrangement with the United States, the source said.

Abe may be hoping that mentioning such a move, even just for consideration, could help attenuate bilateral discord generated by his or other ruling lawmakers' remarks downplaying the Japanese military's role in running wartime brothels, ahead of his very first official trip to the United States in late April, observers said.

Critics say moves to expand the scope of Japan's missile defense and to enable Japan-U.S. joint vessel operations in the high seas may alarm other Asian countries, particularly China.

The two other cases are Japan staging a counterattack when another country's military units in multinational forces including Japanese troops working for a shared objective are attacked, and Japan using arms to eliminate obstacles to implementing duties as part of U.N. peacekeeping operations.

The government has said Japan inherently has the right to collective self-defense under international law but is prohibited from exercising it under Article 9 of its Constitution.

Reinterpretation of the article is a sensitive subject that may generate heated debate even within the governing coalition of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner the New Komeito party, which is highly cautious about Japan exercising the right to collective defense, and will also likely be a focus in the House of Councillors election slated for July.

Article 9 renounces Japan's right to wage war or to maintain armed forces.

Abe proposed in his first policy speech in September studying which specific cases of cooperation with an ally may be prohibited under the Constitution.

In a book published in July when he was chief cabinet secretary under former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Abe questioned the ban on exercising the right, saying of the ban, "I wonder how long it can remain valid in the context of norms in the international community."

Japan and the United States agreed in a summit in November that they will reinforce and accelerate bilateral cooperation for building missile defense systems. Last month, Japan installed a land-to-air interceptor system north of Tokyo.

Ishihara leads rivals in Tokyo gubernatorial race

Incumbent Tokyo Gov Shintaro Ishihara is one-up on his main rival, former Miyagi Gov Shiro Asano, in the April 8 gubernatorial election, Kyodo News analyses showed Sunday.

Ishihara, who is seeking a third four-year term, has secured sufficient support from the affiliates of the ruling parties — the LDP and the New Komeito party — as well as from parts of the DPJ supporters. Asano, on the other hand, has not yet solidified the support base in the DPJ, which backs him, according to the analyses. The other two major candidates — architect Kisho Kurokawa and former Adachi Ward mayor Manzo Yoshida — have failed to expand their support base, according to the analyses.

U.S. student becomes world sudoku champion

Harvard University student Thomas Snyder become the world sudoku champion in Prague on Saturday when he beat Japan's Yuhei Kusui in the head-to-head final round.

Snyder, 27, who was runner-up in the first world championships of the popular numerical logic game last year, scored 162 against Kusei's 135 points in the final session of the three-day event in which 141 of the world's best players took part.

"I was really disappointed not to have won last year," Snyder, who is also the reigning U.S. world puzzle champion, said. "I do not think people were surprised to see me in the play-offs."

Snyder, a chemistry student who expects to finish his post-graduate studies this year, said the secret of his success was playing "lots of logic puzzles, not just sudoku."

"I started doing mathematical and logic puzzles when I was four or five at the time between crawling and walking," he said, adding that the interest was nurtured by his mathematics teacher mother and his father, a university science professor.

Japan won the world team competition, which was held for the first time this year, with 4,490 points. The United States took second place with 4,328 points, followed by the Czech Republic with 3,690 points.

Sudoku, a sort of numerical crossword where contestants have to fill a nine by nine grid so that each column, each row, and each of the nine three by three internal squares contains only the numbers from one to nine, was revived at the end of the 1980s and has recently enjoyed a worldwide boom in popularity.

Organizers of the second world championship said they choose to mix classical sudoku puzzles with logic brain teasers for this year's world championships in a move welcomed by the finalists.

"That was my aim this year," one organizer, Vitezslav Koudelka, said. He added that the game's popularity has now leveled off following its rocking success.

"As the players said, it gets a bit boring filling in gaps with missing numbers in the same way," he explained.