Product flying off the shelves

Happy New Year!

Looks like someone is going to be getting a nice, belated Christmas gift.

Tenshodo, an upscale and storied jewelry shop in Ginza, was relieved of more than three million dollars worth of luxury watches during the New Year's break. Thieves drilled a hole in the concrete wall of the building, went down into the basement of the building, and absconded with some 200 timepieces.



Elsewhere, this time at the Shinjuku branch of Tiffany's, an English-speaking Asian man rushed out of the store with four engagement rings in his possession. He was not immediately apprehended.

It seems looks like some people have created their own version of "lucky bag" in the midst of the economic downturn. With nearly one-third of Japan's largest companies considering cutbacks in hiring, it is perhaps not very surprising that petty theft is on the rise.

Meanwhile, Joshua "Jake" Adelstein, a former crime beat reporter in Japan and author of the briskly selling Tokyo Vice, sat down for a very intriguing interview with the Japan Times in which he explained some of his views on what makes the underbelly of Japan (as well as the rest of the country, for that matter) tick. Japanese publishers reportedly won't go near the book at this point, so an English version is the only option for interested parties.

And concurrently, in Kobe, one of the subjects of Adelstein's book, the Yamaguchi-gumi of Japan's inimitable yakuza, went into overdrive in an attempt to appease the local population by handing out cash to children at the annual mochi-making (rice cake) event that takes place at the end of December.

Local police believe that more than 1,000 people attended the event last week during which some lucky children made off with as much as three hundred dollars.

'Tis the season!

Product flying off the shelves

Ichihashi apprehended

Believe it or not, Ichihashi was caught in Osaka after someone at a ferry station called in with information on his whereabouts.

Ichihashi apprehended

Ichihashi worked for a construction company

Tatsuya Ichihashi, the suspected killer of Lindsay Ann Hawker, spent much of the last year working for a construction company in Osaka prefecture where he had a room in the outfit's dorm.

He was apparently able to fly below the radar due to alterations to his appearance that may have included plastic surgery. He is said to have often worn hats and glasses to help mask his appearance.

The Japanese nightly news is currently doing a roundup of his recent whereabouts and possible connections.

Having failed miserably at figuring out how Ichihashi could survive on the lam for so long, hopefully the police use the recent lessons learned to reassess cold cases involving other dangerous individuals that they lost track of long ago.

Ichihashi worked for a construction company

Newly released photo of Ichihashi looks nothing like him

Or that's what it sounded like when I read this in the Mainichi today:

According to investigators, the picture was taken prior to the cosmetic surgery. The man had a beard and mustache in the picture, but police intentionally erased the features in the released picture to avoid confusion.

So it would appear that the police have provided the public with a photo that won't really help the people who have seen him recently understand that they have actually glimpsed the fugitive himself, Tatsuya Ichihashi. Why? Because when they saw him he had a mustache and beard in addition to all of the cosmetic surgery that the media is currently talking about.

And it won't really help the rest of us either. If he's still sporting facial hair, then how does that doctored photo assist in his apprehension?

Or did the police hold off on releasing the photo long enough so that Ichihashi would have plenty of time to shave...?

Well, either way, I think it would be helpful if police released the original, untouched photo as well.

Newly released photo of Ichihashi looks nothing like him

Hawker's killer had plastic surgery in Nagoya?

The Mainichi reported that Lindsay Ann Hawker's accused murderer is suspected of having had plastic surgery at a clinic in Nagoya late last month.

Tatsuya Ichihashi has been on the run ever since he managed to elude a football team's worth of police officers that cornered him at the scene of the crime (his apartment) back in March 2007.

Police apparently headed to Nagoya soon after they received the news that someone resembling Ichihashi underwent a cosmetic procedure. There is no word yet on what type of appearance-altering procedure he had done.

Update (11/5/09; 11:30 AM):

The TV news is finally running with this story, and Ichihashi's face is once again all over the place. It is pretty remarkable, however, that he was able to waltz all over the country visiting different clinics and not sounding any alarms. The Japan Times carried this more detailed story today.

Update (11/6/09; 10:55 AM):

The Japan Times posted the before and after photo of Ichihashi (above right) that police obtained from a clinic in Nagoya. It appears as though the fugitive has been hard at work remolding his facial features.

Hawker's killer had plastic surgery in Nagoya?

You can stay, but your parents have to go

13-year-old Noriko Calderon, born in Japan to undocumented parents from the Philippines, was told that she is allowed to stay in Japan by the Justice Ministry.

The catch? Her mother and father, Sarah and Arlan, must return to the Philippines as they have violated the immigration law by either entering the country illegally or over-staying their visas.

Mrs. Calderon spent nearly a year in prison for immigration-related violations back in 2006 and 2007, so this case has been brewing for quite some time.

Mr. and Mrs. Calderon were ordered to report to immigration today, Friday February 27th, for deportation. The Justice Ministry has been very inflexible in this particular case despite the fact that there is a precedent of giving lenient treatment to individuals with extenuating circumstances.

A group of politicians from the ruling LDP have publicly requested that the Justice Ministry issue special residence permits to the family.

In 2007 when the Calderons were first sentenced with deportation, the Justice Ministry granted special permission to stay in Japan to 7,388 illegal residents. 20% of them had originally entered Japan illegally.

You can stay, but your parents have to go

Hawker Family Visits Tokyo

Lindsay Ann Hawker, who was murdered a year ago by a suspect who still remains at large, has a family that refuses to rest until the murderer is found.

Lindsay's family helped the Chiba Prefectural Police pass out flyers with Tatsuya Ichihashi's photo printed on them while asking passers-by for help and information that might lead to his arrest.

Lindsay Hawker's parents, William and Julia, and sisters, Louise and Lisa, return to the UK today.

Hawker Family Visits Tokyo

Police Issue Poster of Disguised Hawker Murder Suspect

The Chiba Prefectural Police have come up with some hypothetical images of what Tatsuya Ichihashi might look like if he were to venture out in public in disguise.

This still taken from a news program last night shows what Ichihashi might look like if he were to grow his hair long and dress like a woman, and the picture on the right is just the murder suspect with dyed hair and glasses.

Perhaps they should have included one of him in a surgical mask. Half of Tokyo is walking around with them on these days due to the kickoff of hay fever season, so he would have no problem blending in.

It was reported by Kyodo (click here) that the Chiba police force have printed 4,000 posters and at least 30,000 fliers featuring the disguised Tatsuya Ichihashi to be distributed around Japan.

Police Issue Poster of Disguised Hawker Murder Suspect

Lindsay Ann Hawker's Alleged Murderer Tatsuya Ichihashi

The Chiba Prefectural Police have posted this enlarged picture of Lindsay Ann Hawker murder suspect Tatsuya Ichihashi. It shows two birthmarks on the left side of his face.

Seeing as how it's now "hay fever" season, Ichihashi could easily cover his birthmarks by wearing a surgical mask like everyone else (or use some concealer), so maybe this isn't incredibly helpful information.

There is still no new (reported) information on Ichihashi's whereabouts as we near the one year anniversary of Hawker's death.

Lindsay Ann Hawker's Alleged Murderer Tatsuya Ichihashi

Resumé Padding

Fake degree scandals are a dime a dozen in South Korea (click here, here or here for recent examples) . The testing/credential-obsessed nation has been forced to do some soul-searching as it turned out that non-Korean English teachers (mostly teaching kids at private language schools) weren't the only ones being dishonest.

Now it appears that the same thing is going on in Japan. Personally, I'm not surprised because like South Korea, Japan is also crazy about testing kids into oblivion in order to earn four-year holidays at name-brand schools so that they can then cop desk jobs at name-brand companies.

The story in the Yomiuri was quiet enough. Japan has suffered through its own share of corruption scandals this year. Dishonesty has been rife enough in business and politics that people are a little corruption-weary at this point, so there's no telling if the masses are willing to tolerate another eduction-related scandal at this point. Many will recall the string of bullying-related suicidesbullying-related suicides that broke in junior and senior high schools at the end of 2006. Perhaps this next scandal will have to wait until 2008.

In case you didn't read it, here's a quote from the Yomiuri article:

Forty-eight academics at 43 universities possess bogus diplomas they were
awarded by overseas organizations claiming to be universities, an Education,
Science and Technology Ministry investigation has revealed.

The "overseas organizations claiming to be universities" are, of course, diploma mills. So, yes, this is exactly the same as what has been going on in South Korea. It should be interesting to see how everyone deals with this in the coming months. However, the way that the Japanese media has dealt with it thus far signals that they are content not to add to the soul-searching that is already going on.

Resumé Padding

Terasawa Bombing Decision Expected January 28, 2008

The would-be bomber of the Seibu-Shinjuku line that has largely escaped media scrutiny is awaiting the result of his court case.

Prosecutors are seeking a five year sentence (article in Japanese) for the disaffected brainiac.

TATP (pictured in both crude and dry forms), Yoshihiro Terasawa's explosive of choice, was found at his home.

Terasawa Bombing Decision Expected January 28, 2008

Lindsay Ann Hawker Update

Some of Lindsay's friends were picked up by the media campaigning in Harajuku on Sunday. They were pictured wearing Tatsuya Ichihashi (the only suspect in the case) t-shirts and handing out flyers asking for information about Ichihashi's whereabouts.

The Japan Times ran an article on it today, and the nightly news did a quick recap of what went on. They also displayed some doctored images that showed what Ichihashi might look like in disguise (e.g. with a mustache, wearing sunglasses, long hair, etc.).

Lindsay Ann Hawker Update

Japanese Photo-Journalist Killed in Myanmar

Kenji Nagai was murdered.

Nagai, a Japanese photo-journalist with extensive experience in war-torn parts of the world, was shot at point-blank range (Times Online) by a Burmese soldier while filming anti-government demonstrations in Myanmar.

The Myanmar government had originally said that Nagai had caught a couple of stray bullets, but recently recovered video evidence shows otherwise.

If you would like to see the video as it was shown on the news in Japan, please click here.

Japanese Photo-Journalist Killed in Myanmar

Interview with Lindsay Hawker's Sister, Lisa

The facts remain the same. I don't know how many times I've posted about this, but the police still have no idea where Tatsuya Ichihashi is.

Lindsay's sister, Lisa Hawker, provides a window to how her family is coping with the loss, and how they are haunted by the fact that Ichihashi is still roaming free.

Click here for other posts related to this topic.

Update: [September 27, 2007]

Julia and Bill Hawker, Lindsay Hawker's parents, are now in Japan to mark the six-month-anniversary of Lindsay's death.

They have expressed frustration that the police aren't keeping them thoroughly updated on their search for the only suspect in the case, Tatsuya Ichihashi.

Interview with Lindsay Hawker's Sister, Lisa

Bomb Plot; Seibu-Shinjuku Line

Yoshihiro Terasawa, 38, planned to blow up a train on the Seibu-Shinjuku line prosecutors alleged Monday.

Terasawa denies the allegation, but readily admits to making about 92.5 grams of TATP (triacetone triperoxide) at his home. TATP was the explosive agent used in the bombings in London back in July of 2005.

With a bomb plot and actual explosives in his possession, I was curious to see if the media would call him a terrorist. In other countries, having only one of the two would qualify an individual as a terrorist.

I have found one instance where international terrorism was referred to (in Japanese), but I haven't seen Terasawa called a terrorist yet. I wonder if anyone in the mainstream media dares to get to that point.

Update: [September 12, 2007] Apparently nobody cares about this story. The media has ignored it.

It seems like the guy was arrested in June or July, so why did it take so long for us to hear about it? Is the story true? Was it leaked? If it was leaked, why aren't any of the major news outlets pursuing the case?

I can understand that the authorities wouldn't want to alarm commuters when there's no real threat of danger, but the silence is strange. Call me crazy, but if the suspect in question were non-Japanese, this would be a whole different ballgame.

Maybe I'm just being overly-sensitive because prosecutors allege that he was planning to bomb the train line that I use every day.

Bomb Plot; Seibu-Shinjuku Line

It Happened Again

Mr. Idubor has been locked up. This case sounds very similar to what happened to my friend, Josh, a couple of years ago.

It Happened Again

Lindsay Ann Hawker's Brutal Death

I don't know why it took so long for the Hawker's to gain access to the autopsy report, but it sounds like we have a serial killer on the loose.

Tatsuya Ichihashi, the only suspect in the case, must be caught before he strikes again.

Lindsay Ann Hawker's Brutal Death

Wanted Poster: Tatsuya Ichihashi

This is the wanted sign for Tatsuya Ichihashi that I saw posted in Shinjuku-Sanchome subway station last week.

It's posted on the wall right outside the gates.

For more information about Tatsuya Ichihashi, and why he is the only suspect in the murder of Lindsay Ann Hawker, read this post and follow the links.

Wanted Poster: Tatsuya Ichihashi

Lindsay Ann Hawker Update

The Hawker family was able to get the Japanese media (Japan Times) to run another article related to their frustration with the investigation into their daughter's murder.

The case has gone cold and Mr. and Mrs. Hawker are upset that communication with the Japanese authorities has been so vague and inconsistent.

Mrs. Hawker is quoted as having said, "Although we understand that there are some aspects of the case the police need to keep confidential, we don't feel that the standard of the investigation is the same as in the United Kingdom."

Sadly, Mrs. Hawker is completely accurate in her assessment of what is taking place in Tokyo and Chiba. There are allegedly 100 officers assigned to finding the prime suspect, Tatsuya Ichihashi, but very few of them have any real training or experience in investigating anything other than stolen bicycles.

Mr. Hawker cited the urgency of the hunt for Ichihashi when he said that "...we are concerned that he could strike again and leave another family facing a life sentence like we are." This very point has been argued before on several websites, including this one and Trans-Pacific Radio, as several key details of the murder bear a close resemblance to those of a sexual predator who is likely to strike again.

A website has been set up to facilitate global awareness of this case and to educate people that Ichihashi could be anywhere in the world right now.

For additional posts on this subject, click here.

To buy a t-shirt that will help in publicizing this case, click here.

Lindsay Ann Hawker Update

No More Visa Waiver Status for South Koreans

Police around the country need to be prepared to come to the assistance of Koreans (and other Asians as well) as the hate crimes start up following Seung-hui Cho's rampage at Virginia Tech University yesterday.

Many people are too stupid to differentiate between the actions of one and the people of an entire nation, culture, religion, or group, so there will likely be some retaliatory crimes unfolding in the coming days and weeks. It goes without saying that such crimes should be dealt with fiercely by police.

It is my sincerest hope that what I have just written turns out to be completely wrong, and that people instead focus their energy on amending America's "gun culture".

No More Visa Waiver Status for South Koreans