Here are several crime-related news stories I’ve been meaning to post:

1) Christopher Drake, professor at Atomi University in Tokyo and an accomplished translator of Japanese poetry, was arrested for stalking girls he saw on the street. Just a word of advice to fellow gaijin: it’s not a good idea to stalk women in Japan if you are a weird-looking white guy who sticks out like a sore thumb.

2) A group of boys aged 14 to 18 have been arrested for bullying otaku into giving them money. They would go around the streets of Akihabara and find geeky junior high schoolers to rob. A robbery would make them “500 yen to 3,000 yen”. What a haul!

3) A man who murdered a woman in 1978 has been ordered to pay 3.3 million yen (28,000 dollars), for hiding her body under his house for 26 years. Unfortunately, he cannot be punished for the actual murder because the statute of limitations has expired. The court ruled that the man, who had turned himself into police as soon as the statute had expired in 2004, did not have to pay 180 million yen (1.5 million dollars) to the bereaved family of the victim. In an unrelated story, a drunk driver has been ordered to pay 300 million yen(2.5 million dollars) for running over a man and reducing him to a vegetative state.