Those wacky Japanese...

**Kungfoolss** · Posted On: 6/27/2003 2:21pm

Teacher caught filming up skirts with shoe camera

(Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 27, 2003)

KUMAMOTO -- A primary school teacher faces dismissal after filming inside a woman's skirt with a micro camera set in his shoe, education officials said Friday. The 48-year-old teacher, whose name is being withheld, had been making a series of secret videos of women which police discovered in his home in Kumamoto Prefecture.m"I was planning to sell those films on the Internet, but didn't get around to it," officers quoted him as saying. The teacher set a micro lens in his shoe with a cord running up his trousers connecting it to a camera hidden in his waist pouch. As he approached a 20-year-old woman from behind in a busy street in Kumamoto shortly after 12 noon on June 22, a passerby saw him acting suspiciously and noticed he was trying to film up the woman's skirt.

The passerby alerted police who moved in and detained him on the spot. The teacher also had a video camera set inside a shoulder bag and filmed the woman's face. The Kumamoto Prefectural Board of Education plans to fire him, and police have sent documents on the case to prosecutors for discussion on whether to indict him.

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20030627p2a00m0fp031000c.html

**Kungfoolss** · Posted On: 7/05/2003 1:26am

Cop flasher stuns schoolgirls

Mainichi Shimbun, Japan

July 5, 2003

SASEBO, Nagasaki -- A police officer who flashed his private parts at two schoolgirls passing by has been arrested, officials said.

Hideaki Kinoshita, a 43-year-old officer of the Takeo Police Station in Nagasaki Prefecture denied the obscenity charges when his colleagues arrested him on Friday. Kinoshita allegedly exposed his private parts to the two high school students on a street in Sasebo at about 1 p.m. A teacher of the students' school who was informed of the obscene act immediately alerted police, prompting officers to rush to the scene and arrest Kinoshita.

Kinoshita was off duty Friday.

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20030705p2a00m0fp001000c.html

**Kungfoolss** · Posted On: 7/14/2003 1:31am

Man blows self up in botched attack on old high school bully

Compiled from Mainichi and wire reports, Japan,

July 13, 2003

FUKUI -- A 33-year-old man mistakenly blew himself up Sunday on a Fukui street trying to launch a fire bomb attack on the house of a man who bullied him during their high school days, police said.

Investigators surround the bomber's explosive-packed vehicle in Miyuki.

The unemployed Fukui man, who had more handmade bombs inside his vehicle parked on the street, is described to be in a serious condition after suffering burns all over his body, but is expected to survive. "I was trying to get even with a bully from my high school days. I learnt how to make bombs on the Internet," the 33-year-old man reportedly said while he was being transported to hospital. Police later confirmed that the bomber's former schoolmate lives near the scene of the explosion. The early morning incident prompted police to evacuate some 500 residents of the city's Miyuki district for nearly 10 hours until bomb disposal experts from Fukui police and the Ground Self-Defense Force defused the devices in the vehicle.

Police said the explosion rocked the district at about 5:30 a.m. Yukio Fukuyama, head of a local residents association, heard a large bang and rushed out of his home. He saw the unemployed Fukui man staggering in the street with his arms on fire. The man's clothing on his upper body had already burnt away. Fukuyama and another person put out the fire before raising the alarm. The man reportedly apologized to Fukuyama while mumbling, "I botched it up." Debris was scattered around a 20-meter radius from the spot the man accidentally detonated one of his bombs.

Investigators found two more handmade bombs in the vehicle that the 33-year-old man had hired for his mission. The bombs were assembled from fire extinguishers, plastic bottles containing flammable liquid and what appeared to be timer devices. Police raided the bomber's family home in Fukui and reportedly found more explosive devices. They will be defused by experts on Monday. Police plan to interview the man on suspicion of breaking the Explosives Control Law when he recovers sufficiently.

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20030713p2a00m0fp019001c.html

**Kungfoolss** · Posted On: 7/20/2003 4:23pm

Children's taunts drive man to murder attempt

Mainichi Shimbun, Japan,

July 20, 2003

CHIBA -- An unemployed man who choked an 8-year-old boy at a park was arrested on the spot after the boy's mother witnessed the scene and a passerby alerted police, officers said. Gen Amatsu, 22, has been charged with attempted murder for his violent attack in Narashino, Chiba Prefecture, at about 7:40 p.m., Saturday.

When questioned by officers, Amatsu said that a group of primary school students made fun of him, calling him a "fool," when he was sitting atop a slide. He was watching a festival that was taking place at a shrine next to the park.

He became angry and choked the boy, who, although not part of the group that taunted the man, happened to be at the foot of the slide.

The boy from Funabashi was not seriously hurt in the attack, said officers who arrested Amatsu.

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20030720p2a00m0fp005000c.html

**Kungfoolss** · Posted On: 7/22/2003 12:26am

Jobless animal lover steals 88 turtles from pet shop

Compiled from wire reports, Japan

July 22, 2003

KAWASAKI -- A jobless animal lover has been arrested for stealing 88 turtles from a local pet shop, police said. Shogo Kato, a confessed turtle freak, has admitted to the allegation. "I really wanted these turtles," the 46-year-old unemployed man was quoted by police as saying.

Police said Kato broke into a pet shop in Kawasaki's Takatsu-ku in the predawn hours of Monday and stole 88 turtles worth a total of 157,600 yen. He swiped 13 varieties of turtles but none of them were of a rare species. Some of them were worth just 700 yen each. Kato, who already has about 30 turtles at his apartment, brought back the booty and put them into breeding cases.

Members of his family realized the number of turtles more than tripled overnight and reported the matter to police.

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20030722p2a00m0dm009000c.html

**Kungfoolss** · Posted On: 7/22/2003 12:29am

Molesting monk goes on rampage in Hokkaido

Mainichi Shimbun, Japan

July 22, 2003

ASAHIKAWA, Hokkaido -- A Buddhist monk has been arrested for molesting a teenage girl and then attacking guards who tried to restrain him, police said. The holy man, Yasunobu Ono, is accused of breaking a Hokkaido ordinance banning people from creating a public nuisance, assault and causing injuries. Police said 29-year-old Ono groped the bottom of a 19-year-old part-time worker at a videogame arcade in Asahikawa at about 10:20 p.m. Sunday.

The monk, who was reportedly drunk at the time, then walked out into the arcade's car park and tried to speak to another 19-year-old woman there. However, the woman, apparently scared by Ono's drunken demeanor, tried to call police on her mobile phone. In an attempt to stop her from doing so, Ono grabbed her yukata and ripped a sleeve. When three guards of the arcade rushed to the scene and tried to restrain Ono, the rampaging monk bit their arms and punched them in the face.

Police officers arrived soon afterward and arrested the 29-year-old monk.

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20030722p2a00m0dm005000c.html

**Kungfoolss** · Posted On: 7/29/2003 2:43am

Hunter shoots man after mistaking him for monkey

July 29, 2003

Wire reports, Japan,

KOCHI -- A Kochi Prefecture resident suffered head injuries here early Tuesday after a hunter mistook him for a monkey and shot him, police said.

The resident, Hiroshi Tokorotani, 59, was hit with shotgun pellets in the left side of his head and his left check in the incident that occurred in the Kochi Prefecture district of Sukumo at about 8:25 a.m. Tuesday, police said. His injuries are not life-threatening. Police said they were questioning Takao Akitsuki, 64, the hunter who accidentally shot Tokorotani, on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in injury.

Investigators said Akitsuki had been out killing monkeys and wild boar in the area that morning after being requested to do so by Sukumo officials. When he caught a glimpse of Tokorotani putting up a net to keep out harmful animals near his residence, he reportedly mistook him for a monkey and fired a shotgun blast.

"I saw a black object moving in the thicket, and it moved toward the mountains, so I thought it was a monkey," Akitsuki was quoted as telling police.

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20030729p2a00m0dm009000c.html