The latest edition of TPR News is on the way. In the meantime, a few updates that might interest our readers:

First, Goldhawk Productions, an independent producer of radio plays for BBC Radio 4, is preparing to cast and record a radio drama here in Japan and is currently in touch with local theater companies, looking for the right folks.

I might be completely wrong, but, based on whom they’re looking for and the type of subject matter that often forms the focus of BBC Radio 4 plays, I’m betting it’ll be either about or influenced by the murder of Lindsay Ann Hawker. (Read on …)

Hiroshi Nozaki had to have known that he would be the prime suspect. He needed to get out of the apartment fast. But even though it was already dark outside, his roommates wouldn’t get back from work for several hours, so he had time to tidy up a bit.

“Body parts are heavy when they are still half-filled with blood,” he thought.

Draining them would make things easier; he loaded up the laundry machine and let it do some of the dirty work for him. He was tired, after all. The last time he cut up a body was years ago, and he was out of practice.

“And what am I going to do with this blood-drenched futon?”

Somewhere in between the pulsing lights of the bridge, and the hard strikes on the windows from the wind coming off the bay, Nozaki found himself staring at one of his other roommates–the cousin of the woman crumpled in the laundry machine. She had made an early trip home from work to figure out why Honiefaith was late and not answering her phone.

The flesh Nozaki held in his hand confirmed the worst, and she raced out of the apartment to seek help. When the police arrived, Nozaki was gone. (Read on …)

Maybe I’m being overly-sensitive here, or just plain naive, but is it wise to publish information about an ongoing criminal investigation?

The Mainichi published an article yesterday stating that Lindsay Ann Hawker’s suspected murderer, Tatsuya Ichihashi, is hiding out in Ikebukuro (a shopping and entertainment district in northern Tokyo).

The article can be found here.

The article states that a man who looks very similar to Ichihashi has been hanging out in Ikebukuro, patronizing a pachinko parlor, a hotel and some restaurants. It was also reported that “a large number of investigators” have been sent to Ikebukuro in response to the some 40 tips that have been received by the Chiba Prefectural Police. The article also seems to indicate that Ichihashi has been living in Ikebukuro since just after the murder last spring.

Context: Just over a year ago, the naked body of Lindsay Ann Hawker, a teacher in Chiba, was found in a bathtub filled with sand on the balcony of Tatsuya Ichihashi’s apartment. Following up on a tip and a missing-person report, the Chiba Prefectural Police sent nine of its finest to question Ichihashi. Even though they had him cornered in his own home, he managed to out-maneuver all of them, bolt from the apartment and outrun them in his bare feet. He has eluded apprehension to this day.

Lindsay’s family has done an amazing job of keeping this case in the spotlight, and they come to Tokyo every so often to get information about the investigation and remind people that Ichihashi could kill again.

Back to the Mainichi article: it’s difficult to verify the veracity of the information provided in the article (English and Japanese versions of the article can be viewed by clicking the link above) as the Mainichi reporter, Yamamoto, declined to cite any of his sources. It seems possible that information already available to the public, including a couple old images of the suspect, was cobbled together into a news report.

If there is a comprehensive police stakeout of Ikebukuro in place at the moment, then publication of this information is obviously not helpful unless Ichihashi is tired of running and is actually trying to get caught.

Of course, we have seen how ineffective police stakeouts can be, so maybe it’s good to tune some additional sets of eyeballs in to the hunt.

If you didn’t take a moment to click on the link above, I’ll fill you in to what went on during that “ineffective police stakeout”. After murdering a 72-year-old with a knife in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki, Masahiro Kanagawa flew under the radar for a couple of days by staying at a hotel near Akihabara station in Tokyo. The police, hoping to grab him if and when he made his way back to his hometown, stationed eight plainclothes officers around Arakawaoki train station. The problem was that none of them were given radios or weapons. Consequently, they were not able to communicate with each other when Kanagawa did in fact arrive on the Joban line, knives in hand, and proceeded to stab eight people, including one officer, before eventually calling police from an unmanned police station notifying them that he wished to turn himself in.

If you just slapped your own forehead in disbelief, let me assure you that you’re not alone. It’s probably safe to say that Kanagawa would have gotten away if he hadn’t turned himself in.

Anyway, a phone number for people with information (047-397-0110) has been provided. However, if you have information to report, I recommend doing so in Japanese.

But it seems to me that the publication of this information, if its contents are true, is likely to promote either vigilante justice (there’s at least one group of non-Japanese residents that has taken it upon themselves to search for Ichihashi) or Ichihashi’s movement to another bustling locale.

However, let’s not forget the possibility that this is merely old information that has been discredited and abandoned by the Chiba Prefectural Police department but became news fodder so that the cops could look like they were making headway while the Hawker family was in town earlier this week. Or, perhaps more likely, that this is just a reporter from the police press club that is simply doing his job. He had this information for quite some time, but was finally told that he could print it this week. Either way, it’s probably safe to assume that whenever the police started to suspect that Ichihashi was hanging out in Ikebukuro, it would have been at least a few months ago.

If that’s the case, then let’s just hope that this press release is part of some larger police-controlled misinformation campaign that is designed to get Ichihashi to drop his guard and make a mistake.

In this edition of TPR News, we look at the passage of Mike Honda’s comfort women resolution to the full House of Representatives, the candidacy of Alberto Fujimori for Japan’s Upper House elections, the reaction to North Korean missile tests this week, the life of former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, who passed away this week, a range of economic reports, and the ongoing hunt for the murderer of Lindsay Ann Hawker

Politics

On Wednesday, the International Relations Committee of the US House of Representatives voted 39-2 to pass a resolution sponsored by Representative Mike Honda (D-CA) which calls for Japan to “formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner” for forcing an estimated 200,000 women into sexual slavery during World War II. The resolution now moves on to debate in the full House, where a vote could take place in mid-July. Speaking in Tokyo on Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said, “Our government stance has been clarified on many occasions, including (during) our Prime Minister’s visit to the United States in April…I don’t think we want to add more than that..”

(Read on …)

Listen Now:

 TPR News: 6/29/07: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Thanks to Debito Arudo for bringing this to our attention. What follows is a copy of an email from Caroline Pover, the CEO of Caroline Pover Inc. and Weekender, Inc.

Dear Friends & Associates

As you probably know, 22-year-old Lindsay Ann Hawker was teaching English in
Japan when she was brutally murdered at the end of March this year. Tatsuya
Ichihashi remains the Japanese police’s only suspect and has still not been
found.

In support of Lindsay’s family and the Japanese police in their hunt for
this man, I am launching a T-shirt campaign. I hope that enough people - men
and women, Japanese and foreign - will wear this T-shirt so that this man’s
face is seen by as many people as possible in Japan, on a daily basis.

I met with Lindsay’s family yesterday, who said: “The more people that wear
the T-shirts, the more support that we will feel is being shown for us.
Lindsay was a teacher, who loved her life in Japan. She would have been
first in the queue to buy and wear such a T-shirt for another victim. She
had a strong sense of justice, and would have done anything she could have
to have helped others.”

PLEASE play a part in assisting Lindsay’s family in keeping this man’s face
right where people can see it. Buy a t-shirt and wear it at the gym,
dropping the kids off at school, going shopping, on the train, and just
walking around - wear it anywhere you will be seen by many people. If you
don’t live in Japan, why not help by buying shirts for us to give to people
who do?

There are many things you can do to help: buy and wear a T-shirt, buy LOTS
of T-shirts for us to give to people to wear, volunteer to help with the
campaign, get your company involved, and pass on this email to all your
foreign and Japanese friends living in Japan. If you are involved with any
print media, we also have a print campaign you are welcome to use.

On behalf of the Hawker family, thank you very much for your support.

Caroline
———–
To order T-shirts go to http://www.cafepress.com/beingabroad

To volunteer yourself, your company, or media coverage, please email
caroline@carolinepover.com

Please forward this email to your foreign and Japanese friends living in
Japan.

–
Caroline Pover
President & CEO
Caroline Pover, Inc. & Weekender, Inc.
———————–
Being A Broad http://www.being-a-broad.com
Alexandra Press http://www.alexandrapress.com
Weekender magazine http://www.weekenderjapan.com
———————–
Tel: 03-5549-2038
Fax: 03-5549-2039
Email: caroline@carolinepover.com
Chuo Iikura Bldg 5F, 3-4-11 Azabudai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0041, Japan

In this edition of TPR News: Lee Teng-hui’s visit to Japan and Yasukuni, more on the Upper House elections, protests in Okinawa, the Whopper comes to Japan, office rents are up, student suicides hit a record high, and the lay judge system is tested.

Politics

Last Thursday, 84 year-old former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui visited the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, where his older brother, who was killed while serving in the Japanese military during the second world war, is enshrined. On Sunday, Foreign Minister Taro Aso said that he saw no problem with Lee visiting the shrine, saying, “Mr Lee is 84 years old and has retired to private life. His older brother is honored at Yasukuni Shrine and I wonder what problem there is in his having visited it while he is still healthy.”

For his part, Lee made his hosts happy by saying that China and South Korea have attacked the Japanese leadership over Yasukuni because of domestic troubles in their own countries and that the media had politicized his visit to the shrine. Without specifying the domestic problems China and South Korea were obscuring with their harping over Yasukuni, Lee called for Japan to resist pressure from outside in the matter, saying,

Yasukuni issues have been made up just because China and Korea could not handle their own domestic problems. And Japan has been too weak (in reacting to the protests.)

Lee rounded out his trip by retracing part of poet Matsuo Basho’s 17th century trek through Tohoku and, optimistically for an 84-year-old, said he planned to return to finish the trip.

(Read on …)

Listen Now:

 TPR News: 6/12/07: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We didn’t get around to publishing one of these last month, but there was little time to be had. April was a bit crazy for all members of TPR, with an unreal number of frequent-flyer miles being racked up. Although we had a slight decrease in the number of releases, traffic continued to increase, as it did again in May. Golden Week showed the predictable lag in traffic, but the rest of the month more than made up for that. More important, however, is the fact that listenership is surging. New releases are reaching a wider and wider audience each month, which is good to see.

April: 9 original releases, 2 Old-Time Radio releases
Top five April releases by listens:

1. BizCast Japan #2
2. TPR News for April 17
3. Seijigiri #21
4. TPR News for April 6
5. TPR News for April 11

May: 12 original releases, 0 Old-Time Radio releases
Top five May releases by listens:

1. Seijigiri #23
2. Seijigiri #24
3. TPR News for May 11
4. TPR News for May 7
5. Ken’s editorial on the Japan blog scene

Actually, the most listened to release in both April and May was Garrett’s rendition of Gift of the Magi, which was published all the way back on December 21. It is the all-time most listened to TPR release.

New Stuff

We will be adding a sixth regular show from June. We hadn’t planned on adding another show, but the success of the Nazi Eyes on Canada series made us think about the role of Old-Time Radio. After all, that was the reason we started this whole project in the first place, to bring radio and audio content on Japan to the internet. So, we will be releasing old serials under the category “Old-Time Radio.” Look for the first edition sometime later this week.

As always, thanks for listening!

In this edition of TPR News, we look at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s offering to the Yasukuni Shrine, the ongoing debate over who should be enshrined at Yasukuni, Yuko Tojo’s candidacy for the Upper House of the Diet, Japan’s auto production, a sexual harassment case involving the Air Self Defense Forces, and more…

TPR News is proudly supported by O-Creative.

Politics

While he refused to say whether or not he had done so, it was reported that Prime Minister Abe donated 50,000 yen of his own money to Yasukuni Shrine for a masakaki (an offering tree). It was widely speculated that the donation was Abe’s way of dodging the debate over whether or not he would visit the Shrine. His opponents criticized him for not facing up to the consequences of a decision. Mizuho Fukushima of the Socialist Party said Abe was sending a mixed message to other countries. The South Korean government issued a statemement saying they were disappointed and angered by Abe’s actions. The Chinese government said that, while they were not angry, they were disappointed.

(Read on …)

Listen Now:

 TPR News: 5/11/07: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Nearly six weeks after the murder of Lindsay Ann Hawker, police have released a video showing prime suspect Tatsuya Ichihashi riding the elevator in his apartment building in Ichikawa. According to the BBC, the footage was apparently taken in the days before Miss Hawker’s murder occured.

Click here to watch the footage directly from the BBC in a popup window.

Note: If you’re using Firefox and opening new windows in tabs, the BBC site will resize your browser. You can just maximize it when it loads. Better yet, right-click it and select ‘Open in New Window’

Hopefully this will be Youtubed soon, but at least for now we have something.

Ok, fellow amateur forensic psychologists, the ball is in your court: tell us about Mr Ichihashi.

In this edition of TPR News, we take a look at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s first visit to the United States since assuming the country’s top post, what transpired during that visit, some media reaction to that visit, Foreign Minister Taro Aso’s visit to the US, Toyota’s 2007 first quarter sales results, Japan’s mobile telephone industry, efforts to reduce Japan’s suicide rate, and some words on Tatsuya Ichihashi, the presumed murderer of Lindsay Ann Hawker.

Politics

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with US President George W Bush during his first visit to the US as Prime Minister on Thursday and Friday. The two heads of state discussed bilateral efforts to protect intellectual property rights, strengthen energy security, increase the transparency of government regulations, and to foster democratic development across the globe. They both expressed a commitment to the Doha Round of WTO development talks and discussed the possibility of a Free Trade Area in the Asia-Pacific Region as a long-term goal.

The White House and Ministry of Foreign Affairs released nearly identical descriptions of the talks to the media. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an additional statement on “Energy Security, Clean Development and Climate Change” that stated:

(Read on …)

Listen Now:

 TPR News 4/30/07: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download