– The Supreme Court of Japan has upheld a death sentence for 32-year old Tomohiro Kato. In 2008, Kato drove his car into a crowd of people in Tokyo’s Akihabara district (a place famous for being a haven to Japan’s geeks or otaku), before getting out of the car and stabbing people as they fled. Killing seven and injuring ten, Kato was 25 at the time with the prosecution saying he long planned the rampage. Kato is sentenced to death by hanging. (The Japan Times, Asahi AJW)
– UPDATED: The Asahi Shimbun writes on how the Japanese government had little room to negotiate with ISIS for the release of Kenji Goto.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abe has condemned what appears to be the execution of the Jordanian pilot, Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh, who became embroiled in the Japanese hostage crisis after Japan asked the Jordanian government for their assistance.
It has emerged the execution of al-Kasesbeh actually predates the hostage crisis, being filmed on Jan 3, confirming what Jordanian intelligence had already understood to be the case and hence the government’s hesitation to proceed with deal.
– Local elections in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture returned Governor Hideaki Omura of the Liberal Democratic Party (the same as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe) as Governor. However, only 35% of voters bothered to show up. Just recently, barely 50% of Japan voted in a December 14 snap election called by Abe.
– The Japan Times‘ Eric Johnston has written on why Japan has little political satire, especially in comparison to the US’ The Daily Show With Jon Stewart or France’s Charlie Hebdo.
– After the manger of Japan’s nation soccer team was named in a Spanish court’s match-fixing case, the Japan Football Association (JFA) decided to fire him, with the news breaking on Tuesday afternoon.
The JFA decided to fire Javier Agguire, one of 41 defendants in a case stretching back to 2011, when they feared his image may damage their chances for a 2018 World Cup bid. (The Japan Times, Asahai AJW)
