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After a U.S. Marine was arrested in Okinawa in connection with Anna Yagi’s murder, social media users began spreading rumors about the victim’s sexual history

Anna Yagi was 39 when she was found dead in a hotel in Naha in the early hours of October 3. Okinawa police say she died from pressure to her neck; her backpack and wallet were missing, and surveillance footage showed the man who had entered the hotel with her leaving alone with what appeared to be her belongings. The next day, police arrested Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard, a 20-year-old US Marine stationed at Futenma, on suspicion of robbery-murder. Ballard has denied the allegations.

Online, attention moved quickly to Yagi herself. Within days, social media users were circulating an Instagram account they claimed belonged to her, along with screenshots that appeared to show her with younger foreign men. Police have not authenticated the account or most of the claims now attached to it. 

There are, of course, no circumstances in which a woman’s sexual history makes this kind of violence inevitable.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A total of 53 companies in Japan have been targeted by an internationally active ransomware group known as Qilin, National Police Agency officials said Thursday.

Qilin, believed to be behind a 2025 cyberattack on Japanese beverage maker Asahi Group Holdings Ltd., has drawn renewed attention in Japan after investigative authorities recently handed over to Germany a detained Russian national suspected of being a key member of the group. The man has since been arrested by German authorities.

The cybercrime group began operating around October 2022 and has attacked some 4,000 companies worldwide, with its activities in Japan confirmed since April 2023, according to the agency.

The 53 Japanese victims span manufacturing, services, construction, hospitals and schools, but their names have not been disclosed.

In ransomware attacks, hackers block access to data and demand payment to restore it.

German authorities had requested that Japanese investigators detain and hand over the 28-year-old Russian man transferred to Germany, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The man, who was on a trip to Japan, had been placed in a detention facility after he was found at a hotel in Osaka in May. He was handed over to German authorities earlier this month.

The man allegedly extorted crypto assets from a German logistics firm in 2024, according to the source.

Meanwhile, following a series of reports of data leaks caused by unauthorized access, the Japanese government decided to urge businesses to address system vulnerabilities and prevent the misuse of leaked information, cybersecurity minister Toshiharu Furukawa said.

Recent cases include a data breach at Japan's "Times Car" car-sharing service that exposed information from about 6.6 million accounts, including images of 1.6 million driver's licenses, as well as cyberattacks against Daiwa Securities Group Inc. and the operator of the Yakiniku King barbecue restaurant chain.

Major convenience store operator Lawson Inc. became the latest company to announce a data breach Thursday, saying personal information, including email addresses and phone numbers, had been leaked from its "Lawson ID" account system, affecting around 2.16 million IDs.

Karaoke venue operator Daiichikosho Co. said 8.72 million customer and employee records may have been compromised after a computer used by an employee of a subcontractor was found to be infected with malware earlier this month. Passwords were not among the potentially compromised data, it said.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Fast Retailing Co., the operator of the Uniqlo clothing chain, appears on course to overtake Sweden's H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB as the world's second-largest apparel manufacturer and retailer after posting another year of robust global sales.

Fast Retailing's sales during the just-ended business year through August came to 3.96 trillion yen ($25 billion), up 16.6 percent from the previous year, while net profit surged 25.3 percent to a record 542.52 billion yen.

H&M, the current No. 2, has yet to release its full-year earnings results through November. But the Swedish apparel company, which reported sales of 228.29 billion krona ($22.8 billion) in fiscal 2025, has reported sales below year-ago levels through the third quarter of the current year. Inditex SA, the operator of the Zara clothing brand, ranks first.

"Achieving 10 trillion yen in sales, which we have set as a major milestone, is now within our sights," said Tadashi Yanai, the company's chairman, president and chief executive officer.

"Now that we have reached the starting line in the global market, we are taking on a major challenge aimed for the next growth," he added, reiterating the company's commitment to becoming the world's leading brand.

For the business year through next August, the company is aiming for another record-high net profit of 560 billion yen, up 3.2 percent.

Operating profit, which totaled 743.13 billion yen in the year to August, is projected to grow 11.7 percent to 830 billion yen on sales of 4.45 trillion yen, up 12.3 percent.

Fast Retailing offers a variety of products through Uniqlo, including "HeatTech" warm innerwear and the quick-drying "Airism" line. The company, which is also known for its GU brand, is headquartered in the western Japanese prefecture of Yamaguchi.

The annual number of customers at Uniqlo increased by about 10 percent from the previous year to more than 600 million in the 12 months to August, largely driven by its overseas operations.

Operating profit from Uniqlo's overseas operations surged 44.9 percent to 448.1 billion yen as sales rose across all regions, supported by stronger sales of year-round products, an expanding customer base and new flagship stores.

Domestic operations, meanwhile, saw a 6.6 percent increase in operating profit to 196.6 billion yen, supported by strong sales of products reflecting current fashion trends and meeting customers' functional needs.

Sales from Uniqlo's overseas operations gained 26.2 percent to 2.41 trillion yen, while those from domestic operations stood at 1.08 trillion yen, up 5.7 percent.

By region, sales in Europe and North America jumped 38.7 percent to 512.6 billion yen and 34.6 percent to 364.9 billion yen, respectively.

Greater China saw an 11.3 percent increase in sales to 724.0 billion yen, while total sales in South Korea, Southeast Asia, India and Australia grew 30.7 percent to 809.4 billion yen.

However, Fast Retailing's overall sales came in slightly below the 3.97 trillion yen forecast announced in July, as warmer-than-usual weather in Europe from June to August dampened demand for fall and winter products, the company said.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Prudential Life Insurance Co. said Thursday a third-party probe by lawyers found that more than 100 former and current salespeople had engaged in fraudulent or inappropriate transactions with customers worth 5.2 billion yen ($32.9 million) over more than three decades.

Hiromitsu Tokumaru, president of the Japanese subsidiary of Prudential Financial Inc., and two other executives will voluntarily return 30 percent of their monthly remuneration for three months to take responsibility for the misconduct.

Tokumaru apologized at a press conference in Tokyo, acknowledging that the misconduct reflected "structural problems within the company."

The investigation report said that the company's sales staff "downplayed the customer-centric perspective."

The insurer said it had taken disciplinary action, including dismissals, against 157 current and former sales employees involved in the financial misconduct dating back to at least the 1990s.

To prevent similar misconduct, the insurer said it plans to introduce guaranteed minimum pay for sales staff from 2027.

Prudential Life Insurance has voluntarily suspended sales of new policies since February to review its governance and sales practices.

Tokumaru said staff whose sales practices were found to be free of problems would be allowed to resume selling new policies.

The president also indicated he has no intention of stepping down from his post anytime soon, saying his responsibility was to "ensure measures to prevent a recurrence are fully implemented."

The Financial Services Agency is considering ordering the insurer to suspend some operations, including a three-month halt to sales of new policies.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Pan Pacific International Holdings Corp., the operator of the Don Quijote discount store chain, said Thursday it will acquire the business of major toy retailer Toys R Us Japan to expand its retail operation and customer base.

The deal was reached after the toy retailer filed for rehabilitation proceedings with the Tokyo District Court earlier Thursday and Pan Pacific International was chosen as a sponsor, according to the companies.

Pan Pacific International, which did not disclose the acquisition price, said it aims to take over all the roughly 150 toy stores in Japan and, "to the extent possible," retain all their employees, while keeping the store names unchanged for the time being.

The acquisition "will expand the company's business by broadening its target market to also include infants, children and families," President Hideki Moriya said at a press conference held in Tokyo.

The company plans to apply the retail expertise of Don Quijote, which is gaining popularity among inbound tourists, to Toys R Us stores and expand its range of toys for "kidults," a portmanteau combining "kids" and "adults" to describe grown-ups who retain a childlike spirit.

Pan Pacific International also said it is considering opening Toys R Us stores within outlets operated by its subsidiary Uny Co. and within large Don Quijote stores.

The first Toys R Us store opened in Japan in 1991. The U.S. operator filed for bankruptcy protection in 2017, but Toys R Us Japan has continued operations.

The toy seller's business has been under pressure in the wake of Japan's declining birth rate and the growth of online shopping.

KOBE -- One person died and another was left wounded after they were found collapsed on streets in different wards of the western Japan city of Kobe on Sept. 30 following an emergency call reporting what sounded like a gunshot.

At around 1:15 p.m., a passerby called police to report a person lying on a street in Kobe's Chuo Ward. The caller said they had heard what sounded like a gunshot. According to Hyogo Prefectural Police, a man was found lying on the street, bleeding, and was taken to a hospital but later died.

At about 1:30 p.m. another passerby called police to report a man bleeding from the abdomen on a street in Kobe's Hyogo Ward. Police said the man was found collapsed and bleeding, but conscious.

According to investigative sources, police made an emergency arrest of a man in Hyogo Ward on suspicion of involvement in the cases.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Videos falsely portraying foreigners as stealing metal from railway tracks in Japan have spread widely on the country's social media, apparently to suggest foreigners are a threat to public safety, an investigation by a Tokyo-based cybersecurity company showed Saturday.

According to Constella Security Japan Inc., social media posts with descriptions such as "metal theft" with attached footage from old videos apparently filmed overseas had received roughly 4.3 million views on X, YouTube and other platforms by Sept. 15.

One X post in March was labeled "metal theft by foreigners" and "stealing metal from railway tracks," accompanied by footage of people who appeared to be foreigners taking away cable from tracks. Posts using the same video were also found on TikTok.

Constella found that the footage matched a video posted on Instagram in Arabic overseas in August last year. It had circulated mainly in Arab countries and was unrelated to railways in Japan or theft.

Posts that spread in Japan since March this year had replaced the Arabic text with unrelated Japanese descriptions, leading the company to conclude that it was false information.

An analysis of accounts in Japan that circulated the information showed that many had earlier posted messages opposing accepting foreign workers. One account had 70,000 followers.

Ryuna Nagamine, an analyst at Constella, said the latest case uses "a typical tactic of creating false information by adding explanations to unrelated videos to reinforce one's own claims."

Viewers who are unsure whether a post is true should "consider the content of the video separately from the written text and verify whether it is factual," the analyst said.

Nonprofit organizations and media have called on the public to be aware of unverified information spreading on social media, urging fact-checking efforts.

Japan saw disinformation falsely claiming thefts by foreigners in the wake of the massive earthquake and tsunami disaster in northeastern Japan in 2011 as well as the quake that hit Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan, in 2024. More recently, antiforeign posts with weak evidence, such as on the number of crimes committed by foreigners, have appeared during national elections.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Tokyo metropolitan government is considering an ordinance banning littering, as trash left in downtown entertainment districts has increased with the rise in tourists following the COVID-19 pandemic, government sources said Thursday.

While Shibuya and Shinjuku wards already have such ordinances in place, rules at the metropolitan level would prevent disparities in regulations and enable a coordinated response across a wider area.

Moving forward, the metropolitan government plans to discuss whether to impose administrative fines and what obligations to put on food and beverage sellers and container manufacturers, according to the sources.

Trash left behind after barbecues along riverbanks has also become a problem in Tokyo. The government will consider what waste and behavior to regulate and whether to designate priority areas.

Shibuya Ward revised its ordinance in June to change the penalty for littering from a criminal fine requiring legal procedures to a 2,000-yen ($13) administrative fine that is easier to collect.

As of the end of August, 963 cases resulted in administrative fines, according to the ward.

The revised ordinance also requires vending machine operators and certain food and beverage sellers to install collection containers or trash bins for plastic bottles and other waste, with penalties for violations.

Shinjuku Ward will enforce a revised ordinance from October that adds food containers and disposable wooden chopsticks to prohibited litter, which already covers bottles, cigarette butts, gum and paper scraps.

SAITAMA -- Bustling Vietnamese restaurants near train stations are now a familiar sight in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo. But suspicions have surfaced that one such establishment was a hub for dealing illegal stimulants. The revelation has shocked ordinary customers.

In August, Saitama Prefectural Police arrested two people, including Vietnamese national Nguyen Van Cong, 37, who ran a restaurant near Tobu Railway's Shiki Station, on suspicion of violating the narcotics special provisions law by selling drugs.

The two were suspected of selling 0.4 grams of powder believed to be an illegal stimulant for 30,000 yen (about $196) to a Vietnamese man, then 26, on a street in the prefectural city of Niiza in August 2025.

Photos on what appears to be the restaurant's social media page show a large Vietnamese flag prominently displayed inside, along with colorful decor that gives the establishment a distinctly Vietnamese atmosphere.

The restaurant was apparently well regarded for popular Vietnamese dishes such as pho, a noodle soup made with rice noodles, and banh mi sandwiches. Regular customers praised it for its low prices and good food.

A 41-year-old woman who works at a nearby restaurant said she visited about twice a month during lunchtime and often saw customers who appeared to be Vietnamese. "I thought it was an authentic restaurant where Vietnamese customers could enjoy the familiar flavors of home," she said. On learning that the restaurant was suspected of being linked to a drug case, she said she was "shocked and honestly really surprised."

The case came to light after the prefectural police arrested 13 Vietnamese nationals in February 2026 on suspicion of immigration violations, including overstaying their visas, under the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act.

Components of illegal stimulants were detected in urine samples from about half of them. Analysis of seized smartphones and other evidence identified Nguyen and the restaurant as possible links in the drug transactions. Police allege that Nguyen's drug customers were mainly Vietnamese nationals.
The suspects are also believed to have allowed customers to use the drugs in a karaoke room inside the restaurant. They also appear to have offered a "delivery" service, taking stimulants directly to buyers who placed orders through social media. During a search of the restaurant before their arrest, police found several types of illegal drugs in an area accessible to employees. Police are investigating on the assumption that the suspects had routinely used the restaurant as a base for drug dealing.

On Sept. 9, the prefectural police served fresh arrest warrants on the two suspects on suspicions including violating the Stimulants Control Act by possessing drugs for profit.

The two are specifically accused of possessing stimulants, MDMA, a synthetic drug, and other drugs including tablets containing ketamine for the purpose of profit inside the restaurant on Aug. 19.

Police said they are working to uncover the full scope of the case, including how the drugs were obtained and where they were sold.

Finding a garbage can in Shinjuku Station has (maybe) gotten easier. On September 8, JR East began sending autonomous garbage-bin robots around the station’s underground concourse, following programmed routes between the East, West, Central East and Central West gates. The boxy machines have large cartoon eyes, exteriors colored after JR train lines and Shinjuku Station mascot Shinjukuma plastered across their sides. Passengers can drop general garbage and plastic bottles into openings on top; when the bins fill up, they can travel back to the station’s garbage collection area on their own.

Q: Influenza is normally associated with winter. Why is the outbreak happening now?

A: There are several possible reasons. First, this year's extreme heat may have played a part. People likely spent more time in cool indoor spaces with the air conditioning on, but infection becomes more likely when windows are shut and ventilation is inadequate. Also, if summer fatigue reduces appetite or sleep hours, resistance falls and people become more likely to develop flu symptoms.

Q: Are there other reasons?

A: It's summer in the Northern Hemisphere, where Japan is located, but in the Southern Hemisphere, where the seasons are opposite, it's winter now, the flu season. Viruses brought in by tourists visiting Japan from the Southern Hemisphere or by Japanese travelers returning home from the region may have spread the virus. Summer is a time when the movement of people increases globally through travel and other activities. When people move around, infections can spread more easily.

September 8, JR East unveiled the three creatures competing to become the new face of Suica when its longtime mascot retires next spring. After months of proposals and deliberation, the decision now belongs to the public. Voting is open through September 23 to anyone, regardless of nationality or location, with no account required and one vote allowed per person.

The choices are a relatively recognizable orange squirrel, a bright purple creature that JR East identifies as a rabbit and an anxious-looking orange animal. The last of these also carries a tiny mole in a crossbody pouch.

You can vote for your favorite creature here. 

A woman was killed after heavy rain flooded an underpass in Fukushima Prefecture on Sept. 7, as torrential downpours across eastern and northeastern Japan prompted emergency warnings and the first closure of an underpass in the city of Chiba since another person drowned there in August.

The Sept. 7 downpour, caused by a stalled autumn rain front, mainly hit the Kanto and Tohoku regions extending from the Tokyo area up to the country's northeast. From before dawn to the afternoon that day, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued Level 5 emergency warnings for landslide disasters for Niijima, Oshima and Toshima in Tokyo's Izu Islands, urging the highest level of caution. In Fukushima Prefecture, two cars were submerged in an underpass, leaving one person dead.

According to the agency, warm, moist air flowed into a front extending from near the southern coast of Japan's main island of Honshu, making the front more active. The front is expected to move north and stall along the Pacific Ocean side of western and eastern Japan until around Sept. 10, with total rainfall possibly increasing, particularly on the Pacific coast.

Record rainfall hit the Izu Islands from Sept. 6 to Sept. 7. On Sept.7, emergency safety warnings urging residents to take immediate action to protect their lives were issued for about 10,000 people in the villages of Niijima and Toshima and in the town of Oshima. At the Oshima observation point in the town of Oshima, 24-hour rainfall through 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 7 reached 581.5 millimeters, the highest September figure ever recorded there.

Meanwhile, Typhoon Krovanh -- the 24th of the season -- which had been near Minamidaito Island in Okinawa Prefecture, was downgraded to a tropical depression at 9 a.m. on Sept. 7.

Underpass listed on 'caution spot map'

In an underpass in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, a 119 emergency call was made around 7:45 a.m. on Sept. 7 saying, "A car is under water." Two cars were submerged, and a woman was trapped in one of them. She was found unconscious and later confirmed dead at a hospital. The municipal fire department initially said the woman was in her 50s but later corrected her age to her 60s. The driver of the other car escaped on their own and was safe.

The underpass is on a road connecting an adjacent shopping center and a prefectural road, and it is often congested during commuting hours. A woman in her 60s who lives nearby said, "It had been raining heavily since before dawn. I think it flooded in an instant."
The city had listed the underpass on its road flooding caution map and had called for care during heavy rain, but it had not restricted traffic. Iwaki Mayor Hiroyuki Uchida issued a comment saying the city would "further strengthen its warning efforts, conduct another inspection and consider measures."

Chiba implements first traffic restriction

Cases in which cars were submerged in underpasses and occupants were killed also occurred one after another during torrential rain that hit Chiba Prefecture in mid-August. In response, the transport ministry began preventive traffic restrictions at a total of seven underpasses nationwide considered highly dangerous.

One of them, an underpass on National Route 16 in the city of Chiba's Chuo Ward was restricted for the first time on Sept. 7. The restriction lasted about 10 hours from 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 7, when a Level 4 heavy rain urgent warning was in effect in the city. One person died there after the underpass flooded during the August downpour.

The latest heavy rain affected trains and other transportation, and a string of school closures followed.
According to East Japan Railway Co., major lines including the Yamanote Line operated with 20% to 30% fewer trains than usual on the morning of Sept. 7. Services were suspended on some sections of the Tokaido Line, Chuo Line, Shonan-Shinjuku Line and other lines, affecting more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

MORIOKA -- A game in eastern Japan is paying players to snap pictures of utility poles with their smartphones, helping a telecommunications firm spot aging infrastructure while promoting tourism and community engagement.

Participants of the game PicTree, held in northeastern Japan's Tohoku region and elsewhere, take photos of utility poles with a smartphone, connect the poles they captured on their device screen, and compete with other players based on the distance between them. The shots of the utility poles are then sent to a group company of NTT East, Inc. and used to detect aging poles at an early stage, as well as for inspections and repairs. It is a system that allows people to contribute to society while enjoying a game.

PicTree was developed by Tokyo-based Digital Entertainment Asset Inc. (DEA) and other firms. The game is being rolled out across eastern Japan in cooperation with companies including Tokyo-based NTT ME Inc., an NTT East group company responsible for utility pole maintenance.

According to NTT ME and others, there are about 5.65 million utility poles managed in eastern Japan. Workers travel to sites to inspect them, and improving the efficiency of this task is a challenge. By having game participants take photos of utility poles, the organizers aim to identify problems at an early stage.

To play PicTree, players must first download the app, choose one of the three teams to join, and shoot pictures of designated utility poles shown on a map. After taking and submitting the specified photos, including an overall view of the pole and its identification number, participants can earn a reward worth 15 yen (about 10 cents) per utility pole. The rewards can be exchanged for Amazon gift cards and other items.

The regular season of the game began on June 6. Of the 810,000 utility poles in eastern Japan included in the game, 470,000 had been photographed by the end of August.

KOFU, Japan (Kyodo) -- A fatal accident involving a hiker and her dog at a scenic gorge near Tokyo has highlighted the risks of taking pets into the mountains, as authorities and hiking experts grapple with how to balance safety with a growing appetite for outdoor excursions with animals.

The woman died in May after falling into a waterfall pool at Nishizawa Gorge in Yamanashi Prefecture, a popular hiking destination with a roughly 10-kilometer circuit and an elevation gain of about 300 meters.

While local authorities had already been asking visitors not to bring pets into the gorge because of safety concerns, there is no law in Japan prohibiting people from hiking with dogs, according to the Environment Ministry, and some mountains actively welcome them.

Nishizawa Gorge has narrow sections where hikers must proceed in single file, as well as steep stretches where they need to use handrails. In places, a fast-flowing mountain stream runs only a few meters below safety chains lining the trail.

According to Yamanashi prefectural police, the woman entered the gorge on May 7 with two companions and her dog. Near a waterfall, the dog went beyond a safety chain and fell into the water and the woman fell while trying to rescue it.

A local guides' association had long urged hikers not to bring pets to the gorge. After the accident, the city's tourism association warned on its website that animals could pose unexpected risks, including falling from the trail or coming into contact with other hikers.

Yamanashi Prefecture also put up a notice at the entrance asking visitors not to bring pets.

"The trails are narrow, and dogs could startle other hikers," said a woman in her 70s who runs a nearby Japanese restaurant. "I'd like the prefecture and the city to introduce stricter rules."

The prefecture says it cannot impose restrictions on its own because the gorge lies within a national park, leaving it to urge visitors to exercise caution.

Elsewhere, however, dogs have become part of the mountain experience.

At 929-meter Mt. Mitake in Ome, western Tokyo, Musashi-Mitake Shrine at the summit offers blessings for dogs, while asking their owners to be mindful of visitors who may be uncomfortable around animals.

Mitake Tozan Railway, which operates a cable car from near the trailhead, promotes the mountain as a destination where people can walk with their dogs.

About 18,000 people rode the cable car with pets last year, four times the number in 2009, when animals were first allowed aboard.

Dogs must be kept on leashes, and a designated pet area inside the cable car helps separate them from other passengers.

"We have put every possible safety measure in place," a railway representative said. "We also ask people traveling with pets to follow the rules and be considerate of others."

Shunji Takekawa, chairman of the Japan Mountain Guides Association, said hikers should respect requests from local authorities not to bring pets and consider conditions even where no restrictions are in place.

"People shouldn't take pets to mountains where visitors have been asked not to bring them," he said. "Even where there are no specific restrictions, it's best not to take them somewhere so crowded that safety could become an issue."

Takekawa indicated Mt. Mitake is a different case because measures are in place to allow people and their pets to visit safely.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- East Japan Railway Co. said Sunday that it will suspend or reduce services on some lines the following day due to expected heavy rain in the eastern and northeastern regions, including Tokyo.

Yamagata Shinkansen bullet train services between Fukushima and Shinjo stations will be suspended throughout Monday from the first train, according to the operator, known as JR East.

On the Tohoku Line, JR East will suspend or reduce services throughout Monday between Kuroiso in Tochigi Prefecture and Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture. Limited express trains on the Joban Line will be halted between Katsuta in Ibaraki Prefecture and Sendai.

Tokaido Line services between Odawara in Kanagawa Prefecture and Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture will be suspended from Sunday night until around 7 p.m. Monday, while limited express trains including the Odoriko will be canceled throughout the day.

In central Tokyo, services on the Yamanote loop and other lines will be reduced.

PARIS (Kyodo) -- Toei Animation Co. has denied media reports that a theme park inspired by the Japanese manga and anime series "Dragon Ball" will be built in France, saying it has not granted any licenses.

France and Saudi Arabia agreed in August to build three theme parks near Paris and media outlets reported that one of them would be linked to Dragon Ball.

The agreement came as French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, both said to be Dragon Ball fans, held talks in France.

Regarding news reports that a Dragon Ball theme park will be built in France, the company said in a statement dated Monday that it and the other rights holders "have not granted any licenses and we are not aware of any such facts."

The project, involving a Saudi investment of 6 billion euros ($7 billion), to build the three theme parks in Cergy-Pontoise, northwest of Paris, is said to stem from a meeting between Macron and the Saudi crown prince in Riyadh in December 2024, during which they shared their passion for Dragon Ball.

Neither the French presidential office nor the Saudi company that would invest in the project have officially mentioned Dragon Ball.

Dragon Ball started as a manga comic series, serialized from 1984 to 1995, that follows the adventures of protagonist Goku and his allies as they battle progressively stronger enemies. Its success in Japan and abroad has spawned multiple anime series, films and extensive merchandise.

Toei Animation announced in 2024 the construction in Saudi Arabia of the world's first theme park devoted to Dragon Ball.

Japan Airlines has invested in Korean Air, which is the first foreign airline that the company has taken a stake in. On the surface, it’s odd to see the Japanese oneworld carrier invest in the South Korean SkyTeam carrier, given how they compete. However, the airlines do also cooperate for flights between the two countries. That doesn’t necessarily explain why one needs to take a stake in the other, though.

The airlines claim they’re now working on finding more ways to cooperate, so let’s see how this all evolves…

OSAKA (Kyodo) -- The city of Osaka has recently been inundated with over a hundred inquiries after it installed a series of rectangular objects protruding from the ground near JR Osaka Station, with people criticizing them as hostile architecture meant to deter homeless people from loitering in the space.

The random blocks jut out from a white paved surface measuring around 60 square meters that was formerly shrubbery. Passengers getting out of taxis nearby were seen having to walk along the roadside to avoid the blocks.

While the local government explained that the installation implemented in early July was a measure against a rise in littering and illegally parked bicycles in recent years, it had received around 120 inquiries as of mid-August questioning the move. Social media posts criticized the blocks as "dangerous" and a "tripping hazard."

"It was a necessary decision to keep people from entering and illegally parking their bicycles," Osaka Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama told reporters.

Hostile architecture designs that have caused controversy in the past include public benches with dividers to prevent people from sleeping on them.

Taro Igarashi, a professor specializing in urban architecture theory at Tohoku University, said hostile architecture meant to deter homeless people consequently inconveniences everyone.

"It's essentially the design that is at issue," he said. Installing the blocks reduces the function of public spaces and "reflects an intolerant Japanese society."

SAPPORO (Kyodo) -- Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, long known for its reputation as being largely cockroach free, may begin to see more of the insects as factors including warmer temperatures spurred by climate change create ideal environments for cockroaches to thrive.

Experts are already urging people to brace for an influx in cities including Sapporo amid increases in the number of well-insulated homes and shipments from warmer areas in Japan, which are thought to contribute to the trend.

Despite the widely held belief, Hokkaido has been home to some species of the pests, especially those more resilient to colder climates.

"Their numbers are definitely lower compared to (the main island of) Honshu," said Hiroshi Nishino, assistant professor at Hokkaido University. "They have also gone unnoticed due to being nocturnal and difficult to spot."

While cockroaches are common in subtropical climates, those seen in Hokkaido are largely made up of three species including the Japanese cockroach, which is said to have existed on the northern island for over 100 years.

According to Shizuma Yanagisawa, deputy director of Ryuyo Insect Nature Observation Park in Shizuoka Prefecture and self-appointed "cockroachist," advanced heating systems and well-insulated homes have provided warm habitats through the winter for species that are more sensitive to cooler temperatures.

The rapid increase in online shopping and shipments from Honshu and areas farther south may also have brought cockroach eggs onto the island.

Sales of anti-cockroach products have risen in response. According to major Japanese pharmaceutical company Earth Corp., its insect repellant line has grown in Hokkaido, with those catering to cockroaches climbing by about six percent on average per year between 2017 and 2025.

"It is important to create an environment that discourages cockroaches such as not leaving food or dishes out for long periods of time, cleaning thoroughly and not hoarding objects in cardboard boxes," said Akihiro Kitaguchi from the marketing department of the company.