People who have lost their jobs and do not have money for food seem to be responsible for an increase in convenience store robberies in Tokyo. The Metropolitan Police Department said food is being targeted instead of cash. In September, a man armed with a knife stole onigiri (rice balls) and flavored carbonated alcoholic beverages
The Shibuya monkey is living in an internet café. These images and a video clip from a cell phone camera were sent anonymously to Lets Japan. These photos show the monkey entering a cyber café. The story of the Tokyo Shibuya monkey began August 20, 2008, when the unaccompanied Japanese macaque monkey ran wild in Shibuya train station
January A letter a Kawasaki schoolgirl sent aloft by balloon in 1993 was found fastened to a fish by a fisherman off Choshi port,150 kilometers away from where the balloon was launched. February A 39-year-old man wearing a high school girl’s uniform and a long wig loitered near a Saitama high school and was arrested
The Blue Shield The one-man shelters that many of Japan’s homeless construct from heavy blue tarpaulins can be found in parks, under bridges, and along river banks. An April 2007 Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare report shows there are 4,213 homeless in Tokyo’s 23 wards, and about 18,500 homeless nationwide. The country has