Filipino couple faces imminent deportation, separation from Japan-born daughter

WARABI, Saitama -- A Filipino man and his wife face imminent deportation from Japan, and the painful possibility of leaving their 13-year-old daughter behind.

Arlan Calderon, 36, an interior demolition worker living in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, arrived in Japan illegally in 1993, and has been ordered by the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau to turn himself in to authorities for deportation by Friday. In response, his coworkers have rallied around him and more than 19,000 signatures have been collected on a petition calling on the Ministry of Justice to give him special permission to stay in Japan.

What's more, Arlan's Japanese-born daughter Noriko, a junior high school first grader, must either go with her family, or remain in Japan without her parents.

"Japan is my beloved country. And I want to live together with my whole family," pleads Noriko.

Arlan's long illegal stay in Japan began with an altered passport. On the night before he was to leave for Japan, Arlan went to get his passport from the broker he had hired to secure his visa to the country. The passport he accepted had a different person's last name and a birth date one year too early. He took the passport despite the changes. "I had already paid, so I just got on the plane," Arlan says.

Once he arrived, Arlan learned Japanese in about a year. He did dirty and dangerous jobs, such as asbestos removal, and worked almost entirely at night. Despite such conditions, he strived to succeed, believing that "to achieve recognition in Japan, I had to put in five times the effort."

In one incident, Arlan even rescued the job site supervisor from under several heavy sheets of metal. "Without you here, this company would be in trouble," his firm's president once told him.

Arlan's wife Sarah Calderon, 38, whom he married in Japan, was arrested in July 2006 for staying in Japan illegally. While Sarah was in custody, Arlan knew that he couldn't leave the then 11-year-old Noriko alone at home during the night. So, for the some 10 months Sarah was gone, Arlan took his daughter to work with him, where she slept in the car.

The family was ordered to leave Japan by the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau in November 2006, and Arlan's lawsuit to have the order cancelled was rejected. When Arlan visited the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau on Feb. 13, he was told that either his whole family had to go, or he could leave Noriko behind in Japan. The bureau also demanded that Arlan set a date for his departure. Unable to make such a choice, he will visit the immigration bureau once more on Friday.

What Arlan regrets most in all his trouble with the authorities is that events have led to his daughter suffering.

Hoping to encourage the Calderon family, five of Arlan's coworkers visited his home on Feb. 7.

"Arlan is the old hand at work. He takes good care of the rest of us, and he treats everyone equally. So we all think we should help him," says Koichiro Hosono, 29.

"Absolutely do not give up, because we're all with you," Arlan's workmates told him, trying to keep his spirits up.

According to the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, there were around 174,000 people staying in Japan illegally as of January 2008. In 2007, immigration authorities ordered the deportation of 45,502 illegal residents, though 7,388 received special permission to stay in Japan from the minister of justice. Of those special cases, 1,457 people had entered the country illegally.

Mainichi

February 26, 2009

Man matching suspect in murder of British woman spotted in Ikebukuro

A man closely resembling the suspect wanted in connection with the murder of a British woman has been frequently spotted in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district, police said.

Chiba Prefectural Police have received about 40 pieces of information in which witnesses said they saw in Ikebukuro a man resembling Tatsuya Ichihashi, 29, who is wanted in connection with the murder of Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22.

The witnesses said a man whose eyes and other characteristics closely resembled Ichihashi had frequently visited a pachinko parlor, a hotel and restaurants near JR Ikebukuro Station since right after the murder of Hawker in March last year up until recently.

The investigation headquarters at the prefectural police has also found that Ichihashi, an unemployed man from Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, had visited Ikebukuro with an acquaintance before the slaying took place.

Presuming that Ichihashi may still be in the Ikebukuro area, police have deployed a large number of investigators to the district, trying to get information on the suspect from restaurants, hotels and adult-entertainment shops in the area.

The body of Hawker, who was an English teacher at a private language school, was found in a bath tub on the balcony of Ichihashi's apartment in Ichikawa in March last year. Ichihashi, who was Hawker's private student, has been on the run since the body was found.

After the murder, the prefectural police publicized a facial photo of Ichihashi, as well as an image of him in the disguise of a woman, and Ichihashi's hand-drawn picture of Hawker, leading to more than 3,000 pieces of information on the suspect being submitted by the public to prefectural police.

The National Police Agency (NPA) will pay a reward up to 1 million yen to anyone who provides information that could lead to the arrest of Ichihashi before June.

People with information on the suspect can call the investigation headquarters at: 047-397-0110.

　一方、これまでの調べで、市橋容疑者が事件前に知人と池袋を訪れていたことも判明。このため、捜査本部は池袋に土地勘があり、事件後も訪れている可能性があるとみて、捜査員を集中的に投入。飲食店やホテル、風俗店での聞き込みなどを進めている。

　捜査本部は１４１人態勢で臨んでおり、市橋容疑者が女装して潜伏している可能性もあるとみて、女装写真も作成して公開。また、絵を描くことが趣味だった市橋容疑者がリンゼイさんを以前描いたデッサンも公開している。これまで、池袋での目撃も含め、３０００件以上の情報が寄せられている。

　警察庁も逮捕につながる情報の提供者に、今年６月まで最大１００万円を支払うことにしている。情報は県警の捜査本部（電話０４７・３９７・０１１０）で受け付けている。【山本太一】

　【ことば】リンゼイさん殺害事件

　千葉県船橋市に住んでいた英国籍の英会話学校女性講師、リンゼイさんが行方不明になり、千葉県警の捜査員がリンゼイさんの個人レッスンを受けていた同県市川市の市橋容疑者の自宅を訪問して、ベランダにあった浴槽内で遺体を発見した。この時、市橋容疑者は自宅にいたが、捜査員を振り切って逃走した。県警は死体遺棄容疑で市橋容疑者を指名手配し、捜査員延べ４万５０００人を投入して行方を追っている。

March 26, 2008

Mainichi

Yomiuri suspends writer for no effort

02/01/2008
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

KANAZAWA--A reporter of The Yomiuri Shimbun was suspended for a month for writing an article about Kanazawa University without contacting the school to confirm information, the publisher said Thursday.

The 30-year-old journalist, who works at the daily newspaper's Kanazawa branch office, wrote the story based solely on data available on the Internet.

He included information from The Asahi Shimbun's asahi.com online news service and materials released on the Web sites of the university and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

The article, which was carried on the local news page of the Jan. 27 issue, was about a male professor and a female associate professor who had obtained academic degrees from an unauthorized U.S. university.

The article said the two had claimed the titles as part of their academic backgrounds when they were promoted to their current posts.

The reporter quoted the university as saying that it was not considering disciplinary measures because it put more weight on achievements when deciding on the promotions.

The case surfaced after Kanazawa University protested to the publisher, saying the article contained comments from the university which it did not make to the newspaper, according to the public relations department of the daily's Tokyo head office.

The company also said that it plans to discipline the branch office chief for insufficient supervision of the subordinate reporter.

In the in-house investigation, the reporter explained that he attempted to get in touch with the university but he could not do so because it was Saturday, the publisher said.

In a statement, the publisher said the reporter's behavior was unacceptable for a journalist and that the Yomiuri would implement better training of its reporters to prevent a recurrence.

The company apologized to its readers and those affiliated with the university.

However, it denied the article was fabricated or included quotations without permission.

The university said in the released comment that it was discussing whether to accept the official apology and the company's explanation.

(IHT/Asahi: February 1,2008)

Lecture on domestic violence canceled over protests it could break up families

TSUKUBAMIRAI, Ibaraki -- The municipal government here has cancelled a lecture on domestic violence scheduled for next Sunday in response to protests from opponents, city sources said.

Opponents criticized the Law for the Prevention of Spousal Violence and the Protection of Victims, which allows the government to provide shelters for domestic violence victims, on the grounds that it would lead to the breakdown of families.

Kazuko Hirakawa, head of Tokyo Feminist Therapy Center who was to be invited to the lecture, expressed regret over the move. "It's regrettable because I wanted to show attendees the reality of domestic violence."

The Tsukubamirai Municipal Government planned to hold the meeting on Sunday. It intended to invite Hirakawa, who also serves on a government advisory panel, as a guest speaker. It began public relations on the meeting in late December last year.

However, the government had since received about 100 e-mails urging the city not to hold the event. "Don't use taxpayers' money to hold such a biased meeting," one of the e-mails said.

On Wednesday morning, protesters who gathered in front of the municipal government headquarters chanted a slogan against the lecture through loudspeakers.

The municipal government then decided to cancel the event on the grounds that if it went ahead, it would lead to confusion and cause trouble to attendees.

ＤＶ防止法：反対団体の抗議で講演会中止　つくばみらい市

　配偶者や恋人などによる暴力「ドメスティックバイオレンス（ＤＶ）」をテーマにした講演会を２０日に予定していた茨城県つくばみらい市が、被害者保護などを定めたＤＶ防止法に批判的な市民団体などの抗議を受け、開催を断念していたことが分かった。

　講演会は市内の公民館を会場に、内閣府の専門調査会委員でＤＶ被害者支援に取り組む平川和子・東京フェミニストセラピィセンター所長を講師に招いて開く予定だった。

　市によると、０７年１２月下旬にＰＲを始めたところ１月に入り「偏向した講演会を市費で行わないで下さい」などと記した要請書やメールが届くようになり、約１００通に達した。１６日朝には、市役所前で数人が拡声器を使って抗議する騒ぎが起き、市は「開催しても混乱を招き、参加者に迷惑をかける」と判断して、中止を決めた。

　開催に反対した市民側は「被害者のシェルターへの保護は家族を破壊する」などとＤＶ防止法を批判しているが、平川さんは「ＤＶの実態を伝えたかったので残念だ」と語った。

Man injured in car accident dies after 5 hospitals refuse to treat him

HIGASHIOSAKA, Osaka -- A man who was seriously injured in a traffic accident died after five hospitals refused to treat him, police said.

Masao Nishimura, 49, a truck driver from Daito, Osaka Prefecture, was seriously injured after a minibike he was riding collided head-on with a car driven by a 28-year-old male company employee from Osaka on a municipal road in Higashiosaka at around 10:20 p.m. on Wednesday.

An emergency crew arrived at the scene at around 10:33 p.m. and tried to take Nishimura to a hospital, but five emergency medical centers declined to accept him.

Nishimura was finally taken to the Senri Critical Care Medical Center in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, at about 11:35 p.m., but he died from excessive bleeding at around 1:40 a.m. the next day.

Police said Nishimura had initially told the emergency crew, "I am OK."

The Nakakawachi Medical Center of Acute Medicine in Higashiosaka, which was one of the hospitals that declined to accept the patient, defended its decision.

"We had three doctors on duty as we normally do on holidays, and two of them were specialists and the other was an intern," a hospital official said. "We received calls from the emergency crew to accept the man twice, but we had no choice but to decline because we were treating two other critically ill patients."

搬送１時間：５救命センターに断られ、男性死亡　東大阪

　東大阪市で２日夜、交通事故で重いけがをした男性が、救命救急センター５カ所に受け入れを断られ、６カ所目の救命救急センターへ約１時間後に搬送されたが死亡した。

　大阪府警河内署と同府大東市消防本部によると、２日午後１０時２０分ごろ、大東市灰塚のトラック運転手、西村正夫さん（４９）が東大阪市内の市道で、ミニバイクを運転中、対向してきた大阪市淀川区の男性会社員（２８）の軽乗用車と衝突。

　救急隊が同１０時３３分に事故現場に到着。西村さんは胸を強く打って危険な状態だったが、５カ所の救命救急センターが受け入れを断った。６カ所目に同府吹田市の府済生会千里病院併設の千里救命救急センターが受け入れを了承。救急隊は午後１１時に現場を出発し、１１時３５分に西村さんを同センターに運び込んだ。

　河内署の話では、西村さんは事故直後「大丈夫」と話していたというが、搬送後の３日午前１時４０分過ぎ、大動脈損傷による出血多量で死亡した。

　断った施設の一つ、東大阪市の府立中河内救命救急センターは「通常の休日と同じ医師３人の当直体制で、専門医２人と研修医１人だった。救急隊から２度の受け入れ要請があったが、別の重症患者２人の治療のため、２度とも受け入れを断らざるを得なかった」と話している。３次救急を担う救命救急センターは、救急患者の「最後のとりで」と位置づけられている。【日野行介、田中博子】

January 4, 2008

Mainichi

Original Article

48 academics found to have fake diplomas

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Forty-eight academics at 43 universities possess bogus diplomas they were awarded by overseas organizations claiming to be universities, an Education, Science and Technology Ministry investigation has revealed.

The ministry has asked the universities to take a consistently firm line on the fraudulent qualifications, saying it is detracting from the status of universities.

The investigation carried out from July to September covered all of the nation's public and private universities.

According to the ministry, the organizations, known as "degree mills," have not conducted any educational activities yet have sold fake diplomas for hundreds of thousands of yen. The organizations were found in Australia, Britain, China and the United States, though the governments in each countries have not recognized them as universities.

(Dec. 29, 2007)

Giants announce signing of Ramirez

Saturday, December 29, 2007 at 17:36 EST

TOKYO — The Yomiuri Giants said Saturday they have signed a two-year, 1 billion yen contract with former Yakult Swallows outfielder Alex Ramirez.

The 33-year-old Ramirez, who was released from the Swallows at the end of the season after talks on a new deal collapsed, will don the No. 5 jersey. The Venezuela native joined Yakult in 2001 and claimed the home run (40) and RBI titles (124) in 2003. This season, Ramirez set a league record with 204 hits and led the league with 122 RBIs.

Kyodo

爆発物を作った男に懲役５年求刑 東京

ＴＡＴＰ（トリアセトントリパーオキサイド）と呼ばれる爆発物を自宅で製造したなどとして、爆発物取締罰則違反の罪に問われた無職、寺沢善博被告（３８）の論告求刑公判が２５日、東京地裁（半田靖史裁判長）で開かれ、検察側は「極めて危険な犯行」として、懲役５年を求刑した。判決は来年１月２８日。検察側は論告で、寺沢被告がＴＡＴＰを製造した目的を、西武新宿線車内で爆発させるためだったと指摘した。

December 26, 2007

Sankeiweb

30-hospital denial fatal to woman

Saturday, Dec. 29, 2007

Ambulance crew spent two hours finding care for 89-year-old

Compiled from AP, Kyodo

An 89-year-old woman in Osaka Prefecture died after an ambulance crew spent two hours trying 30 hospitals before later finding one that would accept her for treatment, officials said Friday.

The woman's family called an ambulance early Tuesday morning after she started vomiting and suffering diarrhea the previous evening, said Hideto Matsumoto, a fire official in Tondabayashi, Osaka Prefecture.

The ambulance crew and local fire department contacted 30 hospitals before one finally said it could admit her, Matsumoto said — about two hours after her family had called for an ambulance, he said.

The woman's heart had already stopped when she was taken to Osaka Minami Medical Center in the city of Kawachinagano. She was resuscitated at the hospital but died Wednesday, according to hospital official Hiroshi Tone, who refused to disclose the woman's name or cause of death, citing privacy reasons.

Matsumoto said the other hospitals, including those in the cities of Osaka and Sakai, rejected the woman, saying their hospitals were full or their doctors were not immediately available to treat her.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said it is extremely rare for a patient to be denied emergency treatment by as many as 30 hospitals.

However, similar cases have taken place in Hyogo and Fukushima prefectures. Last year, a pregnant woman in Nara Prefecture died after being refused admission by about 20 hospitals that said they were full.

The latest case underscores Japan's health-care woes, in part created by a shortage of doctors in the country's rapidly aging society. Critics say long working hours and a government policy change several years ago to keep the number of doctors down are to blame.

"Behind the recurrence of such problems in various parts of Japan is the chronic shortage of doctors, as well as the fact that regional networks among medical institutions are not functioning," Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe told a news conference Friday.

Japan Times

South Korea Records US$781 MLN Trade Surplus With U.S. in August

Friday October 12, 7:13 AM

WASHINGTON, Oct 12 Asia Pulse - South Korea recorded a US$782 million trade surplus with the United States for the month of August, down from $1.4 billion the month before, a tally released by the U.S. Department of Commerce said Thursday.

The surplus broke down as $3.78 billion in exports and $3 billion in imports, making the Asian nation the seventh-largest source of exports and imports for the U.S.

South Korea's cumulative trade surplus with the U.S. for January-August stood at $9.49 billion.

July's $393 million surplus in advanced technology product trade turned into a $55 million deficit in August. South Korea's deficit in this category totaled $1.41 billion as of August.

In auto trade, Seoul sold $761 million worth of cars and parts while buying $70 million worth. South Korea is $7.2 billion in the black in this sector in the year to date.

U.S. trade with North Korea was below the minimum measuring requirement of $500,000.

(Yonhap)

Japan to fingerprint, photograph foreigners from Nov 20

Thursday, October 4, 2007 at 06:49 EDT

TOKYO — The government will approve a draft ordinance stipulating that a mandatory fingerprinting and photographing of visitors aged 16 or older will enter into force on Nov 20, officials said Thursday. The revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law incorporating such a measure was enacted in May last year in a bid to block the entry into Japan of individuals designated as terrorists by the justice minister.

Under the law, scanned fingerprints and other biometric data will be stored in a computer to be checked against those of past deportees. The system can also be accessed by investigative authorities, they said. The measure excludes ethnic Koreans and other permanent residents with special status, those under 16, those visiting Japan for diplomatic or official purposes, and those invited by the state.

Kyodo

16 hospitals rejected pregnant Chiba woman

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Sixteen hospitals rejected requests to admit a pregnant woman in her 30s from Chiba who was in immediate danger of having a miscarriage, it has been learned.

The diagnosis of the woman's condition was made at Chiba University Hospital in the city's Chuo Ward, the hospital she was finally admitted to about one hour after the first emergency call was made.

The Chiba Fire Department launched an investigation into the city's emergency care of pregnant women after it was revealed that a 38-year-old pregnant woman from Nara Prefecture suffered a miscarriage after being refused admission by one hospital after another.

The fire department said it did not know whether the woman eventually suffered a miscarriage after admission to the hospital and that it had no record of any reasons given by hospitals for their decisions to refuse admission.

(Sep. 8, 2007)

191 multiple refusals of pregnant women found

Kyodo News

There were at least 191 cases where a pregnant woman being transported by ambulance was turned away by five or more hospitals between 2004 and 2006, a survey showed Thursday, underscoring the growing hardships of ambulance crews forced to scramble by the dearth of obstetricians in the country.

The number of cases in which one or more hospitals refused to admit pregnant women, including the 191, was 2,780 in the three-year period.
In the survey, carried out by Kyodo News, the 47 prefectural governments were asked about the current situation for emergency care services for pregnant women, and 27 had responded as of Thursday.

Those figures are expected to swell in a government survey to be released shortly.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency, an organization under the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, is currently conducting its own nationwide survey through the prefectural governments after a pregnant woman in Nara Prefecture suffered a miscarriage in late August after nine hospitals refused to admit her, a case that drew nationwide attention.

In the first survey, most of the hospitals cited an inability to offer adequate care and a lack of specialized staff for refusing pregnant women for emergency treatment.

Of the 191 cases where five or more hospitals rejected pregnant women, Osaka Prefecture accounted for the largest number, at 58, followed by Chiba and Nara prefectures at 29 each and Ibaraki Prefecture at 27.

The 58 cases in Osaka Prefecture include six cases in which 10 or more hospitals refused to admit a pregnant woman, and one in which more than 20 hospitals refused to do so.
Eight out of Chiba Prefecture's 28 cases involved refusal by more than 10 hospitals.

Ibaraki, Saitama and Nara prefectures also reported cases involving 10 or more refusals.
Explaining their decisions, hospitals in 628 of the 2,780 cases cited difficulties providing adequate care.

The survey also showed that 552 cases involved hospitals with no obstetricians on night shifts and 381 cases involving those whose staff were performing operations or were otherwise preoccupied. There were also 383 cases where obstetricians were not in, and 214 where there were no vacant beds.

There were two cases in Osaka and Nara prefectures where an ambulance took more than two hours to transport a pregnant woman to a hospital because of difficulties finding one that would accept her. One similar case was reported in Fukushima Prefecture.

Meanwhile, in Gunma Prefecture in 2004, an ambulance transported a woman who complained of abdominal pain. After being refused by four hospitals, she was taken to a fifth and was confirmed to be pregnant there.

Nearly two hours passed before she was sent to another hospital outside Gunma Prefecture because no obstetrician was available at the fifth hospital.

In Gifu Prefecture, an ambulance took about one hour to transport a woman late at night after being refused by five hospitals.

September 28, 2007

Video shows Japanese journalist 'being shot deliberately'

Footage capturing the last, terrible seconds of Kenji Nagai’s life has been aired on Japanese television – horrifying a nation and raising official suspicion that the 50-year old photo-journalist was murdered by Burmese troops (writes Leo Lewis in Tokyo).

The shaky, indistinct moments of footage appear to show Nagai, who was on the edge of a crowd of panic-stricken demonstrators, shoved violently to the ground by a soldier and shot dead at point-blank range.

The crowd flees, leaving behind a visibly agonised figure believed to be Nagai – dressed casually in shorts and flip-flops – on his back in the street. In his right hand is a video camera, held above the ground to protect it from the fall.

A loud crack is audible as a soldier points his rifle at the prone figure before launching himself at the dispersing crowd of protesters.

A doctor at the Japanese embassy in Burma confirmed a bullet entered Nagai’s body from the lower right side of his chest, pierced his heart and exited from his back.

The footage, say Japanese experts, squarely contradicts the official Burmese explanation of Nagai’s death – that he was killed by a “stray bullet”.

In the few seconds before he was killed, Nagai appeared to being filming the Burmese military as it faced down the crowd. One of the soldiers seems to spot him doing so, and launches his deadly response.

Masahiko Komura, Japan’s Foreign Minister, said that the footage appeared to show that Nagai was slain deliberately by Burmese troops as they charged on a crowd of civilians. The government has dispatched the deputy foreign minister to Burma to establish the truth behind Nagai’s death.

Japanese media are hailing Nagai as a heroic crusader for the truth. His elderly mother, who made a brief, tearful statement this afternoon, said that she begged her son not to go to Burma, but Nagai had simply told her that it was his job to go to places nobody else wanted to. “I wept through the night as I thought about my son,” she said, “his job always made me prepared for the worst, but every time he went away my heart would beat fast.”

Nagai’s father said that if his son had indeed been shot dead at point blank range, it was the cruelest way to die.

Japanese television stations today showed a montage of Nagai’s work – mostly video taken during conflicts in the Middle East. His photo-journalism focused heavily on the victims of any conflict he covered.

The largest foreign donor of overseas development aid to Burma, Japan has officially said it will not cut off aid to the military-run nation. But foreign ministry sources today told The Times that its multi-million dollar donations to the country were now under review.

Times Online

September 28, 2007

Parents of slain English teacher frustrated as manhunt grows cold

Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007

British family demands more information on search for Ichihashi

CHIBA (Kyodo) The parents of slain Briton Lindsay Ann Hawker expressed frustration Wednesday, six months to the day since her body was found, that police have not apprehended the lone suspect.

"This man must be caught. We are very frightened that he will offend again," her father, William Hawker, said by telephone from England. He was referring to suspect Tatsuya Ichihashi, 28.

"I am sure that the Japanese police are doing their best," Hawker, 54, said, while urging them to provide the family with more information on the progress of the investigation.

"Initially, we had information coming from the police and we felt that we were more involved with the case," he said. "Now, we only receive a weekly report on what the police have done and where they have searched."

The victim's body was found in a sand-filled bathtub on the balcony of Ichihashi's apartment in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, on March 26. Ichihashi fled from officers who went there after language school Nova Corp., her employer, reported it was unable to contact her.

Apparently frustrated by the lack of police information, the family set up a Web site and has obtained several reports of Ichihashi sightings from Canada, Thailand and other places.

A senior police investigator denied the possibility that he has fled Japan, saying he was put on the wanted list immediately after the murder.

Police have received more than 2,000 reports on him from 45 of the 47 prefectures and sent officers to roughly 20 prefectures so far. But they have developed few concrete clues on his whereabouts.

"It is difficult for us to carry on living a normal life," Hawker's father said. Still, "we don't blame Tokyo. We don't blame Japanese people. She just met an evil person."

Julia Hawker, the victim's 50-year-old mother, said that if Ichihashi is arrested, "it would enable us to remember her with more joy."

Japan Times

Father of dead British woman makes tearful plea

Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:22pm BST

TOKYO (Reuters) - The father of a young British woman whose body was found naked in a bathtub full of sand near Tokyo made a tearful plea on Wednesday for information on a man police are hunting.

English teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, from Brandon, near Coventry, was found dead on Monday in the city of Ichikawa, east of Tokyo.

Police have issued an arrest warrant and launched a nationwide hunt for the Japanese man who lived alone in the apartment where her body was found on the balcony.

William Hawker broke down in tears as he demanded the suspect's capture.

"My daughter was a lovely girl, she would've helped anybody, and it is because she would help anybody she is where she is now," he told a news conference.

Tatsuya Ichihashi, 28, fled when police arrived to question him, losing his shoes and a rucksack he was carrying in a chase, a police spokesman said.

Ichihashi's neighbours told Japanese television they had heard banging noises coming from his apartment at night.

"We are investigating the cause of her death," the spokesman said. "It is unclear at the moment."

The case comes less than a month before a verdict is due in the trial of a wealthy Japanese businessman accused of killing British woman Lucie Blackman, 21, in 2000.

The father of Lucie Blackman, Tim Blackman, told Japanese television: "It's very tragic news.

"Of course we are thinking very much about Tokyo and Lucie's case at the moment."

Police found Blackman's mutilated body buried in a seaside cave near an apartment belonging to the businessman, who has denied the charges against him.

Briton's body found in Japan bath

A woman found buried in sand in a bathtub in Japan has been named by police as 22-year-old missing Briton Lindsay Ann Hawker.

Colleagues identified the body of the English teacher, from Brandon near Coventry, found on a fourth-floor flat balcony in Ichikawa, east of Tokyo.

The cause of death is not yet known but there were bruises on the victim's face, the BBC's Chris Hogg said.

Police are hunting a man who fled the apartment in Chiba prefecture.
Disappearance

The BBC's correspondent said the teacher was reported missing by her flatmates on Monday afternoon after she disappeared from her home on Sunday.

Local media reported that Miss Hawker, who worked at the Koiwa school in Tokyo, had been in Japan for only a few months and was a popular teacher, he added.

They said she had gone to the apartment for the first time on Saturday to give English lessons to 28-year-old Tatsuya Ichihashi.

She had left details of the address at home before she disappeared and police are now trying to locate Mr Ichihashi.

A handbag and a passport thought to belong to the victim were found near the apartment.

The Nova language school in London, which employed Miss Hawker, said in a statement that she had graduated from university last year and had joined its teaching team on 25 October.

"She took her job seriously and put every effort into it. She was trying to get used to Japan. We are very sorry that this has happened," it said.

The school was co-operating fully with the investigation, it added.

George Fisher, the headmaster of King Henry VIII School in Coventry where Miss Hawker was a pupil until 2003, said the staff were very upset by her death.

"I knew Lindsay well, she was a very popular student, and the school and staff are devastated," he said.

BBC News

Tuesday 27, March 2007

Body of British teacher found; man flees scene

03/28/2007

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

ICHIKAWA, Chiba Prefecture--Police are searching for a man who fled while they were searching his apartment here after discovering the body of a missing British woman in a bathtub on the balcony.

Police said Tatsuya Ichihashi, 28, was wanted in connection with the abandonment of the woman's body. While police have yet to confirm the cause of death, they were treating the case as a possible murder Tuesday night.

Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22,　 who lived in Funabashi and worked as an instructor at an English conversation school in Tokyo, had been missing for two days when her body was found Monday night.

Police were informed around 3:30 p.m. Monday by a staff member at Hawker's school in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward that she was missing.

Around 10 p.m. police searched Ichihashi's fourth-floor apartment here and discovered the body buried in sand in a bathtub on the balcony.

The police also found a bag and a card with Hawker's name on it in the apartment.
Ichihashi used to be a student at the school where Hawker taught and was acquainted with her.

He was in the apartment while police conducted their search but still he managed to escape even though officers tried to grab hold of him.

(IHT/Asahi: March 28,2007)

From the Sidelines/ TV Timer: Shows delve into background of suspect in British teacher's death

04/04/2007

Lindsay Ann Hawker was young, out to see the world and by all accounts beautiful. Now, the man who lived at the apartment where her battered and strangled body was found in a sand-filled bathtub remains on the run.

Tatsuya Ichihashi, 28, has been wanted by police since he fled from several officers who arrived at his apartment in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, in search of the missing 22-year-old British teacher.

The TV shows repeatedly showed the apartment with the bathtub sitting on the balcony and speculated what routes Ichihashi, who lost his shoes during his flight from the law, might have taken.

His mug shot and description were repeatedly aired.

The shows also delved into his background and interviewed his former classmates and acquaintances. Ichihashi was captain of a junior high school basketball team and headed a student body in Gifu Prefecture. Eerily, he wrote in an essay that he liked being a peeping tom.

Some remembered Ichihashi as having a quick temper.

Hawker's father, Bill Hawker, held a news conference after his arrival in Japan.

"My daughter didn't come here to be murdered. She came here to help people, she came here to teach," he said. "My daughter was a lovely girl. She would have helped anybody. And it's because she would have helped anybody that she is where she is now."

The father said the family thought Japan would be a safe place for Lindsay to visit.

The TV programs also showed the victim's two sisters talking to reporters in England. The British media are following this case closely.

The incident reminded viewers of another British woman, Lucie Blackman, 21, a former flight attendant, who was working at a nightclub in Tokyo when she went missing in 2000.

Police found her remains the following year in a beachside cave in Kanagawa Prefecture. Joji Obara has been accused of raping and fatally drugging her.

At that time, Japan's safety was also put in doubt.

--The Asahi Shimbun

WHAT WAS ON THE TUBE (MARCH 26-30)

The following are the lengths of time six "wide shows" on four channels in the Tokyo area devoted to certain topics. The programs cover everything from politics to celebrity gossip. The listing is provided by Reservia Corp. http://www.reservia.co.jp/

1. A magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture and surrounding regions. A funeral was held for Kiyomi Miyakoshi, the only fatality in the temblor, amid frequent aftershocks and the misery of the more than 1,000 evacuated to shelters. Roads remain damaged and blocked, while TV shows offer footage of the houses that collapsed. 5 hr, 1 min

2. Hitoshi Ueki, a comedian who gained wide popularity in the 1960s, dies of respiratory failure at a Tokyo hospital at the age of 80. Ueki rose to stardom as member of the Crazy Cats, a comedy troupe led by Hana Hajime, and was also known for his songs, including "Sudara Bushi," with the lyrics, "I know I shouldn't be doing this, but I can't help it." 3 hr, 49 min, 38 sec

3. A British woman's body is found in a sand-filled bathtub on the balcony of an apartment in Chiba Prefecture. The man who lived there escapes when police officers arrived to look for the missing English teacher. Tatsuya Ichihashi was put on the wanted list. 3 hr, 33 min, 32 sec

4. Asian skaters dazzle the audience at the exhibition performance of the World Figure Skating Championships in Tokyo. Miki Ando, 19, winner of the women's gold, skates to a live singing performance and later attempts a quadruple jump, but fails to land it. Still, her smile remains. Mao Asada took the silver and South Korean Kim Yu Na the bronze. 1 hr, 21 min, 1 sec

5. The Tokyo Midtown complex opens at the former site of the Defense Agency in Roppongi. The 10-hectare complex comprises six buildings that house offices, shops, restaurants and a museum. The Ritz Carlton operates on the top floors of the Midtown Tower. That's just what the nation's capital needs. More concrete buildings. 1 hr, 14 min, 35 sec

6. Kyogen performer Izumi Motoya and his scandal-ridden mother, Setsuko, talk to reporters at Haneda Airport on their way to a performance on Ishigakijima island. Setsuko denies reports that fees for the use of a hall on the island have yet to be paid. She also denies other reports, such as accusations she hid income and failed to pay rent. 56 min, 12 sec

7. Yuka Maeda, 43, is arrested over the stabbing death of a female friend, Yuko Suzuki, then 39, in an apartment in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward in March 2005. Maeda had been on the run for two years and used more than 10 aliases. She had been staying with people she met at a public bath- health center in Tokyo, where she was eventually arrested. 51 min, 45 sec

8. Miyazaki Governor Hideo Higashikokubaru is hospitalized for influenza. The busy governor, now a fixture on the wide shows since winning the post in January, falls ill after attending the award ceremony of the Spring Grand Sumo tournament, and cheering for the baseball team of his high school in Miyakonojo that played in a tournament. 41 min, 21 sec

9. Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visit the old city of Kawagoe with visiting Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, and also attend a banquet. The imperial couple takes a rest in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, where they are joined by the family of their second son, Prince Fumihito. Fumihito's son, Prince Hisahito, laughs out loud before the cameras. 34 min, 31 sec

10. Police find human bones in the water at a port in Aioi, Hyogo Prefecture. The discovery was based on testimony by a man on trial for the murder of two women, who said he dumped parts of the victims' bodies at the site in question. Bones had been found in 2005 from a port in Himeji in the same prefecture. The same suspect's words had also led police to that port. 32 min, 19 sec

(IHT/Asahi: April 4,2007)

Woman breaches ancient Japanese tradition

Agence France-Presse
Last updated 03:10pm (Mla time) 09/20/2007

TOKYO -- Sumo's centuries-old tradition of barring women from entering the ring was momentarily breached Thursday after a woman suddenly threw herself onto the mound where the wrestlers fight.

Television footage showed a middle-aged woman in blue jeans and a green T-shirt abruptly climbing onto the elevated mound between matches Wednesday at the autumn grand tournament in Tokyo.

The mound encompasses the circle in which sumo wrestlers fight but the woman -- whose motive was unclear -- was dragged down by a stunned wrestler and others before she could reach the fighting circle.

Although the entire square mound is technically considered the sumo ring, sumo authorities denied the ancient tradition -- which bars women from entering the "sacred" ring -- had been broken.

"She put her foot on the mound and that can never be a desirable incident. Fortunately, however, she did not enter the fighting ring," a spokeswoman at the Japan Sumo Association said.
"We do not consider that she entered the ring," the official said, adding the association had no plans to press charges against her.

But sports tabloids dismissed the association's view and splashed photos of the woman on their front pages.

"They certainly blocked her from entering the fighting ring and there was no hindrance to matches, but nonetheless a 1,400-year history was broken since a woman was on the ring," the Nikkan Sports wrote.

The sumo association has gone to great lengths to preserve the tradition, even rejecting requests by powerful female politicians to present trophies to the winners of tournaments, making them send their male deputies instead.

Sumo is linked to the Shinto faith, whose rituals strictly forbid any contact with blood, such as that shed by women during menstruation and childbirth.

Women, considered to lack purity, were not even allowed to watch sumo until the late 19th century.

The woman who broke into the mound was taken to a nearby police station but later released, reports said.

Her identity and motive were unclear, although the Nikkan Sports said she was holding fliers with messages such as "Help. Evil spirits."