High school boy stabbed to death on Kobe street, girlfriend flees to safety

High school boy stabbed to death on Kobe street, girlfriend flees to safety
KOBE -- A male high school student who was talking with a girl was stabbed to death on a street here on Oct. 4, while the girl fled and was unharmed.

Police received an emergency call at around 10:50 p.m. from the girl, who told them a man she didn't recognize had attacked the male student. The boy had wounds from a sharp instrument and was taken to the hospital, but was pronounced dead at around 12:25 a.m. on Oct. 5.

Police said the victim was Shota Tsutsumi, 16, a second-year student at Kobe Koryo Gakuen High School. Tsutsumi and the girl, a 15-year-old who lives near the scene of the attack, were dating.

Fire department officials said the girl told them that while talking with Tsutsumi, a man carrying what looked to be a knife approached, and Tsutsumi told her to run. When the girl returned, Tsutsumi was lying bleeding, with a cut on the neck. The attacker -- a man who looked to be in his 20s or 30s -- fled on foot, the girl said. See original (Mainichi Daily News)

HK court sentences man to 16 months for Kobe watch theft

HONG KONG - A Hong Kong man who pleaded guilty to trafficking eight stolen Rolex watches from a Japanese department store last year was on Thursday sentenced to 16 months in prison by a Hong Kong district court.

Lee Kui-man, 47, was charged with handling stolen goods after he was arrested at a border checkpoint on route to mainland China in January with nine stolen Rolex watches. Eight of the watches were later confirmed to be among those that went missing from the Daimaru Kobe department store in June last year.

‘‘Based on the nature of the offense, I find two years an appropriate starting point’’ for a prison term, Deputy District Judge Gary Lam said. In light of Lee’s guilty plea, the sentence was reduced to 16 months.

The eight watches, carrying a wholesale price worth about HK$500,000 (about $64,300), were among 83 Rolex watches that went missing from the department store’s Rolex counter after a hole was found drilled in the adjacent wall of the counter.

In addition to the Kobe theft, Lee also pleaded guilty to four counts of burglary that happened between 2002 and 2003 in Hong Kong. Read original at Japan Today



Body found on Beppu mountainside identified as missing Kobe nurse
OITA - Police said Monday that DNA testing has revealed the remains of a woman found strangled on a wooded mountainside in Beppu on Sunday are those of Hiromi Yokote, a 28-year-old nurse from Kobe who had been reported missing.

According to police, Yokote, who worked at a hospital in Hyogo Prefecture, told her family she was going on vacation to Kyushu alone. Yokote left her home by car on Aug 28 and her family reported her missing on Sept 1 after they became concerned that they could not contact her. Yokote’s car was found near her body a short distance from Beppu’s famous hot spring resort. Read original at Japan Today

A Sad Day in Ottawa

As many readers of this blog and followers of my video blog know, I have a strong connection to Ottawa, Canada. Although I did not grow up there, I lived there most recently before moving to Japan. I earned my Education degree from the University of Ottawa and really enjoyed my time in the city. I would really like to live there again someday. My wife also enjoyed living in Ottawa and likes it very much as well.

I suppose that is why I want to share some sad news.

Yesterday, one of Ottawa's finest fell in the line of duty. He was the first police officer killed in the line of duty in Ottawa since 1983. What seems like a random attack, Const. Eric Czapnik was ambushed and stabbed to death while writing in his notebook in his patrol car. The incident took place in the parking lot of Ottawa Civic Hospital. A suspect was apprehended while in the midst of the attack by four paramedics at the hospital.



You can read more here at CTV news.

Read more at CBC News.