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

Been Real Busy

Things have been busier than usual as of late, but I am enjoying updating my blog more and more. I suppose that's a good thing for the few good folks out there who read it!

Basically, I get home from work every night around 6:00 pm, then I give my awesome little kid his bath and then, if it's my turn, make diner. After dinner I head out for a run. By the time I get back, showered and sorted out, it's about 10:00 pm. I normally try to hit the sack by 11:00 pm at the very latest. It's a pretty tight schedule and doesn't allow much time for video-blogging, reading/responding to comments or even watching the videos of friends.

For the few awesome people who read my blog, you can see why I am so (happily) busy!

here I am with my little guy last weekend. He was looking mighty casual in this particular photo.


Some great friends of my wife gave Kai this really awesome jungle adventure set. He really likes it, but at this point seems more confused than anything when you plop him down under it!


You might have noticed that I added a Daily Mile widget to the side of my blog. That way, you guys can keep track of the silly amount of kilometers I'm logging each week. My running base isn't really back yet, but by October I hope to be putting back at least 70 km a week if not more (if I can find the time).

Now since I showed you guys my little kid in this post (I never plan to have him in a You Tube video...his agent won't allow it), I thought of diapers. I am up to my eyeballs in dirty diapers these days. Apparently, so was a thief in Tokyo:

Diaper-headed Man Robs Convenience Store
A man has been arrested in Tokyo for robbing a convenience store. At the time of the robbery, he was armed with a knife and wearing an adult diaper on his head: watch the video about it on Japan Probe


I also added a few more blogs to my "Must Read Blogs" list on the side of the page. Go check these fine Korea/Japan related blogs.


Oh yeah...

Apparently Autumn is soon approaching here in Japan. I can tell that by the sudden appearance of sweet potato chips on the stands in convenience stores!