Blogs

TV news is reporting that Ichihashi has been caught in Osaka. According to the Asahi shimbun, Ichihashi was taken into custody by the Osaka Police after being spotted while trying to board a ferry in Suminoe-ku.

Asahi article

千葉県市川市で０７年３月、英会話講師の英国人女性リンゼイ・アン・ホーカーさん（当時２２）の遺体が見つかった事件で、市橋達也容疑者（３０）＝死体遺棄容疑で指名手配＝と見られる男の身柄が大阪市内で確保された。

大阪府警によると、発見場所は同市住之江区にある南港のフェリー乗り場付近。通行人から「似た男がいる」と通報があったという。同署員が駆けつけ、職務質問したところ市橋容疑者であることを認めたため、身柄を確保したという。住之江署で指紋の照合作業をしている。

The man is determined not to be found:

Police on Thursday released a new photo of Tatsuya Ichihashi, the suspect in the slaying of a British woman in 2007, that was taken last month at a Nagoya clinic before he underwent cosmetic surgery there but after he apparently had had at least one face-lift elsewhere.

For the past while, I've been seeing reports on TV and in the newspapers about the danger of hybrid vehicles being too quiet when running on battery power at low speeds. last month:

Let's start an open thread for kicks. I won't call it an End of GEOS thread, but if you have have something to add, comment on it here.

noticed an update to the GEOS Wikipedia page that was quickly removed:

The latest development in the dirty undertaking of dispatch teaching:

A labor union of foreign workers requested Monday that the Aichi prefectural board of education address the concerns of English-language instructors at public schools who they say are working under illegal contracts.

A quick blurb in the newspaper, the Mainichi reports that the three men arrested on suspicion of confining Sahashi in his hotel room have been released.

Apparently the police don't have much of a case on them. At any rate, the thugs caught with Sahashi are probably thinking, "Mission accomplished." They delivered their message.

The Japan Times ran a couple of articles last week on the coming changes in health insurance for foreigners in Japan.

As you are probably already aware, starting next April, you will have to show proof of enrollment in shakai hoken (SH) or kokumin kenko hoken (KKH) when you apply to renew your visa. Jenny Uechi reminds us of the law:

According to the Yomiuri shimbun, Nozomu Sahsahi, NOVA's disgraced and convicted ex-president, was confined in his hotel room for three days by gangsters. The police have arrested two men, one who is a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi syndicate, in connection with the incident.

Old news is fun! The Japan Times reports on Yano Research's survey on the foreign language learning market in Japan, which I wrote about this at the beginning of August and touched on again earlier this month. The only difference with today's article is that the JT spoke with somebody at GEOS.