Transcript

Welcome to Japan Daily News on May 10, 2023. Here are today’s headlines:

An earthquake with a magnitude of 4 was observed in Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture at around 7:14 am. There is no concern about a tsunami.

Three former executives of Rakuten Mobile, who were arrested and prosecuted for inflating the commission fees for the construction of mobile phone base stations, are suspected of defrauding approximately 4.9 billion yen by inflating other commission fees. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department plans to re-arrest them on suspicion of fraud.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department plans to re-arrest three executives of a group that was arrested and prosecuted for their involvement in a series of large-scale robbery cases. The police suspect that they were also involved in another fraud case.

According to sources close to the investigation, during a recent robbery at a high-end watch store in Ginza, Tokyo, one of the perpetrators repeatedly said, “It’s still okay. We can do it for another 30 seconds.” The police are investigating the possibility that this person was the ringleader.

A group of researchers from the University of Tokyo and other institutions have announced the results of an experiment showing that the “BA.5” lineage of the Omicron strain, which was prevalent during the eighth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, does not grow well at high temperatures. The results could help explain why the proportion of severe cases caused by the Omicron strain was low.

JR East has revised its earthquake resistance reinforcement plan for nearly 1,000 columns that could cause significant damage, such as the ones that were damaged and caused the derailment of the Tohoku Shinkansen during last year’s earthquake.

A body believed to be that of a 48-year-old woman from Aichi Prefecture who went missing two years ago after staying at a hotel in Tokyo was found in a grove in Akita City. The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the possibility of her being involved in a crime and suspects that several former gang members were involved in the disposal of the body.

Due to heavy rain since May 7, Seven-Eleven Japan, the largest convenience store chain in the country, announced that it has been unable to deliver bento boxes and other products to some stores in Shiga and Kyoto prefectures, causing delays in inventory. And that’s all for today’s news. Thanks for listening to Japan Daily News.