
A man (20) who helped a lost and tearful little girl (6) find her way to her grandmother’s distant abode has been arrested for child kidnapping, we hear.
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A schoolboy (15) so hated his cram school that he posted a bomb threat on their website using his PSP, demanding ¥100,000,000 in order to avert catastrophe.
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A court has ordered the employer of a dead live-in janitor to pay ¥4,200,000 in overtime payments to him, for time he spent drinking and indulging in his plamo modelling hobbies. The company did at least get out of paying the other 36 million yen demanded.
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The latest in development in the saga of Lucky Star Shinto took the form of a Lucky Star mikoshi, a portatble shrine hefted by matsuri (festival) goers in a devotional relay at the famous Washinomiya Shrine, lately known mainly as the shrine featured in the title, and the object of considerable attention from fans because of this.
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It seems that a salaryman (48), who used by his own admission at least two months wages in his devotions at famed Lucky Star shrine Washinomiya, is far from alone in such zealous devotion to the new divinities of our age. Still, supporting a shrine may be a marginally preferable use of his funds to playing pachinko, or buying certain OVA at ¥10,000 plus per hour…
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A middle school girl (15) who stabbed to death her father (46) ignited a typical mass media firestorm of finger pointing, when searches of her room turned up copies of the ひぐらしのなく頃に / Higurashi no Naku Koro ni manga (“occult manga”), a notably bloody tale derived from the famous doujin game series, as well as a variety of other suspect titles, such as murder mystery novels.
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Lucky Star twins Kagami and Tsukasa Hiiragi have secured their own festival in commemoration of their birthday (7th of July), and an event on an impressive scale it is too. Naturally enough, the event takes place in 鷲宮町 / Washimiya, Saitama, and the now apparently given over to Lucky Star 鷲宮神社 / Washinomiya Shrine features heavily. Lucky Star Shinto, anyone?
Here is some English commentary on a rather good event report (and plenty of pictures of Lucky Star Shinto, as well as merchandising, in operation):
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“An evil influence came over me”. A man (62), who brazenly put his hand up a high schooler’s skirt and fondled her in the middle of a McDonald’s, was also a former principal, the latest in a string of such crimes perpetrated by school heads.
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A former high school principal (56) who tried to blackmail a former pupil (now in her 20s), with whom he enjoyed sexual relations with, has had his day in court, after arrest for his crimes. He was apparently enraged when the lady refused to restart their carnal relations, and so began a campaign of threats to force her into submission, to which she, to her credit, remained resolute against.
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“They were for me to enjoy myself with”, he laments. A high school teacher has just been arrested on suspicion of violating laws against child prostitution and pornography; his crime? He attempted to arrange some pants and photos thereof from a high schooler, on a pants trading site, a common enough pastime amongst Japanese teachers, it would appear.
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