Japan Times : Universes Far Far Away

A small report / video uploaded to the Radar Telescope Soceity of Japan (RTSJ) , an online group / community of space-fanatics and nerds, showcasing a tour of one of the facilities.

The camera sweeps over a small observatory-field: a single 45m Radar Telescope looms in the background in all it's impressive technological grandeur: a marvel of engineering. The telescope itself is angled at the sky. It seems that a small tour group of parents and their children are attending the place: being shown around 

The group is rather subtle, alot of father-and-daughters as well as singles out there to check things out. The group is being shown around, until their eventaully shown the inside of the facility. A curious little girl begins to ask questions, characteristic of Japan's excitable (and valuable) youth!

"What kind of School do we need to go to to do this?"

"How does it work?"

"Could you send Aliens Gegege no Kitaro if you wanted to?" 

The girl's questions are answered sequentially, she seems very passionate about the subject and seems interested about entering the field later in life. On the last question, she's redirected to a different facility.

Japan Times : Suicide rates on the rise!

A newsreporter is reading out their daily notice, weather, what not, before it reaches a interesting part. She looks at the script a little uncomfortable before reading

"Parents, be warned, it seems like suicide rates are on the rise amongst teenagers. Recently, we have had a string of suicide, 7 in a week, about 1 day. This may be due to increased bullying and fear of these "contractors" but we have no proof as of yet"

The film flips through a interview with a pair of parents who seem broken. The mom eyes are swollen and she looks miserable while the dad on the otherhand looks like he hasn't eaten anything in days. His cheek are sunken in while those looking at his eyes see obvious despair.

With a weak and dry voice, the dad speaks of his experience

"there was no sign at all, he was always so optimistic and happy. Loving and caring for others, but one day, he came home looking exhausted, we thought it was just school but later that night, we found him..."

The mom starts bursting into tears again as the dad struggles to speak, yet holding his voice stable

"he... was hanging from the ceiling, a note was found on the table near his body with apologies before stating that something was calling out to him for a chance to relax, a chance away from it all. He showed no sign of wanting to kill himself before at all, maybe we just weren't good enough parents..."

The mom and dad starts breaking down on the spot before the camera cut with the reporter who is also in tears. Nevertheless, she holds on and finishes the report as well as the daily news before the ads take over.

Social Media - "Blue Rocker!"

Those tuned in to Twitter, Tiktok, and other formats of Social Media would be surprised to find a video, or rather numerous videos, circulating around the web. The videos appear to depict from different angles a subway station scene: a woman and a few others engaged in a violent fight against a ruffled salaryman, the particular individual that stands out is a woman with blue hair and "Punk Style" clothes who seems particularly violent during the altercation. As the fight continutes and the POVs get farther away, strange canisters begin to drop out of the man's inner-suit-pockets and bag as screams are heard, and the video cuts out.

Though the videos have not yet gained viral traction, they are beginning to make the rounds. A majority of the woman's supporters and followers online appear to be the inspired youth who have begun to refer to and dub as the "Blue Rocker!" 

Japan Times : Protest and Proclamations in Ueno Park

The Camera pans into Ueno Park, a large group of individuals dressed in what looks to be old-style military uniforms of the Old Empire: bearing the haunting colors of light greenish-yellow and red, and flying flags of a raycast red sun amongst a disrupted white tranquil banner: its a flag many recognize but not so many claim.

Onlookers pass by, many ignore the scene thats presented ahead of them but some stop to listen, some stop to record, but many just pass by and tell their kids to look away.

An elderly man bearing a similar, yet different, uniform topped off by a peaked cap-and-stars steps up to the middle of the group: as the group forms a sort of semi-circle formation around him: presenting their arms into salutes. They appear to wait for him to gather his thoughts before the flags rise, and he makes a statement.

"We grow soft! Our allies overseas have begun to crack under the pressure! Thousands dead, Buildings blown to pieces! Not by guns, but by "Contactors". They are terrible, they are vile, they are evil! Our country is weak, Our country has grown weak! Once, our nation burned in the sky like the sun: intense and powerful, and now our nation falls to the sea: dwindling as we burn ourselves out year by year..."

The man begins a coughing fit, as he struggles to regain his breathe and continute his little speech. His tone during the entire speech is remarkably powerful, as powerful as an old man can muster, one of his subordinates helps him out. Remarkably, his subordinates all look either middle-aged, or on the younger adult side, uncharacteristic of soldiers of the old empire.

"We have grown weak... America is much much stronger than us now! They've domesticated us, they've forced us to lay down like a dog! How many US Bases are in Japan, how much have we allowed them to get away with? They use our great nation like a gas station: we are one big base for them! If even America, that bastard nation that dropped the sun on us all those years ago, loses so many to these "Contractors", how will Japan fare! We cannot let the Americans take away what power we do have, We have gathered here to call for a return to tradition! Reject and revert Mejii, Close the country, kick the foreigners out!"

The flag-bearers quickly wave the flags and stand them up, taking a ready position immediately as they stamp their flag into the soil of the path. A standing performance of fist-beats to the heart, as the Old Officer continutes to rant and rave about his disappointment in how Japan's gotten, and about how the country suffers at the hands of foreigners, and how things were so much better back then. 

Though a good majority of people at this point begin to move away and walk off, some of them stand and listen: even throughout the day. Worryingly, some people even begin to take up offered uniforms: and assist the demonstration as it goes on throughout the day. The Video eventaully cuts out as after a few hours the group packs up and leaves to presumably a parking lot ora  station, leaving nothing but a gathered crowd of spectators and a calm pond behind them.

Japan Times : TMPD reports a worrying rise in disappearances, primarily amongst young women.

The Following is an Article lifted from an online publication of the Japan Times: a long-running daily newspaper headquarted in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo.

Crime

A recent rjse in disappearances amongst young women presents a worrying concern: is Crime returning to Tokyo?

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The average rate of which people go missing across the country comes out to 80,000 missing people every year: this statistic is reported straight from the National Police Agency (NPA). Despite such a number sounding alarmly high, a huge majority of this number comes from Johatsu: people who have decided to simply up and abandon daily life, people who go off the grid or flee the country, undoubtably only a small amount of these people go missing against their will. The other huge majority results from illnesses such as Dementia, and other memory-related conditions.

Recently though, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department have presented a worrying rise in disappearances; primarily amongst young women. We have been asked not to report the exact numbers, however the rate of which disappearances have increased in Tokyo, especially amongst younger women aged 16 - 22, has skyrocketed upwards to a rate of 500% during these last three months. 

Such a rate has never been seen in Tokyo, much less Japan, not since the older eras where crime was much more prevalent: the TMPD wishes to assure the public that such a rise in crime is no doubt a result of pure chance: simply a byproduct of unfortunate timing and merely a passing trend. The search for these women continutes, and its asked that if anyone has any information on any recent disappearances that they visit their local police station.

Regardless, this rise seems to point some to a more worrying notion. With recent events, and certain incidents overseas, many seem to worry that crime may be coming to Tokyo. The TMPD as well as the Public Security Bureau (PSB) have asked us to assure you all that things are under control.

The Article continutes on to talk about other less notable crime statistics, the only outlying statistic outlined in the Article is the spike in missing women, aged 16-22, localized to Tokyo. Other articles listed below include an article on the Search for Lawyer Igarashi Hotaka, as well as a few articles about recent sightings of the supernatural. 

Latest News in Shinjuku, 6 bodies found, wanted man Uwabe found as a corpse with 5 other bodies!

A newsreporter stand in front of the camera, there seems to be a bit of a commotion in the background. 

"This is Morita Hiroshi speaking, today, there was a commotion within the streets of shinjuku along this alley. The residents came out to 6 bodies total. 4 of which appears to be priests, 1 is a engineer, and lastly is Uwabe mikoto, a man suspected to be involved in multiple kidnapping and disappearance. The residents report of cussing and music being played late at night, around approximately midnight to 1 am. Before it goes silent and some yelling is heard. Many of the residents went out to see what the commotion was about and they came out to a bunch of corpses that appear to have been murdered.The 4 priest has been identified as workers of a nearby shinto shrine. Their death is regretful and there is a tad bit of fear amongst the residences, especially so near a ministry of defense, the surrounding area is now to be placed on higher level of security for now until the government has found the cause of this chaos. There are reports of a young child and a older lady that were here before disappearing but no proof nor proper description has managed to come out as of this time."

The camera pans away and shows an image of the 6 people that are dead. There is family in the background that appears to be crying and are related to the priest.

About a week pass before another news is released.

"Deceased suspect, Uwabe Mikoto, has been found guilty of multiple kidnapping of highschool and college student girls as well as sexual assault on them, finding the girls within his staying place. it is unfortunate what has happened to them, but now that they are free, we hope they will be able to recover from this incident. The best wishes to such girls."

Kyodo News - An Attack on "Anti-Yakuza" lawyer Igarashi Hotaka, Yakuza Activity "Returning"

The Camera Crew pans in on what looks to be an average-looking middleaged somewhat well-dressed yet somewhat roughed-up man inside some sort of office-building. He's flanked by a team of officers and guards who seem to have him under some sort of protective custody, the crew puts up a microphone for the man and he begins to speak in a solemn somewhat shaken vocal tone.

"My name is Igarashi Hotaka, you might all know me as the "Against Yakuza" criminal offense lawyer, and prominent "Underbelly" journalist in my youth. In my time in this line of work I've put away a great deal of the Yamaguchi-gumi Crime Syndicate, and I've undoubtably dug up some things that have gotten me in trouble. Today it's all come to a head, as an attempt on my life was made by a Yakuza Assassian while I was commuting to work along the Minatomirai line, I was rescued and kept safe by two individuals who will remain discreet for their own sakes. Let it be known, that if anything happens to me in the next few months that cannot be explained that the culprit is obivous: and that Yakuza activity is once again returning to plauge our great nation." 

Hotaka then shoos the mic out of his face, as his team of guards and officers pushes the camera crew out. A man typical salaryman clothes is seen whizzing by, a motorcycle helmet obscuring his entire face and head, and a guitar-case firmly strapped to his back. The camera crew anchorman gives a final statement to the footage, briefly recounting what has just happened, before the footage cuts out.

Two weeks later, Igarashi Hotaka has been pronounced a missing person. He was last seen in his home under protective custody, the Public Report is that a cyberattack had occured and swapped out all the Officers' schedules, and that all the CCTV and monitoring software as well as his alarms system were tempoarily disabled and scrubbed clean. The search for Igarashi Hotaka is ongoing, and its asked of anyone with relevant information that they visit their local Police station and/or dial and call 110.