Ennosuke Ichikawa detained after both parents found unconscious at his Tokyo home last month

One of Japan’s best-known kabuki actors has been arrested on suspicion of assisting in his mother’s suicide after both parents were found unconscious at his home last month.

Police said Ennosuke Ichikawa, a 47-year-old star of the classical theatre form, “allegedly made a 75-year-old woman take sleep-inducing pills at his home and die of psychoactive drug addiction, thereby assisting in her suicide”.

Between 1948 and 1996, about 16,500 people were operated on without their consent under a eugenics law, triggering long campaign for redress

Campaigners in Japan have reacted angrily to a government report revealing that children as young as nine were among thousands of people who were forcibly sterilised under a eugenics law that was not repealed until the 1990s.

The 1,400-page report, submitted to parliament this week, details how, between 1948 and 1996, about 16,500 people were operated on without their consent under the law, which aimed to “prevent the birth of poor-quality descendants … and to protect the life and health of the mother”. Most of the victims were women.

Suspect charged with attempted murder after incident at military training ground

An 18-year-old military recruit has been detained after he shot and killed two fellow soldiers and wounded a third at a training range in central Japan.

“During a live-bullet exercise as part of new personnel training, one Self-Defense Force candidate fired at three personnel,” the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) said in a statement.

Sushiro says business badly damaged by video of teenager licking soy sauce bottle and wiping saliva on passing food

A sushi chain in Japan is seeking ¥67m (£383,280) in damages from a diner who filmed himself licking a soy sauce bottle and wiping saliva on a slice of fish at one of its restaurants, part of a wave of “sushi terrorism” that scandalised the country’s budget food industry.

Sushiro, Japan’s biggest operator of revolving sushi restaurants, filed the suit with a court in Osaka, according to the Kyodo news agency, arguing that it had suffered financial losses after the incident triggered public fears over food hygiene.

Survivors want talent firm Johnny & Associates to fully investigate sexual abuse allegations against late founder

Pressure is building on one of Japan’s most powerful talent agencies to address allegations of sexual abuse by its founder, Johnny Kitagawa, as survivors and celebrities call for a public reckoning.

Kitagawa, who died in 2019 aged 87, has been accused of sexually assaulting multiple boys, but it is claimed he evaded justice because his victims knew that speaking out would ruin their careers.

Police say two people were fatally stabbed and two police officers who came to investigate were shot dead

Japanese police have detained a suspect who had been holed up in a building after allegedly killing four people including two police officers in a gun and knife attack, an official said.

The man was taken into custody outside the farm property near the city of Nakano in Nagano region, with police confirming a fourth fatality overnight – an elderly woman who was found injured at the scene and later pronounced dead.