Tokyo police have arrested a man after finding "multiple" dismembered bodies in coolers in his apartment in a city southwest of the capital.
The 27-year-old suspect, Takahiro Shiraishi, confessed to cutting up the bodies and hiding them in cold-storage cases, covered with cat litter, a police spokesman said Tuesday.
Investigators found the bodies while searching for a 23-year-old woman who had disappeared, the spokesman said. He did not give his name, in line with police policy.
The national broadcaster NHK and other media said police believed the bodies of eight women and one man were hidden in the apartment. The missing woman is thought to be one of them.
They said the woman had contacted the man via social media seeking someone for a suicide pact.
Local media said police first found the severed heads of two victims in coolers in the apartment's entryway. The reports cited the man's neighbors as saying they had notice foul smells near the apartment.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is meeting with another foreign leader while he's in New York for his criminal hush money trial.
The presumptive GOP nominee will host former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, one of the country's most influential politicians, at Trump Tower on Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been formally announced.
Aso is just the latest foreign leader to spend time with Trump in recent weeks as U.S. allies prepare for the possibility that he could win back the White House this November.
“Leaders from around the world know that with President Trump we had a safer, more peaceful world,” said Trump spokesperson Brian Hughes in a statement. “Meetings and calls from world leaders reflect the recognition of what we already know here at home. Joe Biden is weak, and when President Trump is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, the world will be more secure and America will be more prosperous.”
Trump met last week with Polish President Andrzej Duda at Trump Tower and also met recently with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Trump was close with Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese prime minister who was assassinated in 2022 and their relationship underscored the premium Trump puts on personal ties when it comes to foreign affairs.
Aso, 83, served as deputy prime minister and finance minister under Abe and is now vice president of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party and considered a kingmaker in the country. His trip comes amid growing concern in Japan over the impact of a possible Trump victory on the country's trade relations and security ties with the U.S.
Trump has threatened to impose broad new tariffs if he wins a second term and has generally approached international agreements with skepticism.
Early Tuesday morning, Trump complained about the U.S. dollar reaching a new high against the Japanese yen, calling it “a total disaster for the United States.”
“When I was President, I spent a good deal of time telling Japan and China, in particular, you can’t do that,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “It sounds good to stupid people, but it is a disaster for our manufacturers and others.”
The U.S. dollar is trading at above 150 yen recently, up from 130-yen mark a year ago, which has made it more costly for Japan to import goods but has boosted exports.
Aso visited the U.S. in January, when he met with Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee who served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan when Trump was in the White House.
On Tuesday, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa declined to comment on Aso’s trip, saying “the government is not involved and it’s his personal activity” as a lawmaker.
President Joe Biden hosted current Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House for talks and a state dinner earlier this month. During the visit, the leaders announced plans to upgrade U.S.-Japan military relations, with both sides looking to tighten cooperation amid concerns about North Korea’s nuclear program and China’s increasing military assertiveness in the Pacific.
Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report from Tokyo.
Former president Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower on his way to Manhattan criminal court, Monday, April 22, 2024, in New York. Opening statements in Donald Trump's historic hush money trial are set to begin. Trump is accused of falsifying internal business records as part of an alleged scheme to bury stories he thought might hurt his presidential campaign in 2016. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
FILE - Then Prime Minister Taro Aso of Japan speaks with reporters during a news conference at the end of the financial summit in Washington, Nov. 15, 2008. Former President Donald Trump is meeting with another foreign leader while he’s in New York for his criminal hush money trial. The presumptive GOP nominee will host former Japanese prime minister Taro Aso at Trump Tower Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the plans. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
