The Osaka District Court sentenced a 67-year-old man to five years in prison on Oct 29 for treating 169 people without a medical license and for fraud over a fictitious cancer vaccine investment, Kansai TV reported.
Shinichi Harada was charged with practicing medicine at a clinic offering immune therapy for cancer and other illnesses between 2024 and 2025, despite holding no physician's license. He was also accused of taking about ¥30 million from an acquaintance with a fabricated investment story about a cancer vaccine.
Harada admitted the unlicensed treatment during the trial. Prosecutors said he began calling himself a Kyoto University-trained doctor so that women would date him on better terms, Kansai TV reported.
He denied the fraud charge, telling the court the claim was "mostly wrong" and that he had described the money as an investment.
A clinic treating cancer patients
The clinic where Harada worked offered immune therapy, a category of treatment that sits outside standard cancer care in Japan and is not covered by public health insurance. The charge of practicing medicine without a license — a crime under the Medical Practitioners Act — covers diagnosis and treatment by anyone not registered as a physician.
The court did not give a detailed breakdown of the sentence in the immediate reporting. Harada's age and the number of patients were undisputed at trial.
Child's death at a Nara nursery
A 4-year-old boy died this month after choking on frozen jelly at a licensed nursery school in Kashiba, Nara Prefecture, and going into cardiopulmonary arrest, according to the same roundup. The operator of the facility said in a written statement that it takes seriously having caused a grave outcome and offered its deep apologies.
The date of the incident and the boy's name were not given in the reporting.
Power harassment at Shikoku Electric Power Transmission & Distribution
A former employee has described a workplace at Shikoku Electric Power Transmission & Distribution where verbal abuse and having a helmet struck with a stick were routine, in connection with a 19-year-old worker who left a note alleging power harassment — the abuse of a superior's position — and died after a fall. The former employee said the behavior suggests a culture people grew up in and keep repeating.
The company has not commented publicly on the specific allegations in the reporting.
Overtourism at a pampas grass spot
A village known for its silver pampas grass drew visitors equal to 300 times its population, causing traffic jams so severe that residents said leaving home took two hours. Separately, a report on a "marginal" new town built during the bubble years described units that sold for ¥26 million at launch now changing hands for ¥1.13 million, with no hospital or school nearby.