Crime & Courts

NHK Subsidiary Producer Held for Drunkenly Hitting Station Staffer; Initially Fled Scene But has Now Admitted to Charges

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
NHK building in Tokyo

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:43 JST, September 14, 2024

An official with an NHK program production subsidiary was arrested at Shibuya Station on Friday on suspicion of hitting a station staffer in the face, according to police.

According to a senior officer of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Shibuya Police Station, the 62-year-old chief producer of NHK Global Media Services, Inc. based in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, is suspected of having struck the staffer’s face several times at about 10 p.m. on Friday near the statue of Hachiko the dog, outside the ticket gates of JR Shibuya Station. The suspect has admitted to the charges.

According to the officer, the producer was drunk and sleeping in front of the gates and committed the assault when the staffer woke him up. The suspect fled the scene but was caught by station staffers after he boarded a train which was stopping at the station.

“We will verify what happened and deal with the incident strictly,” the company said in a statement.