Overview
- The Japan Transport Safety Board’s report found the September 2024 Hisatsu Orange Railway derailment likely occurred as a train passed over consecutively damaged sleepers that widened the rail gauge, with the issue missed during inspections.
- Hisatsu Orange Railway has revised inspection and maintenance standards after investigators noted 41 of 98 nearby sleepers needed replacement or emergency repair.
- EV Motors Japan said President Hiroyuki Sato will resign on February 28 following widespread EV‑bus defects; the firm had reported a November recall of 85 buses after issues were found in 113 of 317 units sold and announced stronger quality controls.
- Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested former metropolitan assembly member Nobuko Irie and two others on suspicion of paying a total of ¥270,000 to five young campaign workers in the February general election, with investigators examining additional payments.
- Relatives of a Taiwanese man who died after falling from a Huis Ten Bosch canal cruiser in April 2023 filed a ¥72 million damages suit on January 29, and an A‑bomb survivors’ group announced an eight‑person delegation to the April–May NPT review conference in New York to present testimony and exhibits.