HIROSHIMA -- Prosecutors have decided not to indict an elderly man who was arrested for paving a path across railway tracks in front of his home to make a short cut to his fields.

"He appears to regret what he did, and has expressed his intention to pay for removing the crossing," said an official with the Hiroshima District Public Prosecutors Office.

The 73-year-old man was arrested earlier this month for paving with asphalt an approximately 1-meter-wide, 3-meter-long path crossing the JR Geibi Line in front of his family home in Asakita-ku, Hiroshima, last year and for obstructing safety inspections of the tracks.

The man was supposed to use an approved crossing about 100 meters south of his home. However, claiming it was too far, he had asked the railway operator to build a crossing near his home around 1999. The company turned him down.

Copyright 2005-2006 THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All rights reserved. Mainichi features the best news in Japan, current news in Japan, Japan news in English, Japan business news, Tokyo Japan news, and Japan entertainment news. Mainichi News is syndicated in accordance with editorial regulations: personal and noncommercial purposes.

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Write comment

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment