is a
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an o ...
located in
Abu District,
Yamaguchi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 km2 (2,359 sq mi). Yamaguchi Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture t ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
. The town had a population of 3,372 in 2016.
In April 2022, the town received nationwide attention after it mistakenly transferred its entire
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...
relief budget of 46.3 million yen (c. 358,000 USD) to a resident who subsequently lost the money in online casinos.
History
The town was founded on January 1, 1955.
Geography
Abu is located within the north of the Yamaguchi prefecture and borders the
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...
on the north.
Neighbouring municipalities
*
Hagi
Transportation
Railway
*
JR West
, also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and i ...
**
San'in Main Line
The is a railway line in western Japan, which connects Kyoto and Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It is the major railway line of the San'in region, approximately paralleling the Japan Sea, crossing Kyot ...
:
Utago -
Kiyo -
Nago
Highways
Two national routes passes through Abu, which include Route
191 and
315.
COVID-19 Relief Funds Incident
On April 8, 2022, a municipal official mistakenly transferred Abu's entire COVID-19 relief budget of 46.3 million yen (c. 358,000 USD) to Abu resident Sho Taguchi.
After promising to return the payment, Taguchi spent the money in online casinos.
The incident drew attention from Japan's national news media.
On May 18,
Taguchi was arrested and indicted for
computer fraud
Computer fraud is a cybercrime and the act of using a computer to take or alter electronic data, or to gain unlawful use of a computer or system. In the United States, computer fraud is specifically proscribed by the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, ...
for transferring 42.92 million yen of the 46.3 million yen to three online payment agents, knowing that the payment had been made in error.
On May 24, the mayor of Abu, Norihiko Hanada, announced that almost 43 million yen of the money had been recovered.
On August 1, Taguchi was released on
bail
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required.
In some countrie ...
after paying 2.5 million yen, and commented that he is going to work and gradually pay the money back.
References
External links
Abu official website(in Japanese)
Towns in Yamaguchi Prefecture
{{Yamaguchi-geo-stub