This photo shows The Hokkaido Shimbun Press building in Sapporo's Chuo Ward. (Mainichi/Nozomi Genma)

       ASAHIKAWA, Hokkaido -- A reporter at the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper was arrested June 22 on suspicion of unlawfully entering the Asahikawa Medical University campus in this north Japan city to cover a story about the university president's removal from office.

       Hokkaido Prefectural Police's Asahikawa Higashi Police Station arrested the 22-year-old reporter, who belongs to the Hokkaido Shimbun's Asahikawa branch and lives in the city.

       According to the police station, the female reporter was found on the university grounds at around 4:30 p.m. by a university employee and was arrested on the spot. She was covering a selection committee meeting on the removal of the university's president, which was ongoing at the time. Police quoted her as saying, "I was looking for the meeting room."

       The university had sent a fax message to media organizations at around 3:50 p.m. on the same day, saying that it was restricting outsiders, including reporters, from entering the university's premises in principle as a measure to prevent coronavirus infections until around 6 p.m., when officials would respond to reporters.

       Masaki Sato of the Hokkaido Shimbun's editorial department general affairs office commented: "It is regrettable that our reporter was arrested. We will check how this happened and other details and will explain the situation to our readers."

       (Japanese original by Nobuaki Tsuchiya, Asahikawa Bureau; and Nozomi Genma, Hokkaido News Department)

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