Japanese killer jailed for life

So yesterday all the front pages of the English news websites had the story of Tatsuya Ichihashi being sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Lindsay Hawker. I'd followed this story quite closely since the gruesome murder happened four years ago; not just because Hawker was an English teacher in Japan like myself, but also because the murder occurred less than ten minute's walk from where I was living at the time, in an anonymous, grey suburb of Tokyo. Given the vast size of the greater Tokyo area this was quite a coincidence. So I watched NHK news last night (NHK is the equivalent of the BBC) and was surprised that there was no mention of the story at all in the one hour broadcast. They did, however, find time for a story about the increasing price of eel, a popoular dish here. The priority they give to news stories here is bizarre to say the least.