By I wonder how much outrage will be expressed in Japan over this murder of a taxi driver by a soldier in the Japanese military:
A 19-year-old member of Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force was arrested Tuesday for allegedly stabbing a taxi driver to death in Kagoshima Prefecture in southwestern Japan, prefecture police said.
The JGSDF member, whose name was withheld because he is a minor under Japanese law, told police he stabbed the driver early Tuesday morning in Aira, which about 20 minutes from Kagoshima city at the southern edge of Kyushu, a spokesman for Kagoshima Prefecture police said.
Saburo Kamizono, 58, was found bleeding in his taxi after a passer-by reported the vehicle idling at the side of a road, the spokesman said.
A knife was found near the taxi’s driver seat, according to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. [Stars & Stripes]
Maybe some of you who live in Japan and follow the media more closely can answer this question of how the Japanese media is reporting this murder? For example I looked on Kyodo News and it had nothing about the murder, however there was plenty about the US sailor being indicted. Also Mainichi Daily News had nothing on the SDF murder but once again plenty on the indictment of the US sailor. The only Japanese sites I could find that reported the murder was the Japan Times Online which is geared more towards foreigners and Asahi which ran a good article on it as well.
The similarities between this murder and the killing of a Yokosuka cab driver by a US Navy servicemember are eerie. The Japanese soldier was AWOL at the time of the murder just like the US sailor and hailed the cab with the intent of murdering the cab driver just like the US sailor. I actually wonder if the Japanese soldier as strange as this may sound might have been inspired by the Yokosuka murder to do what he did?
So any bets if the Japanese SDF will be hit with curfews, restrictions, and receive extra training about being good citizens? Better yet, who thinks they will be issued liberty cards or be forced to register where they live to protect the surrounding community because one probably mentally disturbed person committed this horrible crime?
8:04 am on April 25th, 2008 1
The story is on the front page of the Japanese Mainichi. I’m sure it is getting extensive coverage in the media.
8:46 am on April 25th, 2008 2
Guest?
9:45 am on April 25th, 2008 3
kimchi2000 gust thats odd i don’t believe there on vacation there
10:55 am on April 25th, 2008 4
hamilton,
so us service men were forced to joined the army? were they tricked into believing that they will be stationed around their hometown?
i do understand that us servicemen are there to protect koreans and japanese from invading force. however, that does not give them any right to abuse the locals and act like they own the country.
11:58 pm on April 24th, 2008 5
rokdrop,
u do realize that the us army is a guest in both korea and japan. a guest should always be respectful to the host. i do understand that they are their to protect japan and korea but it doesnt negate the fact that they the outsider.
6:19 pm on April 25th, 2008 6
There will be no crack down on SDF personnel. It was not even front page news in the Japanese papers. It was shoved out by a guy who committed suicide from a Shinkansen train out of Osaka.
However, when the Atago hit the fishing boat-no one got off the ship for almost 4 weeks. And it was all over the news every day.
2:18 am on April 25th, 2008 7
I'm with Mark, most US personnel are forced to Korea as I was on my first tour.
I do remember a German ADA NCO who killed a young girl drunk driving in El Paso when I was a 2nd LT. People were pissed, at the asshole but not a peep on how bad Germans were or anything else irrational. I think people in the US are a bit better at saying "Wow that guy is a complete scumbag" not "lets kill the X-People". Now someoe insert a comment on an incredibly small unrelated event from Wikpedia please, preferrably on race relations from 20-100years ago.
8:06 pm on April 25th, 2008 8
“however, that does not give them any right to abuse the locals and act like they own the country.”
GI’s think they have the right to abuse people? I have never hear any GI claim that right. Actually I have never heard anybody claim that right, with the exception of Korean men beating their women.
As far as thinking they own the country, I have seen many English teachers act that way, and tourists too, but not to many GI’s. Methinks that Kimchi2000 has been listening to his students too much.
9:47 am on April 26th, 2008 9
To emphasize what other have said, US soldiers stationed in Korea are not guests. They are ordered to Korea. The first time I was stationed in Korea I really didn’t want to go but was forced to go because of orders. Ultimately I was glad I was sent to Korea but that doesn’t change the fact that I was not a guest.
Also if GIs were guests then why aren’t we treated like guests? Instead GIs get screwed over by shady landlords, taxi drivers, merchants, etc. However, the fact that GIs are not guests does not change the fact that they should be on their best behavior because they are part of a disciplined and proud military.
As I have demonstrated over and over again on this site, GIs commit less crime per capita then Koreans and in fact Koreans have murdered and accidentally killed GIs more recently then vice versa:
http://rokdrop.com/2008/02/27/gi-myths-is-the-us-military-crime-rate-in-korea-out-of-control/
The whole abuse the locals and act like they own the country nonsense I have already addressed in this posting as well:
http://rokdrop.com/2008/04/22/south-korean-perceptions-of-the-us-military-presence-in-korea/
7:55 am on April 28th, 2008 10
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6:17 am on April 29th, 2008 11
kimchi2000 nice strawman. No one was forced to join the Army, some are forced to go to Korea against their personal wishes. Sorry you can't see that.