Comments on: Police procedures in Blackman case severely flawed (Japan Times) http://soldave.thedeepstop.com/2007/04/30/police-procedures-in-blackmam-case-severely-flawed-japan-times/ Scuba diving in Okinawa, and all things to do with Japan Tue, 2 Dec 2008 18:47:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Guy at the airport http://soldave.thedeepstop.com/2007/04/30/police-procedures-in-blackmam-case-severely-flawed-japan-times/#comment-2416 Guy at the airport Sat, 05 May 2007 13:27:19 +0000 http://soldave.thedeepstop.com/2007/04/30/police-procedures-in-blackmam-case-severely-flawed-japan-times/#comment-2416 Hi Dave, Interesting comments. Sorry about spelling Gaijin wrong, but what can one expect from a hentai (just joking!). Similar things happen in Thailand, in general it's the fault of the Farang (the Foreigner), since if he wouldn't have been there, the accident wouldn't have happened in the first place. The list continues, but I guess it's slightly better in places like Samui, Phuket or Pattaya were a lot of foreigners live. Thais are xenophobic to a degree but not necessarily in a public way. The right wing movement is disturbing and I've been reading about it previosuly. It obviously doesn't help that the government is right wing. Hi Dave,

Interesting comments. Sorry about spelling Gaijin wrong, but what can one expect from a hentai (just joking!).

Similar things happen in Thailand, in general it’s the fault of the Farang (the Foreigner), since if he wouldn’t have been there, the accident wouldn’t have happened in the first place. The list continues, but I guess it’s slightly better in places like Samui, Phuket or Pattaya were a lot of foreigners live.

Thais are xenophobic to a degree but not necessarily in a public way.

The right wing movement is disturbing and I’ve been reading about it previosuly. It obviously doesn’t help that the government is right wing.

]]> By: soldave http://soldave.thedeepstop.com/2007/04/30/police-procedures-in-blackmam-case-severely-flawed-japan-times/#comment-2415 soldave Sat, 05 May 2007 10:25:43 +0000 http://soldave.thedeepstop.com/2007/04/30/police-procedures-in-blackmam-case-severely-flawed-japan-times/#comment-2415 Good couple of questions. It most certainly does matter if the suspect of a crime is a foreigner (gaijin), as opposed to a Japanese person. If this crime had been a foreigner who had murdered a Japanese girl in this way, there would be hourly bulletins and a huge police interest in the case. This, like the most recent case, has been treated with very little urgency. Especially in Okinawa, if it is a military person accused of a crime there is a big media interest. The thing is though that Japanese are committing the same crimes and getting no coverage of it at all. I have heard from a very reliable source who was at the scene of a road accident between a Japanese guy who had hit an American military plated car. This guy was staggering around but the police were giving him bottles of water to drink before they gave him a breathalyser test. Believe me, the same courtesy would not be afforded to foreigners. I think the Japanese <i>can</i> be very xenophobic. In Okinawa it is not so bad as most people are used to the foreigner presence here and accept it. Most younger Okinawans realise that they need the military here to support the economy: without them there would be an even higher unemployment rate here. But the old Japanese guys don't like foreigners (and especially military) too much. From what little experience I've had in the mainland, I would probably say it is worse. I've been pushed out of the way on a train and called a "stupid foreigner" in Japanese (replying in Japanese really annoys them!), and there are many bars in Tokyo and in the other cities which specifically state (no foreigners). One thing that is a big factor here are the ultra right-wing nationalists (called <i>oyoku</I> in Japanese). They go round in black buses, decorated with gold letters & with both Japanese flags on the back (the current one and the old imperialistic one). The buses are driven by guys in camouflage usually and blast out nationalistic music. They are very anti-foreigner and believe (I think) in Japan expanding its empire again and all that kind of stuff. I've heard of these buses passing mixed-race couples (Japanese girl/foreign guy) and the girl having insults shouted at her from the bus. When one of those pass, I just usually keep my head down. And the reason that nothing is done about these is that the government is pretty right-wing and condones them completely. Good couple of questions. It most certainly does matter if the suspect of a crime is a foreigner (gaijin), as opposed to a Japanese person. If this crime had been a foreigner who had murdered a Japanese girl in this way, there would be hourly bulletins and a huge police interest in the case. This, like the most recent case, has been treated with very little urgency. Especially in Okinawa, if it is a military person accused of a crime there is a big media interest. The thing is though that Japanese are committing the same crimes and getting no coverage of it at all. I have heard from a very reliable source who was at the scene of a road accident between a Japanese guy who had hit an American military plated car. This guy was staggering around but the police were giving him bottles of water to drink before they gave him a breathalyser test. Believe me, the same courtesy would not be afforded to foreigners.

I think the Japanese can be very xenophobic. In Okinawa it is not so bad as most people are used to the foreigner presence here and accept it. Most younger Okinawans realise that they need the military here to support the economy: without them there would be an even higher unemployment rate here. But the old Japanese guys don’t like foreigners (and especially military) too much. From what little experience I’ve had in the mainland, I would probably say it is worse. I’ve been pushed out of the way on a train and called a “stupid foreigner” in Japanese (replying in Japanese really annoys them!), and there are many bars in Tokyo and in the other cities which specifically state (no foreigners). One thing that is a big factor here are the ultra right-wing nationalists (called oyoku in Japanese). They go round in black buses, decorated with gold letters & with both Japanese flags on the back (the current one and the old imperialistic one). The buses are driven by guys in camouflage usually and blast out nationalistic music. They are very anti-foreigner and believe (I think) in Japan expanding its empire again and all that kind of stuff. I’ve heard of these buses passing mixed-race couples (Japanese girl/foreign guy) and the girl having insults shouted at her from the bus. When one of those pass, I just usually keep my head down. And the reason that nothing is done about these is that the government is pretty right-wing and condones them completely.

]]> By: Guy at the airport http://soldave.thedeepstop.com/2007/04/30/police-procedures-in-blackmam-case-severely-flawed-japan-times/#comment-2401 Guy at the airport Fri, 04 May 2007 11:46:57 +0000 http://soldave.thedeepstop.com/2007/04/30/police-procedures-in-blackmam-case-severely-flawed-japan-times/#comment-2401 Dave, What do you think is the average view /opinion of the Japanese of the Ganji? How much does it matter if a Ganji is involved in a case, either as victim or suspect compared to a Japanese person? Are japanese xenophobic in your point of view? I wonder how you view this so I can compare them with my experiences and observations in Thailand. Dave,

What do you think is the average view /opinion of the Japanese of the Ganji? How much does it matter if a Ganji is involved in a case, either as victim or suspect compared to a Japanese person?

Are japanese xenophobic in your point of view?

I wonder how you view this so I can compare them with my experiences and observations in Thailand.

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