Three foreigners “allegedly” rob taxi driver in Okinawa
Yes folks, here we go once again! The top crime story on Japan Today, seemingly more important than a man arrested for strangling his wife, more important than a man getting the death penalty for killing 2 of his relatives and more important than 2 women dying in yet another murder-suicide in Japan, police in Okinawa are on the hunt for 3 foreign men who robbed a taxi driver of Y8,000.
3 foreigners rob, assault taxi driver in Okinawa
Three foreign men robbed a taxi driver in Okinawa early Monday morning. The taxi driver, 55, suffered slight head injuries, police said, adding they suspect the trio were U.S. military personnel and have asked U.S. authorities for cooperation.
According to police, the three men hailed the taxi around 12:20 a.m. about 300 meters away from the gate of Kadena base. They pointed to the trunk and told the driver to have a look. When he got out, they punched him. The driver managed to get away, and when he returned to his taxi, he found his money box, containing 8,000 yen, gone.
The driver told police two of the men had Asian features and the third looked African-American. He said they spoke only English.
Police say the driver hesitated to report the incident to them because he didn’t want to get involved in any possible trouble with the U.S. military. But his company called police about 6:45 a.m.
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I will make it clear here that, it is unknown if the people had SOFA status or not. Maybe the police have much more information than they are releasing, but just being near a military base and being a foreigner doesn’t make you SOFA status.
Now, let’s have a quick look at this story. First, it says that 2 of the men had Asian features and the 3rd “looked” African-American. So it could have feasibly been 2 Japanese guys (some of whom can speak English!) and an American/Brit/Australian/South African etc. The only thing that is really confusing about the story is why the taxi driver didn’t report this. I’m sorry but I just don’t buy the “didn’t want to get involved in any possible trouble with the U.S. military” story. I would be more inclined to believe that the driver wanted to finish his shift before doing anything about it. Surely, if you had been assaulted and robbed, the first thing you would do would be to go to police? Or did he radio in to the dispatcher at the taxi company and get told they had to stay out there until they finished their shift. “Time is money”, as the Japanese are very fond of saying.
Anyway, if this crime has occurred then the men in question are absolute idiots. Firstly, for doing something like this when they know the spotlight of Japan is on every foreigner at the moment. And secondly, for robbing a taxi driver who they know only carry a little money at the best of times. If you’re going to do a robbery (which I am not condoning here!), doing it for under a six-figure sum in pounds or dollars is just pathetic.
More on this story as information comes to light.
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he should cut his loses and shut the hell up! taxi drivers have been “robbing” countless GI’s for eons now! with their predatory highway robbery tactics! jeeze, they even get drunk white girls (and in japan everyone who is not japanese might as well be “white” by default definition) in their cars to oogle and they’re complaining! please!