HKS Drags: Okinawa
OK, after a long wait for the my first racing tournament to come around, on April 27th the HKS Drag Meeting came to Okinawa. First of all, conditions were perfect for it: very few clouds and the sun high in the sky, temps in the mid to high 20s and just a slight breeze to take the edge of the heat. Everyone was hoping for heat as a hotter surface might give slightly better traction on what is otherwise something more akin to an ice rink. Some of you may know that the Nago Circuit only has a 150m track and then about an 80m slowdown area before before you go into the side of a mountain, as someone found out. This is in contrast to most real drag strips, which have 1/4 mile/400m long runs. But there just isn’t anywhere you can do that in Okinawa.
Got there pretty early so I wasn’t rushing and set my car up and watched others arrive. There were some beastly cars coming in, not least one from the mainland (maybe with a Yamaguchi licence plate) with a parachute on the back! My class (6.5-7.0s) was the biggest class, with 15 cars in it. Would show you the car list but I forgot to bring it in to scan this morning - will upload it somewhere on Wednesday. Even in my class there were some mean cars: 4 cars with T88 turbos (those are big powerful things) and one of my friends there with his 500WHP Nissan Skyline. Further down the pitlane was another American (only 4 foreigners entered) in his 900HP Skyline. He was thankfully in another class though. There were 50 cars in total competing in the event - a huge number compared to the last drags.
Hadnott charged by US with rape, other violations
And another update on a previous story, this time the US Marine, Tyrone Hadnott’s alleged rape and its aftermath. Well, since being released by Japanese prosecutors, Hadnott has been charged by the US military with a number of violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). This, from Japan Update:
Marine charged with violations of UCMJ, sent to General Court-Martial
Date Posted: 2008-04-25
Charges have been referred against U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Tyrone L. Hadnott, who has been charged with several violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice in connection with the alleged rape of a 14-year-old Okinawan female on Feb. 10.
As a result of a Marine Corps investigation, 3rd Marine Division Commanding General, Maj. Gen. Robert B. Neller, referred charges against Staff Sgt. Tyrone L. Hadnott to a General Court-Martial on April 21, 2008.
Staff Sgt. Tyrone L. Hadnott has been charged with two violations of Article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including rape of a child under 16 and abusive sexual contact with a child under the age of 16; one violation of Article 107, specifically making a false official statement; and two violations of Article 134, including adultery and kidnapping through inveighing.
The above are merely accusations. The accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty and has the right to a fair and impartial trial.
Court-martial dates have not yet been determined.
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Firstly, I’ve learned a new word today: inveighing! As for what will happen in the court proceedings, we can only wait for news. Will be very interesting though. Interesring that it states he is presumed innocent until proven guilty. The fact of the matter is though, that even if he is found innocent of it all, his life has been royally put through the cleaners and along with it probably all his chances of advancing his career. Will report back on this story when I hear more.
Follow-up: US jeep entering Japanese school
A slight follow-up to yesterday’s story about the US military jeep entering a Japanese school. Well since that horrific event happened I have come into possession of an exclusive image showing the events as they unfolded. Be prepared that this image may be disturbing to some people, and reader discretion is advised…
Bet some of you believed that text above, even just for a second! Thanks to “Doug” for allowing me to use this image which I hope will bring a smile to some of your faces. That’s it for now but take care and I’ll be in touch soon.
I’m baaaaaacccckkkk!
You just can’t keep me down. After a forced absence for over a week, I am happy to report I am back and typing again. I would like to come up with some exciting reasoning for my site being taken down… something like a wrangle with some ultra right-wing nationalists. Unfortunately, the reality is much more boring. The whole deepstop.com site was hacked by someone who obviously had nothing better to do, and the webmaster had a hell of a time recovering it all. But he managed it, so a big thanks going to Andy at www.yorkshire-divers.co.uk for sorting it all out.
First of all, just had an event at work which really takes the proverbial biscuit. Japanese teacher came over and told me the school was making a sign and wanted to know the best way in English to say “No Trespassing!”. Thought this a little strange and asked why they wanted the sign in English (unless, as a school, we want to educate people even through warnings). The reasoning is because of this horrifying event. Apparently a military jeep had the audacity to get lost on Okinawa’s wonderfully signposted roads (if you have been to Okinawa you can imagine the sarcastic tone that was said in). In an attempt to go back in the right direction, the jeep turned into a school parking area and turned around. I can hear you all saying “And…” but that is the end of the story. Jeep turned around and went on its way. It should also be noted that there were no students at the school at the time (although I don’t really think that’s too relevant to the story anyway). So now, apparently all schools are quaking in fear that one of the smog-belching carriages that transport those foreign armed savages around will decide to turn around in their car parks, and are trying to make signs to deter them. Now I don’t know about you, but even if I see a “no trespassing” sign, if I need to turn around and that seems the best place, then I will spend a couple of seconds turning around there. Have seen plenty of Japanese tourists doing that at Japanese and American bases after making a wrong turn. So I told them the translation and they went away very happy. Nice to know the school budget is being spent on things that make a difference!
US Sailor taken to Japanese prosecutors for murder
This is the story that the majority of foreigners in Japan didn’t want to read. The US Sailor who had been arrested for fatally stabbing to death a taxi cab driver in Yokosuka last month has been sent to Japanese prosecutors. This, pretty much, means he is going to be found guilty. As I have mentioned before, Japan has something like a 99% conviction rate if a case goes to prosecutors and to court. This story, once again, comes from Kyodo News:
U.S. sailor sent to prosecutors over taxi driver’s murder
Saturday 5th April, 01:00 PM JST
Police sent a 22-year-old U.S. sailor to prosecutors Saturday over the murder of a taxi driver in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture last month. While Olatunbosun Ugbogu, a Nigerian national, has denied an intention to kill Masaaki Takahashi, 61, police believe the crew member of the 7th Fleet cruiser Cowpens assaulted Takahashi with apparent murderous intent as the stab wound reached the driverfs lung from his shoulder.
Ugbogu has told his lawyer he heard a eevoiceff ordering to him to stab someone and that his victim could have been anybody.
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I am guessing nobody is going to believe a possible plea of temporary insanity? The main question should be: why would he carry an 8″ kitchen knife with him? Was it for self defence or was the attack with pre-meditation and intent? If the latter then he could be looking at a 1st degree manslaughter charge and 25 years eating rice and fish heads in a Japanese cell. If not, it might be 15 years. Regardless, it puts the US military and foreign community in general in Japan under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. This is the time when a couple of American teenagers stealing $40 or so from a taxi-driver can become the biggest crime story on the Japanese news websites (ahead of a Japanese man being arrested for murder). Well if he is guilty then he deserves to have the proverbial book thrown at him.