Man passed out in street gets run over
Well, those of you who know Japan know this story had to come from one of only two possible areas in Japan. This time it is not my home prefecture of Okinawa, but Saitama, near Tokyo. The story in full:
Man lying on Saitama street killed in hit-and-run
Thursday 15th May, 02:40 PM JST
SAITAMA — A man died after being hit by a car on a street in Saitama on Thursday morning, police said. According to a witness, the man, identified as Soichiro Utsunomiya, 30, was hit by a white van while he was lying on the street around 2:25 a.m. He was taken to hospital but died from head injuries about one hour later, police said.
According to police, a woman passer-by noticed Utsunomiya sleeping on the street, with his head on the pavement. As she was calling police at a convenience store nearby, she saw the van run over the man and stop. She told police that the driver got out of the van, but got back in again and drove off.
Police said the victim was seen shopping at a nearby supermarket and was drunk, according to witnesses.
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First of all, he wasn’t lying in the street. he was passed out paraletic in the street from alcohol. Whether it was alcohol purchased from the supermarket or at an izakaya (drinking establishment)/snack bar. First of all, not good at all that the guy drove away, especially as it seems he got out and realised what he had done.
I raise this story though as the same thing nearly happened to me a while back. It was when I had my old car and I was driving home to my village one night one the back roads. Turned round a blind corner and there, straddled across the centreline was a guy just lying there. I swerved and braked sharply and just managed to miss him. Stopped the car and got out to make sure he wasn’t injured. As I approached him slowly I could smell awamori (the local fire-water) on him and realised he was just completely hammered. He saw me and slurred a little (most likely something similar to, “Go home!”), and once I realised he wasn’t injured I got back into the car and drove away. Some may ask why I didn’t remove him from the road but to be honest that’s something I don’t want to get involved in. Another car goes by and sees a foreigner pulling an Okinawan guy to the side of the road; next thing you’ve got helicopters out, hundreds of police officers an you’re getting questioned like you’ve done something wrong.
All I’ll say is that I’m glad I didn’t come across him while taking that same corner in my Evo. My car’s low and he might have damaged the underside of it as I’d gone over him!
Japanese teens arrested for killing swans
This blog is not going to just become a list of crimes that occur in Japan, but I have just read this story which was shocking and worth reporting to others.
Two teenagers detained over killing 8 swans in Ibaraki lake
Thursday 15th May, 10:17 AM JST
Police on Wednesday detained two teenagers for killing eight swans at a park lake in Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture, on April 28. According to police, the two boys, aged 15 and 13, beat the swans to death with wooden sticks at the park from 1 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. on April 28.
The 15-year-old boy was sent to prosecutors, while the 13-year-old boy - who cannot be prosecuted because he is too young - was sent to a child consultation center.
The two were quoted by police as saying, gIt was fun to kill the swans, especially when they tried to swim away.h
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Now is it just me, or is anyone else a little disturbed that these kids will be out of their “consultation center” in no time at all? Are they gonna get bored again and look for more fun. Maybe other animals or people will be even more fun when they try to get away from being killed. What the kids were doing out between 1:00 and 2:30 in the morning is another matter (I know the following day was a Japanese public holiday but even so…). Is it right to question what kind of family background they came from? Maybe the kids came from warm families whose parents had all the time in the world for them, but the kids just had this evil streak in them. Maybe (as happens in many Japanese families), the kids grew up hardly seeing their father due to long working hours & the attraction of snack and hostess bars, they were spoilt by their mother who never saw them do wrong, and so when they hit their teens they thought they could do anything they like to anything/anyone they like. Who knows.