Lindsay Hawker's family has returned to Japan to try to nudge the investigation into their daughter's murder by Tatsuya Ichihashi.

Although the murderer has not been caught, things have changed since Lucy (Lucie?) Blackman was murdered. In that case, it took a personal plea from Tony Blair to former Prime Minister Koizumi to force the police to get serious about solving the case. Unfortunately, the man accused of killing her avoided conviction in court. Not enough proper evidence said the court. I assume that the police are serious this time especially since Ms. Hawker's form of employment was more...acceptable?

Meanwhile, in a case which has been barely mentioned in the media, Scott Tucker's killer is expected to receive leniency for that homicide in Tokyo.

It was a nice day until

I went to debito.org. There I found an entry on a story that I had read in the Japan Times last week.

It seems that a wealthy U.S. citizen lost his life to homicide in a bar in Tokyo. His killer is reportedly expected to get a light sentence because after a thorough, professional investigation by the Tokyo police, it was discovered that the foreigner was being troublesome.

Now I don't know the true details of the homicide, so I can't really say whether or not the killer deserves a harsh or lenient sentence. Friends of the deceased---both American and Japanese---seemed to be shocked by the whole thing.

But the thing I do wonder about is: Why has this not been all over the TV and in newspapers since it happened? Why was there not endless, sensational, emotional coverage? A cynic might claim that there are double standards here. Perhaps even pure hypocrisy. Perhaps open discrimination. Or it could be because so many non-Japanese are killed by Japanese that it isn't news while a Japanese citizen being killed by a non-Japanese is rare and therefore is news.

Me, I don't know. I am confused. I know non-Japanese are generally the ones at fault in any confrontation. Just watch TV programs or even ads. Or ask someone here. But still....

Oh, the debito.org article is here with the Japan Times reports as well as the victim's (Scott Tucker) hometown newspaper report. Ask around. See how many people are aware of this and then ask why they think that coverage has been so sparse compared to what one could expect had a wealthy Japanese been killed by a non-Japanese. Or by a member of the U.S. military.

Tortured and beaten

Leslie Hawker, the young British woman who was murdered by Tatsuya Ichihashi earlier this year, may have been bound, beaten, and tortured for 1 1/2 days, according to her father:

"Bill Hawker, who lives in central England, told The Times of London it was a "truly sadistic murder.

"It was a horrific murder. There was literally not a square inch of her body that wasn't badly bruised."

The Japanese "police" however, have not found the sleazeball yet. Perhaps they are too busy detaining and questioning British residents of Japan who violate local garbage ordinances.

The full story is at the Japan Times HERE.

TV 4 and gaijin

Kanto area channel 4 did an update on the murder of Lindsay Hawker this morning. The reporter on the case who is sort of a Gerado Rivera-type repeatedly referred to gaijin while occasionally adding the suffix san. This despite the fact that broadcast guidelines supposedly prohibit the use of this derogatory term. There is nothing one can do about this as it simply reflects the mindset of many in Japan. Forget political correctness, racial discrimination itself is still legal in Japan. And look at who has been re-elected as the mayor of Tokyo twice despite being an open bigot/racist.

The police still have not caught Ms. Hawkers killer (Ishihashi).

(The use of the term gaijin, does not, however, make the user a racist. Its use is widespread, even among Japanese who live in other countries who may call the citizens of that country gaijin. Japanese tend not to use it in front of a non-Japanese, and many believe it would be rude to do so. It is so controversial apparently, that Wikipedia has rewritten its page and pretty much eliminated its discussion on the controversy. No citations, they claim. They also cannot find citations that support the fact that Chinese are called Chukokujin. Would not a Japanese-English dictionary suffice?)

Concerning "safe" Japan from a Japanese

I found this in the comments section of an article on this the Hawker's murder:

...I would strongly recommend that you forget the stereotype about Japan and its people. Politicians & law enforcement are seriously corrupted, as in many parts of the world, and you will find a number of things that just do not make sense, including laws. I’m sorry to say this, but laws in Japan are not designed to protect people at all.

I’d like to repeat for those who plan to visit Japan; do your homework, study about the safety-related conditions in modern Japan, and know that God does not protect you from murderers...Full article and full comment here. You can find the full comment under "Ken."

Murder suspect still eluding the "police"

Tatsuya Ichihashi, (Ishihashi?)the suspect in the murder of Lindsay Hawker and who escaped barefoot from the law enforcement professionals as they searched his apartment has not been caught yet. Generally, there seems to be less coverage of this murder of a young British woman than one sees than there is if a foreign person murders (or commits some other violent crime) against a Japanese. Although I have not spent much time watching the government controlled NHK TV, when I have, I have not seen a single mention. I would assume there has been some there. On channel 6 and 10 in Tokyo, there has been coverage, and also on the morning shows. Often this will be in 3-5 minute blocks. I could be wrong, but I get the impression that in the cases of a Japanese victim, there is more that 3-5 minute blocks and NHK does cover it in detail too. (Channel 4 often slips and calls foreign suspects "gaijin" even though this word is not supposed to be used on TV or radio.) But I may be overly sensitive on this and I pay a lot of attention to it.

I have not looked at a Japanese language newspaper to see how it is being covered there, mainly because reading it is so difficult and takes a lot of time to understand. But, if I can find some articles short enough, I will do so to see if some internet rumors I have read are true and to find out exactly how his last name is spelled. I have seen, Ichihachi, Ishihashi, and Ichihashi. I never paid much attention to his name when watching TV. (Japanese newspapers often have two versions of a story, one in English for foreign residents, the other for Japanese. More than just the language used differs.)

I do know that the fine Japanese law enforcement professionals may be considering the possibility that the Japanese murderer may be in disguise. They suspect he may now be wearing shoes again. This could complicate their search.

Tatsuya Ichihashi, murdering punk (alleged)

Photo at right is of Ichihashi, the murder suspect.

He was described as having plucked eyebrows in the style of the co-called chimpira, or ‘little pricks’, young men who affect the style of older yakuza gangsters and indulge in petty crime, and sometimes drug dealing. Police revealed yesterday that Mr Ichihashi had a criminal record for stealing a wallet containing 10,000 yen (44 pounds) in May 2004. (Click for full story in sidebar of the article.)

One other murderer, Hiroshi Maeue, was sentenced to death today for killing three people in 2005.

Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty, insisting he could pose the threat of a repeat offender because he cannot control his sexual urges triggered by seeing a person being strangled and suffering. (Story in The Japan Times)

Wonder if Maeue is a rape and torture manga fan like Ichihashi? And the non-Japanese in Japan are the dangerous ones?!

On a side note, everyone that I know, Japanese and others feel the same way about this guy and this incident---angry, and disgusted. However, I have read on the Internet posting from Japanese who want to claim that the crime increase in Japan, even among the Japanese, is due to western influence. The "pure Japan" crowd--Masahiko Fujiwara et al--will never admit any possible problems in Japanese society that are simply the problems of Japan, not foreign countries or people.

This murder will get a lot of coverage overseas, but there are plenty of murders in Japan that get none outside of the country. Japan is relatively safe, but it ain't some fairy tale land where you can abandon common sense like many seem to believe.