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Police in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, have arrested a 19-year-old male on suspicion of assault after he allegedly beat up a man at a convenience store on Wednesday.
According to police, the suspect, who cannot be named because he is a minor, assaulted his victim for about 15 minutes from 3:20 a.m. at the store in Saiwai Ward, Sankei Shimbun reported.
Police said he hit the victim, a 20-year-old company employee, in the face and knee inside the store and outside in the parking lot. The victim sustained facial injuries and several bruises.
The two men were not acquainted. Before the incident occurred, the company employee was in his car waiting at a traffic light when the suspect pulled up beside him in his vehicle in the next lane. The suspect then leaned out of his window and asked the man to lend him a lighter, which he threw at him.
Later, when the victim parked his vehicle and entered the convenience store, the suspect followed him inside and yelled, “Are you messing with me?” That’s when the trouble started, according to a store employee who called police.
Police said the suspected appeared to be intoxicated when he was apprehended.
© Japan Today
26 Comments
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WilliB
Who threw the lighter at who? I dont get it.
Dr Maybe
18 year olds can vote now, so calling him a "minor" at 19, and withholding his name, doesn't make sense. Name and shame the little ....
Vince Black
sounds like a little punk to me
Do the hustle
So, will he also be charged with underaged drinking and drunk driving? Or, will those offenses be ignored for the assault charge?
Jeniffer
This is so unreasonable...
The suspect is just out of his mind.
rgcivilian1
The streets are dirty and there is a lot of trash that needs to be picked up. Free labor is always welcomed.
Punctual Plum
Im he was drunk and can't remember what happened.
CaptDingleheimer
This is good news in the sense that it made national news, meaning it's rare to have violent assaults in Japan. Such an assault probably occurred last night alone here in the US in just about every big city and probably won't even be events worthy of local newspapers.
Serrano
A 19 year old is a 'minor, and thus cannot be named?
Yeah, he ain't 20 yet, lol.
Btang
check his urine, since he needed a lighter so bad...
rgcivilian1
just couldn't let it go and had to prove his point. Assign him to community service, cut the weeds and tall grass by the roadside or pick up trash should suffice his punishment. Free labor...
oldman_13
No one is saying Japan is violent on the level of other industrialized nations like the United States.
What many of us are saying is that these types of incidents are becoming more frequent in Japan, and it indicates a shift in Japanese society that is not good.
DOEL HARRY
I don't know why the 20 year old let himself get beat up by a drunk … Even if you don't know how to fight you can still grab a metal can off the convenience store shelf and hit the other guy in the head & face until he bleeds and hopefully falls to the floor so you can then stomp his head & chest.
Strangerland
...and then back in the real world...
Abu Esha
I thought Japan was polite, it must be changing geting more rough.
JustAGoodOleBoy
Drugs....
DNALeri
So it took the police 15 minutes to come? Because I guess the store employee called the cops right away.
Dr Maybe
The crime rate... Yeah, but what kind of crime are you talking about? Some are going up, some are going down. Regret having to state the bleeding obvious, but there you go.
Strangerland
Violent crime - the topic of this article.
People keep repeating the same tropes on JT as if repetition will somehow suddenly make it true.
Strangerland
Violent crime - the topic of this article.
People keep repeating the same tropes on JT as if repetition will somehow suddenly make it true.
Strangerland
Violent crime - the topic of this article.
People keep repeating the same tropes on JT as if repetition will somehow suddenly make it true.
WilliB
CaptnDingleheimer:
Exactly! That is something that our kneejerk "Japan is violent" corner does not seem to understand.
Fighto!
Old Man:
Wrong. Crime statistics reveal the crime rate is dropping every year, and has been for many years. Google it, Old Man
oldman_13
A 19 year old is a 'minor, and thus cannot be named?
Huh?
Dr Maybe
Who threw the lighter at who? I dont get it.
I hope you're not teaching English here, even in a conversation school.
It is a slightly unusual situation though. I've never had a stranger in another vehicle ask me for a lighter at a traffic light. It was good of the victim to even throw one to him, given that the light could turn green at any moment. It sounds like the victim threw the lighter slightly harder than the idiot expected, and took it as an aggressive act. I hope he does some (very) hard time anyway.