crime

2 arrested after man dies following street fight in Tochigi

24 Comments

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of causing injury resulting in death after they got into a fight with a third man on a street in Oyama, Tochigi Prefecture, on Saturday.

According to police, the incident occurred at around 3:35 a.m. near the east exit of Oyama Station, Sankei Shimbun reported. Police said witnesses saw the two men punching and kicking the victim, Hiromitsu Hiraga, 45, who worked in the food industry. One witness called 110 and reported seeing the victim lying on the ground, apparently unconscious. 

Hiraga was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police said the two suspects, Shinji Matsumoto, 39, a real estate company director from Gyoda in Saitama Prefecture, and Kazuhiro Ishikawa, 36, a construction worker from Kazo, Saitama Prefecture, submitted to voluntary questioning and have pleaded not guilty.

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24 Comments
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the difference between punching someone and kicking somebody in the head is...murder.

-8 ( +4 / -12 )

Food industry, real estate, and construction. What could go wrong?

1 ( +8 / -7 )

the difference between punching someone and kicking somebody in the head is...murder

Punches can lead to murder too.

15 ( +16 / -1 )

therougou, I was gonna say. All lacking is a local politician.

6 ( +10 / -4 )

Witnesses saw an unconscious man lying in the ground being punched and kicked, doesn’t really sound like a ‘fight’, does it?

A ”food industry worker” - (‘staff’ or, business owner?) - beaten by a real estate director and a ‘construction worker’ ? Perhaps, someone couldn’t pay back some money owed?

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Sounds like yak stuff to me.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

A lot of BIG men in Japan. 2 on 1, 3 on 1, 10 on 1.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

A bit too close to home for comfort .

4 ( +5 / -1 )

I never go out at night

4 ( +5 / -1 )

when men get into a fight, just remember it's always about Money$, Respect, or Women.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

Some cultures physically remove and exile persons from a family, group, tribe or criminal organization. Therefore, this case calls to mind a question: Can ‘cancel culture’ become so extreme, turning into physical assaults and violence on others, demanding that they “disappear forever”? Websters defines it “*Cancel culture is a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles – whether it be online, on social media, *or in person“. Could this case be an example?

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

A lot of BIG men in Japan. 2 on 1, 3 on 1, 10 on 1.

That tells you exactly what cowards they are. Anyone can get a group of people and the one person senseless, these guys rarely do one on one. Pathetic!

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Back home, if you continue kicking/punching someone once they are on the ground, you're very likely to get a beating yourself for not playing fair. Not here in Japan. I've seen people on the ground here trying to protect themselves as they continue to be kicked and punched; men and women.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Used to be honor once , 1 on 1 and when the opponent was on the ground , he was done, now it seems if they on the ground they getting kicked , stomped, jumped on and what ever else goes. Honor has long since left the battlefield of street fighting.

But we also had a fair bit of street smarts back in the day and knew not to get cornered by a construction worker and a real estate agent especially at night, but then I never worked in the food industry either.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Some people here seem to be experts on street fighting and old-school honor systems without having any themselves. They would have been among the first to have been cut down to size for the nonsense they spew in the "good old days"...

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Poor man. Nobody deserves that. Hope those two cowards get served justice.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Back home, if you continue kicking/punching someone once they are on the ground, you're very likely to get a beating yourself for not playing fair. Not here in Japan. I've seen people on the ground here trying to protect themselves as they continue to be kicked and punched; men and women.

That is so true and on top of that you have to be careful if you fight back to protect yourself, if you cause serious bodily injury to the people attacking you, you could wind up in prison or even deported if you’re a foreigner. Best thing to do in that case is run take the lumps, but I would probably risk going to jail knowing myself. It’s crazy when you think about that you could wind up in trouble just for defending yourself.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

If I may interject....On that particular question, I heard that you really need to be careful in that kind of situation. A while back, I heard a story about a guy (foreigner) jumping into a fight between a couple, the guy was slapping his wife around in public, the tried to stop it, raddled his the guys cage a bit, cops were called and as they were taking statements the bruised up wife didn’t want to press charged and blamed the foreign guy for intervening and then the police ended up arresting the foreign guy that tried to help and the guy was charged with “interference of a private matter” he spent either a few weeks or a little over a month in jail, can’t recall at the moment, but that guy later said, he just wouldn’t get involved again, he learned his lesson and as infuriating and angry it makes us to see a man bulldoze a woman, in Japan you really need to be careful if you get involved because even with the best of intentions you might the one forfeiting your freedom or even worse.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

"Police said the two suspects, Shinji Matsumoto, 39, a real estate company director from Gyoda in Saitama Prefecture, and Kazuhiro Ishikawa, 36, a construction worker from Kazo, Saitama Prefecture, submitted to voluntary questioning and have pleaded not guilty."

Well. There you go. They said they are not guilty. First time for me to read a not guilty for a crime here on JT.

Usually it's I don't remember because I was drunk.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Used to be honor once , 1 on 1 and when the opponent was on the ground , he was done,

Queensbury rules, shake hands afterwards, share a beer - that's how was back in the day. And not as my Krav Maga teacher said, "if you get into a fight, get away, and if you can't get away, knock him down and make sure he doesn't get up."

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

A bit too close to home for comfort 

Cleo, stay out of real estate, construction and the food industries and you should be ok.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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