66-year-old driver kicked to death in Osaka; motorcyclist arrested

Road-rage killers should be sentenced to death, the gallows set up on the same spot of the street or highway the crime happened, and hanged.

If a person can't control his / her anger, it's not worth of belonging to a civilized society like ours.

Japan has to be one of the safest countries in the world...., unless..., your a child, female or over the age of 60! Oh how I hate to see this wondrous place change due to incidents like this and the tragic stories that are flooding our news feeds on nearly a daily basis.

This place has to be one of the biggest "kick them when they're down" places.

This is also the "eight on one fight" land.

People find it easier to act out their frustrations. For every aggressive driving incident serious enough to result in a police report or newspaper article, there are hundreds or thousands which never get reported to authorities. I think it's worse in the U.S. because of the availability of firearms.

This is also the "eight on one fight" land.

Guess you've never heard of street

Crazy what does the US have to do with this article and guns Japan has knives!

Hope they catch the killer and kick his butt right into the slammer for 99 years.

Why is it that every time there is a murder, typical JT posters say Japan is not a safe country etc ? I guess some of you guys come from a country that i have never heard of that has zero murder and zero violent crimes for years

Japan apparently not as safe as many like to proclaim.

It's no coincidence we're seeing more and more of these news lately, across Japan.

And you can't blame the easy spread of information on the internet, because the world has been online for over a way over a decade now.

This does NOT surprise me. With the way people drive in this country (the WORST I've ever seen), this was bound to happen! And I'm from New York and have NEVER had a rough time driving until I started driving here in Japan! Common sense goes out the window during commutes, and driving is no exception. Don't know who started what - wouldn't be surprised if the motorcyclist, who in this country are the RUDEST drivers on the road, cut off the old man in the car and started a beatdown.... or the old man started to play with the motorcyclist and the guy dragged the old man out of the car and started a beatdown. Either way, both scenarios are possible - I reserve no judgement in this matter.

@Michael

Have you ever driven in Brazil, or France? Those are two countries which are way, way worse than Japan. Sure, it's not good here, but there are much worse places....

It appears that, to some people, (a) hanging someone (b) in public (c) in a public location is something that should occur in a 'civilized society.'

Sounds more like the world of Game of Thrones.

Motorcyclists and their goddamn noisy exhausts, the muffle removed, what is WITH that? Machoism? Tough? Seems to follow through to their persona too, kicking someone to death twice your age. Appalling. Remove noisy bikes from our soundscapes!

Safest country in the world, well I guess the world is made up of only 2 countries Japan and the U.S. Thank god people are not allowed to carry guns here as the murder rate here would easily surpass that in the U.S. There are too many stressed out creeps in this country.

This does NOT surprise me. With the way people drive in this country (the WORST I've ever seen),

@Michael. I would guess that you have little driving experience outside the US or Japan or you wouldn't make such a ridiculous comment. I've had driving licences in 7 countries and most countries' driving standards, including the US, are much worse than Japan, it's pretty easy driving here.

Japan has to be one of the safest countries in the world...., unless..., your a child, female or over the age of 60!

Mr. Perfect, no. Its one of the safest countries in the world period.

I see a lot of poor driving but hardly ever any road rage or any other violence here.

Road rage usually needs two people in rage to start a fight. Generally, it's best to double flash you hazards to say sorry or thnk you here. I ride a bike and a car and try to keep a cool head at all times. Getting POd gets you no where.

It's one of the areas Japanese behavior fails in. Drivers here are just so often not paying attention, can't remain calm and make unnecessarily dangerous maneuvers.

I don't have all the answers but starting by banning drivers from watching television at all times when driving a car and ensuring there is not a substantial gap between passing the driving test and actually driving would be two good ideas. Drivers should see driving as being as serious as flying a jumbo jet, people's lives are in your hands, it shouldn't be seen as a mad scramble either physically or socially.

Joeintokyo:

"Motorcyclist" ?? I'm thinking bosozoku.

Really? Thanks. All of us motorcyclists thank you for your shallow, ill-informed, generalization.

@OldHawk

Joeintokyo: "Motorcyclist" ?? I'm thinking bosozoku. Really? Thanks. All of us motorcyclists thank you for your shallow, ill-informed, generalization.

Of course, I could be wrong however, contrary to what you think, I believe "Joeintokyo" is in fact "distinguishing" between a REAL, bona fide careful motorcycle rider and those imbeciles that wake up entire neighbourhoods in the middle of the night, for their little bit of "fun"...

Hokkaidoguy: "Road-rage killers should be sentenced to death"

That's like saying all extremists should be shot, forgetting that you're as bad as they are. And yes, saying they should all be sentenced to death is rage. It may seem more justified, but you still seem to miss the hypocrisy. In any case, the guy's going to do time, and hopefully a lot -- but it won't be the death penalty. If stupidity and rage warranted the death penalty in Japan you'd see a rapid drop in population. Let this moron think it out in prison for a couple of decades -- see if he thinks murdering a person was worth a scratch on a motorbike (more likely a scooter).

interuni321: It's one of the areas Japanese behavior fails in. Drivers here are just so often not paying attention, can't remain calm and make unnecessarily dangerous maneuvers.

The general lack of police presence on the roads here is the main reason you see such poor driving. When they are out they always check the same places. In the 9 years I've been living here I have yet to see them out when it's raining, during rush hour, or at night (except for drinking and driving checks during bounenkai season - but these are always at the same location).

@OldHawk what FightingViking says most motorcyclist are not super aggressive and now they are vulnerable on the road. Kicking on someones head and then say "i didn't mean to kill him" really?

smithnjapan:

Hokkaidoguy: "Road-rage killers should be sentenced to death"

don't drag me into this one.

@Michael Don't know where your comments are coming from and what part of Japan you were driving in? Japan is the only country that after sliding in front of another car where they hit their hazard winker a couple of times to say "thank you". I drive everyday for 15 years and never a fender bender. U.S. gets way more crazier drivers than Japan, you kidding me.

This is also the "eight on one fight" land.

Guess you've never heard of a street gang in any other country.

Not my fault this site has no edit function.

Why is it that every time there is a murder, typical JT posters say Japan is not a safe country etc ? I guess some of you guys come from a country that i have never heard of that has zero murder and zero violent crimes for years

It's because Japan is obviously not as safe as the Japan Tourist Bureau would like you to believe. Japan suffers from the same senseless killings that any other country has to endure. It suffers from the same road rage, gentricide, fratricide, sororicide, filicide, matricide, patricide, infantcide, mariticide, uxoricide, mass murder, random murder, terrorism, etc., as other countries do. Japan may be SAFER than most other countries, but it is by no means a "safe" country.

Its safer here in japan than in most countries. However its the driving thats ridiculous, drivers here give up the right of way because they're trying to be courteous, or maybe they're scared of causing an accident?? I will wait for the person who has the right of way to move before I do, funny enough it becomes a mexican stand off, to the point one time that police cut through traffic to see what was happening. I explained what the problem was and they pulled over the car that was essentiaslly screwing up the flow of traffic because they wanted to be nice. Then theres the red light runners, seriously, the police could meet all the revenue requirments they desire just ticketing all the redlight runners. But the worst are the motor bikes and scooters, cutting through traffic, when they try to pass on the drivers side and there in the other lane I speed up so they cant make the pass, yes I know its messed up doing that and they could get killed, but they shouldnt put their selves in that position, they shouldnt be passing like that.

FightingViking:

Of course, I could be wrong however, contrary to what you think, I believe "Joeintokyo" is in fact "distinguishing" between a REAL, bona fide careful motorcycle rider and those imbeciles that wake up entire neighbourhoods in the middle of the night, for their little bit of "fun"...

I certainly hope you're right and I'm wrong.

Nan desu ka;

But the worst are the motor bikes and scooters, cutting through traffic, when they try to pass on the drivers side and there in the other lane I speed up so they cant make the pass, yes I know its messed up doing that and they could get killed, but they shouldnt put their selves in that position, they shouldnt be passing like that.

Lane splitting and filtering through traffic are legal in Japan. Proper technique is part of the standard riding school curriculum. If you took your driving license test with a japanese driving school, they would have covered it.

If you're going to drive in Japan, please learn the law and follow the rules of the road. Blocking someone who us legally trying to pass you is dangerous and irresponsible, and could result in a dangerous driving charge for you.

It could also result in you being the accidental recipient of a few dozen pachinko balls via your windshield. They have a habit of accidentally spilling out of my pocket when someone endangers my life on the road.

Japan apparently not as safe as many like to proclaim.

People keep writing this. Yet, I have never seen even one person suggest that Japan is perfectly safe or that crimes never happen here.

Japan apparently not as safe as many like to proclaim.

Japan is not as dangerous as many others like to proclaim.

The problem is that so many people read Japan Today, and equate the existence of negative news stories as meaning that the country has an epidemic of violence or whatnot. This is a logical fallacy though. First, it needs to be considered that there are 130 million people in the country. This site shows news for the entire country. The very fact that this story exists on a national news site means that there were not more newsworthy - ie more violent/controversial - news items for today. A man getting beaten up and dying in a fight? In most countries that would not make the news because there would be 10 other news stories that would preempt it, due to their being more violent and/or controversial.

So taking an article like this and extrapolating it to mean that the country has a violence issue is not only poor logic, it's actually backwards logic.

So taking an article like this and extrapolating it to mean that the country has a violence issue is not only poor logic, it's actually backwards logic.

There was no extrapolation involved. If a citizen of a country thinks nothing of beating and kicking an elderly man in the head "like a soccer ball" to death simply because the elderly man had the gall to strike his motorbike with a car, THAT COUNTRY HAS A VIOLENCE ISSUE because it obviously did not instill a respect for life into its citizen. You can try to cloud the topic with things like rates of crime, but when it's all said and done there are extremely violent people living in Japan and it's only the luck of the draw whether you cross one of them some day and become the next "soccer ball".

When your life is threatened in an accident by a careless motorist it's understandable to loose the grip for a second and lash out but this was different... you don't kick a downed elderly persons head just because you loose your temper. This was a malicious attack intended to inflict serious physical damage and this guy shouldn't receive any mercy for his heinous acions.

This has nothing to do with Japan as a safe country. It can happen anywhere. No matter what the conflict is or how unreasonable the other party might be, it's more about self restraint and indivdual responsiblity. You better think before you cross the line, because there might be a consequences. He will be charged with manslaugter and he wrecked his life over petty things that shouldn't happen. Motorcycle or car can be fixed or replaced. It's a tragedy on both families.

@DaDude

Not my fault this site has no edit function.

There is... It's called "PREVIEW"

"He said he didn’t mean to kill Kishi but lost control. "

Ya, think?

IF it's true that the driver hit the motorbike rider and could have caused him serious injury I can understand his frustration and anger. Especially if the driver was unapologetic. BUT to kick him and violently lash out is totally unacceptable. We don't have enough info to understand what played out here other than one man is dead due to road rage. Make no mistake, older drivers on Japan's roads are a massive problem. Many drive without care for anybody else. It's a wonder this doesn't happen more often to be honest.

Hokkaidoguy, so your saying exceeding the speedlimit and passing using the lane of oncoming traffic is legal? the reason I spped up is because these idiots are racing against oncoming traffic,they then cut back in right infront of you, which is actually dangerous because they could lose controll and lay the bike down right in front of you, and guess whose gonna get blamed, the Gaijin of course. They can pass me on the inside no problem.