78-year-old man held for threatening woman in her 20s who rebuffed his marriage proposal

That's not how it's done these days, Mr Ishizaka ... Neither of your two strategies.

Senile old guy...

Another example showing that age is no guarantee of maturity, or wisdom.

I bet he thinks the cashier at his local grocery store also loves him. It's called customer service, ol' timer.

No doubt there is more to his story and circumstances that gave rise to this that we don't know.

Rofl! Who friggn' pops the big Question by letter? Worse- wow many 80 yr olds are proposing to women in their 20's? The news I read about here never ceases to amaze me.

The news I read about here never ceases to amaze me.

Like it's not unheard of in gaikokuland for an elderly guy to marry a woman like 50 years younger! (lol!) I wonder what her response would have been if he told her that he had a few million bucks in the bank and no heirs.

"a 78-year-old man... proposed marriage... woman in her 20s... handed her a letter... she handed the letter back... he... threatened to kill her"

Don't you just love this romantic country??? ;-)

Mid-20th-century romance meets early-21st.

To quote Harold Steptoe: "You dirty old man!"

said a stupid thing.

Yep

the suspect, Noboru Ishizaka, was a regular customer at the coffee shop where the woman worked

I guess he mistook her "good customer service" smile for something it wasn't.

Like it's not unheard of in gaikokuland for an elderly guy to marry a woman like 50 years younger! (lol!) I wonder what her response would have been if he told her that he had a few million bucks in the bank and no heirs.

You don't say. . . . amigo, Ana Nichole Smiths' hubby was 89 when he married her @26. But I "highly doubt" he would've threatened her if she said, No. He would not have been arrested. Japanese men have terrible complexes about their pride when it comes to women. Sheesh!

I've seen many young (usually foreign) women married to men clearly old enough to be their father or grandfather, since I moved to Japan. They probably do it for the money, security, and residency status. But I'd bet they have boyfriends on the side.

is "coffee shop" a euphemism for something else here? cos i don't get it.

I've seen many young (usually foreign) women married to men clearly old enough to be their father or grandfather, since I moved to Japan.

Me too. But more are married to the older "grandfather" ones. Lots young Filipinas are marrying those types.

I was trying to be diplomatic, but you're right. It's almost always the Filipinas.

Definitely more to the story than presented. Probably not your average "coffee shop" with a regular customer. If she handed the letter back without reading it then its telling something. She has little regard and probably loathes him and her job.

Or maybe she just gave it back cuz he was a creepy old man and didn't want to encourage him.

She did the right thing!!!

78 year old guy chatting up a 20 something year old women is a little bizarre to say the least, I'm sure there are ways to do this. Show her your enormous bank balance and your medical record stating you've a terminal illness of some sort with a promise to leave her the cash in your will. Yep that might do it.. An I love you letter and I will kill you if you don't letter just wont hack it man from a 78 year old plonker.

"J-Police in Tokyo, Japan have arrested a 78-year-old j-man for threatening to kill a j-woman in her 20s " "Ishizaka was quoted by police as saying he thought the woman really liked him but said he just lost his temper and said a stupid thing." uh hum

I agree with GW she did the right thing, and I'm glad he didn't hurt her. My wife gets this kind of stuff happening to her all the time. Not marriage proposals, but old guys-- and a few younger ones, too-- giving her letters professing their interest or desire to be more than just customers. Why? Because she's nice and she's a cashier and probably their only social contact with a woman they're not related to or co-workers with. And guys who would try to flirt via letter aren't generally the most outgoing of office lotharios, so that leaves out the co-workers.

I'm cool with guys trying (they don't know she's married), but I worry about stalking and things happening the way it went down in this news story, as well.

Maybe he should have clubbed her over the head and dragged her back to his cave - it`s the neanderthal way.

Ishizaka approached the woman and handed her a letter which he said contained a marriage proposal.

Was it a French letter?

Marry? At least take her out for dinner!

Yubaru:

" I wonder what her response would have been if he told her that he had a few million bucks in the bank and no heirs. "

Don´t wonder. We all know the answer.

His actions simply reflects that of his ages, he knows no better, this is the mindset of his generation. That's not how it's done anymore, the world is starting to follow the example set by us in the West. The example detailed below.

A marriage proposal is an event where one person in a relationship asks for the other's hand in marriage. If accepted, it marks the initiation of engagement. It often has a ritual quality, sometimes involving the presentation of an engagement ring and the formal asking of a question for example "Will you marry me, ...?" In the Anglosphere it is traditional for the man to make a proposal to the woman directly while genuflecting in front of her, although kneeling is not uncommon if somewhat obsequious; the man sometimes puts the engagement ring on her finger at this point, as opposed to merely offering it to her. Sometimes the proposal is intended to be a surprise. If the woman accepts the proposal, she will typically assent to the man verbally and wear the ring during the time leading up to the wedding, known as the engagement. Acceptance of the proposal is not compulsory in Western culture.

The important word is "if" she accepts. The last sentence (Acceptance of the proposal is not compulsory in Western culture) signifying that in other cultures, the woman has not choice but to except the proposal, some for the fear of their lives, others range from rape, acids attacks, all of which are backward, uncivilised barbaric actions.

It's rather selfish, shes 20 and his 78, thats almost 6 decades older, theirs no love, he cares not about the fact of leaving her behind when its his time to hit the grave.

The world including Japan have changed to follow the prime example set by the West, thos was one one guy who's stuck in time.

@Strategist - "where one person in a relationship asks for the other's hand in marriage"

So in "the example set by us in the West "the couple are ALREADY in a relationship before the offer of marriage??

Oh dear!!! :-(

Can somebody please tell strategist that this was not a marriage proposal as far as she was concerned? One needs to pay attention to the "strategy" of bumbling at work here.

He handed her the letter. She gave it back without reading it.

No offer was made or received. He had no need to feel shame, and so he had no reason to threaten her. As GW has noted, she did exactly the right thing in ANY context, western or Japanese.

He feels remorse because he is an idiot going around threatening people for no reason whatsoever. The cops came in, looked at the letter, and THEN he becomes stupidly apologetic. Truly, there is no fool like an old fool. What he ought to do is just give her all of his money and THEN ask her to marry him. It has at least as much chance of success as what he did, and any woman worth marrying would give it back or share it. If he chose the wrong woman, she might keep the money, but at least she won't wind up killing him for it after breakfast someday.

Or maybe she just gave it back cuz he was a creepy old man and didn't want to encourage him.

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He sounds creepy. Maybe he is looking for a free nurse to care him?

I bet he's already back home. He's 78 and this is Japan. "You can go Ishizakasama, but onegai, please don't threaten to kill any more young women who don't want to marry you."

@ The Godfather,

A relationship comes in many form and the word relationship, covers a wide area. Would you say "Oh dear" to the relationship one has with their work colleagues? boss, teacher, class mates, parents, siblings, pets etc etc, the list is endless, it did not say "sexual relationship".

@5SpeedRacer5 "Can somebody please tell strategist that this was not a marriage proposal"

Hmmmm..... Well unless my eyes fools me, what does the following extract read? "78-year-old man held for threatening woman in her 20s who rebuffed his marriage proposal"

"TOKYO-Police in Tokyo have arrested a 78-year-old man for threatening to kill a woman in her 20s after she handed him back a letter in which he proposed marriage to her."

Did you find any mention of "marriage proposal" or proposed marriage to her. In the above context?

You simply can not test me, someone educated in the land that invented English Eng-land same principle as (Japan Japan-ese)

@StrategistOCT. 20, 2015 - 05:42AM JST @ The Godfather, A relationship comes in many form and the word relationship, covers a wide area. Would you say "Oh dear" to the relationship one has with their work colleagues? boss, teacher, class mates, parents, siblings, pets etc etc, the list is endless, it did not say "sexual relationship". @5SpeedRacer5 "Can somebody please tell strategist that this was not a marriage proposal" Hmmmm..... Well unless my eyes fools me, what does the following extract read? "78-year-old man held for threatening woman in her 20s who rebuffed his marriage proposal" "TOKYO-Police in Tokyo have arrested a 78-year-old man for threatening to kill a woman in her 20s after she handed him back a letter in which he proposed marriage to her." Did you find any mention of "marriage proposal" or proposed marriage to her. In the above context? You simply can not test me, someone educated in the land that invented English Eng-land same principle as (Japan Japan-ese

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Your last sentence, add American English Japanese people use in Japan and America

Yubaru:

" I wonder what her response would have been if he told her that he had a few million bucks in the bank and no heirs. "

Don´t wonder. We all know the answer.

I don't.

Don´t wonder. We all know the answer.

While I might be inclined to agree if she was a prostitute, or a hostess, but it's wrong to imply all women would be the same way.

The 78 year old man is no different from any of the other crows or creepy foreigners you see trying to pick up Japanese women. Age is nothing but a number. As I described above its all in the name of lust!!!

"Did you find any mention of "marriage proposal" or proposed marriage to her. In the above context?"

Actually, yes. Strategist. There is no need to cherry pick the headline and a few lines if you want to fail to make your point. You can do that using other parts of the article too. Please read the article and my post. The article also states that she did not read it before she returned it to him. Therefore, her "strategy" was great, and designed to avoid conflict and his loss of face in this case, whether she expected the contents of the message or not.

As far as grandpa, he obviously has no idea what he is doing, and I could suggest several "strategies" that would have given him a better outcome here. Simply keeping his comments to himself, for instance, was a sure winner in this case.

@ speedRacer, I would think it rather difficult to Cherry-pick this time of year..... On a serious note, regardless of that, the fact remains that her so-called "strategy" failed, the results speak for themselves, grandpa threatened to kill her....