crime

Junior high school girl attacked by man while on her way to school in Ehime

38 Comments

A junior high school girl was attacked by a man with a knife as she walked to school in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, on Thursday.

According to police, the incident occurred at around 6:50 a.m. The girl told police that a man grabbed her from behind and cut a finger on her left hand as she struggled to get free. The man ran off and the girl asked a passerby to call the police.

Apart from a cut to her finger, the girl did not suffer any other injuries, police said.

The girl said the man was dressed all in black and police are examining street surveillance camera footage to try and identify him.

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38 Comments
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They need to teach classes on this from elementary school. Being aware of your surroundings and who is within a threatening distance of you at all times.

Japan is safe unless you're a female of any age

13 ( +18 / -5 )

It’s difficult to prepare or to be aware of strangers when you are walking in broad daylight on your way to school. Japan is only a safe country for middle aged men. If you are a woman child or elderly, you face the sane dangers as any other country in the world. It sort of points to a very cowardly criminal class who only attack those who can’t fight back.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

Driving my kids to school everyday sounds better and better everytime I read this. Mykids won't be walking alone. We will be doing things the American way, and dropping and picking up our kids everyday. No need to walk 2km in the rain living in this house. Safety of our Children is #1!

-5 ( +8 / -13 )

Get a pepper spray, and don't use earphone.

I'm thinking about sending my kids to school next year.. but my wife is against it. They aren't walking alone, always in a group.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Ugh, another nutter not suitable to walk around free. Jesus Christ, how many more are there? Perhaps we should give kids a taser or pepperspray from now on? Or those paintballs they throw at robbers that doesnt wash off. Seriously so sick of hearing about these creeps.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

do any of you actually seriously think that Japanese 14year old could defend themselves with judo or boxing when attacked by a grownup? Not if the grownup is serious.

Teach them vigilance and give em alarm buttons + some affective self defense skills ( groin kick and so on)

12 ( +13 / -1 )

What is going on in such a nice quiet place in Shikoku ???.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Take them to Judo and Karate classes.

Nothing wrong with Judo and Karate classes, but don´t be fooled into thinking that they will miraculously protect you from a sudden attack by some knife wielding nutcase. A false sense of security is dangerous actually.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Japan is only a safe country for middle aged men. If you are a woman child or elderly, you face the sane dangers as any other country in the world.

I call BS on that one. It is quite normal for women to walk home alone at night in Tokyo. I have been to plenty of countries where that would not even be imaginable.

Of course there are crimes here too, and of course they get reported and not the daily life of millions of people where nothing happens.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

I hope the girl can get over the attack and the man is apprehended quickly.

The other slightly disturbing part of this article for me is that a JHS student is walking to school at 6:50 am.

The education system really needs an overhaul.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Also a set of nunchakus works very well.

If you don't have them, a kick, knee or punch to the nuts works very well.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Best self defence is to run like hell. We shouldn't teach kids to fear the world around them. They'll be in constant fear. If you don't like something or you feel there's something odd, then run off.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Telling children/women that they should learn self defence in case they are attacked is akin to blaming them when they are attacked.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

@zichi is right about teaching how to defend yourself. However, the solution is not with the victim. the problem is that society produces people who do these things. And, society doesn't have solutions. We need to find those solutions and implement them. Every time there is a horrible crime reported we see that there are societal failures that made it possible for a person to commit the crime. After the fact we see that if this or that had just been done it would have prevented the crime. When someone is abusing a person there are other people that know but do nothing. Lets accept responsibility for life and make society better.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Why someone would downvote my comment is beyond me. You downvote because I want to keep my kids safe? You that downvoted are prob the people that prey on kids. You are the reason I will be taking my kids to school.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Crazy Japanese men who commit random attacks never seem to challenge themselves much... they always seem to go after little schoolgirls.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

for all the ninjas here: last time i checked, carrying nunchakus is illegal. teach your kids to not be afraid. mind is a powerful thing. martial arts is a good idea. even just screaming, running, etc. these creeps wanna take advantage of kids because they know they,re weak, so we have to make our kids stronger. i hope they,ll catch this sicko asap.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

on the other hand, teaching them not to be afraid might not be enough, since they,re just kids... so maybe telling them not to be alone (ever) is a good idea... we probably should just ask for the authorities to hunt these creeps down and clean the streets. not easy but as for the J-police i,m guessing they have too much free time.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Random violent crime on the rise.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Why someone would downvote my comment is beyond me. 

It wasn't the kid safety part people disliked, it was the country you mentioned.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Luddite:

Telling children/women that they should learn self defence in case they are attacked is akin to blaming them when they are attacked.

No it is not. Nothing wrong with some self-defense classes, as long as they don´t make false claims about how useful they are. A real life attack will be unexpected, and not some slow-motion choreographed theater like you see in many self defense videos.

For you reference, four POLICEMEN were just knifed to death in the Paris police headquarters, and you can be sure they had some self-defense classes.

Most basic self-defense should be drilling into peoples heads to be aware of their surroundings, not to dream (or smartphone) while walking, and use good running shoes.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Pathetic overreactions. Stuff happens, everywhere and anywhere, even in Japan. You don't terrify your children and keep them from living a normal life because of one near non incident. The overreactions border on child abuse and are much more harmful than what this one petty little criminal did. Teaching self defense is a good idea anyway, especially in a nation where people don't enjoy their G@D given right to carry a firearm. Japan is the only Country on earth that I feel safe without a weapon, but anything can happen. We're much more likely to be hurt in an earthquake than from violent crime in Japan. Take a deep breath, relax, trust in fate and enjoy living in paradise.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

A simple lesson I taught my daughter :

"Remember one thing if you're ever attacked by an attacker. A swift kick to the nuts will immediately cut all that rubbish out!"

This tactic would've worked out perfectly in this case.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Sir Bentley:

"Remember one thing if you're ever attacked by an attacker. A swift kick to the nuts will immediately cut all that rubbish out!"

This tactic would've worked out perfectly in this case.

You do not know how the attack happened, and you just assume that the attacker was in view, intentions clear, and in a position to get kicked. That is a lot of assumptions.

Fwiw, I remember last year that was a pro MMA fighter in Tokyo who got knifed from behind. I am pretty sure he would be more able than your daughter to deal with the nutcase, if had noticed him.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Japan is a nation of 127,000,000 people. That's nearly half the United States crammed into an area the size of Montana. These screams that Japan is not safe for females is old and tired. Japan is relatively safe for EVERYBODY.

A young man was stabbed this week in Gifu. And today's news says an old man was choked to death in Sapporo. Also a woman was recently found with a knife planning to kill her boyfriend. Granted women are in more danger of being sexually assaulted, but that is the same everywhere on Earth. But the actual danger of physical harm is much lower here than most places I can think of. But stuff is going to happen until all humans evacuate these islands. Stop with the paranoia please.

Anyway, glad the girl got away with just a cut finger. Could have been much worse.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

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