Savvy Tokyo's series "Ladies and the Law" digs back in time tracing the catalysts for change in Japanese laws that directly or indirectly affect women and their families. If you have a topic you would like us to cover through a real court case, contact us at editorial@gplusmedia.com
At a little before 1 p.m. on the afternoon of October 26, 1999, Shiori Ino, a 21-year-old university student, was stabbed in the chest while entering JR Okegawa station in Saitama. She bled to death while being rushed to a nearby hospital. Ino’s assailant was a local heavy who had been hired by Kazuhito Komatsu, a 26-year-old man Ino had briefly dated earlier in the year after meeting him at a neighborhood game center.
When they met, Komatsu had given Ino a false name and lied about his age. After just a few dates, he began to simultaneously lavish her with expensive gifts and emotionally abuse her. Ino tried to break up with him, but Komatsu would not accept that she no longer wanted to see him and became even more abusive. He began to phone her home and make threats to both her and her family.
Lack of police involvement
After three months of this, culminating in Komatsu and his friends forcing their way into the Ino home in mid-June with further threats — which Ino recorded — she filed a police report, including the recording she had made. The police told her she had no claim.
When the family endured further threatening phone calls that night, Ino and her parents went together to the police the next day and were again told the police could not, or would not, aid her. Both the police and the free legal clinic they sent her to opined that she was responsible for the problem because she had accepted some of Komatsu’s gifts. No one would help.
After Ino sent everything Komatsu had ever given her by courier to his known address, Komatsu and his brother put out the murder contract on Ino that ultimately led to her death. They also continued to make harassing phone calls and other threats to the Ino family and even began to distribute slanderous posters and fliers in her residential neighborhood. Although this continued for several months, still the police refused to act, with the tragic result of Ino’s untimely death.
Even sadder, immediately after Ino’s death, the police reaction was to try to smear the young woman, releasing information that further victimized her by portraying her as a gold-digging slut and implying that she had brought the attack on herself.
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Vicki L Beyer is a Professor of Law at the Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Law Business Law Department.
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26 Comments
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Yubaru
This was a totally preventable death, and the cops involved should have been tried for dereliction of their duty, and "betraying the public trust"
thepersoniamnow
Ridiculous incompetency from the authorities. It always takes a massive media case for the policies to take a look at themselves.
Sadly, it cost this lady her life.
Insane Wayne
This article is ridiculous. The poor girl wasn’t stalked she ran a foul of a gang that destroyed her. The police acted the same as they would with any gang related matter and did nothing. It probably wasn’t this case that led the law to change but a repeat of a case from the 80s. The unimaginable nature of what happened to that poor girl and the pathetic punishments handed out were disgraceful. The leader of the gang that tortured the victim to death was recently arrested for slashing the throat of an acquaintance.
jcapan
The sensationalistic photo put me right off the article.
Maria
Victim-blaming. No nice guys here.
Ms Ino was twenty one, and did everything right: she left as soon as she found that the man was dangerous, she tried to remove all ties to him, and repeatedly told the police that she and her family were in danger.
She did nothing wrong. The police failed to protect her, dismissed her fears, the man killed her, then the ;police blamed her. Just as posters here are doing.
Anyone who calls themselves a "nice guy" and in the same breath blames women for men's violence, is anything but.
Wolfpack
She did nothing to deserve the severe harassment she and her family suffered. She certainly didn’t deserve to be murdered. What we don’t know is if, “she did nothing wrong” or not. It isn’t known one way or another. No proof is provided in this story and nothing the police had about her was reported in this story.
Maria
There is plenty of information in the story if you cared to read it. Ms Ino went on a few dates with the man, realised the man was an unstable liar, and broke it off.
Unless you are suggesting she, and every victim of murder should have used their powers of prediction, she did nothing wrong.
Maria
Every other normal person knows that plenty of men who are not yakuza kill women who don't obey. In fact, statistically, more men who are not yakuza kill women, than do men who are. More men kill a woman they know, are dating, or are living with, than kill a stranger.
So. Don't marry men, don't date men, don't trust men, don't accept drinks, invitations, or conversation from men. Problem solved.
Strangerland
I think the correct thing to say would be she didn’t do anything to deserve what she got. There is nothing to show she did anything wrong, but it’s impossible to prove she didn’t do anything wrong. But what we can definitively say is that she didn’t deserve what she got, because nothing she did could have deserved that.
rainyday
So why even speculate that she did anything wrong in the first place? If there is zero evidence presented that she did anything wrong, why can’t we give an innocent murder victim the benefit of the doubt and just assume she didn’t do anything wrong unless contrary evidence shows otherwise?
Do the hustle
I don’t know any Japanese woman that has not been harassed, intimidated, stalked or beaten by an ex-boyfriend. This is why over 30% of Japanese women in their 30’s chose to stay single. Furthermore, I am sure this is contributing to the declining birthrate. Women are staying single because they don’t want to be intimidated and beaten by Japanese man.
Yubaru
Somebody here has been watching too many movies! Because of changes in the laws here that happened many years ago, I would be willing to bet that folks who you THINK are Yakuza are not and vice versa.
I get the feeling that someone YOU think is Yakuza, is just a chinpira wannabe yak.
Wolfpack
Actually I did care to read the story and no there isn’t. No information is provided about what went on in their relationship other than the criminal behavior. That’s perfectly reasonable for a news story.
If you cared to read my comment instead of reacting emotionally you would comprehend that I explicitly stipulated that she did not deserve to be harassed and murdered. There is no defense for that and no one could possibly defend it. Did you not read that Maria?
What you are not focusing on is the fact that people make poor choices which lead them to becoming involved in perilous situations. What we don’t learn from this story is whether or not she fully realized that she was involved with a gangster. If she didn’t know that she made a mistake, wittingly or not, of involving herself with someone she wasn’t cognizant of his character. We also don’t know if she did anything to stir up the hornets nest she got herself involved in. Can you not separate the crime committed by the man with the poor decisions she “may” have made in getting herself in this situation. We are human and we all make mistakes. That doesn’t mean we are somehow responsible for the crimes committed by others. It also doesn’t mean that we aren’t involved in the situation and “may” do things that “could “ lead to our own detriment. This wasn’t a crime committed by a stranger. She was involved with him voluntarily- at least at first.
Yubaru
This line on it's own is laying the blame on the victim for not being aware of someone's character.
That is reaching in my opinion, to find some reason to blame her, even a tiny bit, for her own death!
Strangerland
You have no idea whether or not this lady made more decisions or not. You don't know how he approached her, what he said to her, or how he portrayed himself.
You are just blaming the victim.
macv
It probably wasn’t this case that led the law to change but a repeat of a case from the 80s. The unimaginable nature of what happened to that poor girl and the pathetic punishments handed out were disgraceful. The leader of the gang that tortured the victim to death was recently arrested for slashing the throat of an acquaintance.
believe he's referring to horrific torture murder of Junko Furuta -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Junko_Furuta
Wolfpack
Actually that’s my point in responding to Maria. We don’t know if she did anything wrong. When I say wrong I don’t mean criminal. I mean a mistake that cost her life. No one “deserves “ to be murdered. That doesn’t mean that poor people don’t make mistakes, wittingly or not, that contribute to their own demise. Not blaming her as the perpetrator of her own death. People with a political axe to grind are too simplistic in their view of the world sometimes.
Strangerland
And you don't know if she made a mistake. That's the point.
Wolfpack
You again miss the point - or just want to be argumentative. The fact that she got involved with the man, and is now gone, surely means she made a mistake. Obviously this wasn’t a purposeful mistake. That’s not “victim blaming”. It’s stating a fact.
Strangerland
And again, you don’t know that. She may have done everything perfectly, and the other guy was extremely deceptive.
I know you want to blame the girl, but there isn’t enough information to do so.
Fouxdefa
Statistically you're more likely to be murdered by someone you know, someone you're "voluntarily involved with". Hopefully if it happens to any of us the police will listen to us/our families left behind and not say, "you must have done something to cause this"
No one deserves to be brushed off by authorities and die for being "voluntarily involved" at one point with a murderer.
Wolfpack
Yes- that’s what I’m saying. You must also realize that you don’t know either. She may have been pure as the driven snow and naive as a child. She may also have been attracted to bad guys and was looking for an exciting risky relationship. That’s not a crime. But if that was the case, it’s poor judgement.
I am not blaming the girl for the crimes against her. I’ve stipulated that multiple times. I can only assume that you want to believe that regardless of my plain statements to the contrary.
The news article only focuses on the criminal behavior of the perpetrator- which is appropriate of course. But there is more to the story of these two peoples relationship that isn’t known.
There is an attempt in today’s politically correct society to separate personal responsibility from the bad outcomes that occur. It is a simplistic worldview based on a political ideology and not the reality of human nature. It’s like denying that overeating can lead to severe health consequences. In this woman’s case she may not have known about the mans character. She could have been deceived by him. Why don’t know one way or the other based on the details of the story.
I didn’t imply that anyone deserves to be ignored by law enforcement for involving themselves with someone who would become their murderer. It’s a shame that she involved herself with this man. But it should be a cautionary story for women to be careful about who they become intimately involved.
Fouxdefa
You are talking about a principle, not a rule or guaranteed outcome.
Sometimes, you don't notice "my, what big ears you have Grandma" until it's too late. Some deranged men seem very normal until faced with a woman's rejection.
Being aware, being smart, making good life choices can reduce probability, but of course cannot eliminate the possibility of being the victim of crimes, especially when those good life choices enrage the perpetrators, as in this case, or are purposefully used by them (like scammers who prey on normal people's logic and social norms).
It is a good principle to abide by, but it does not insulate us from ever running into malevolent people nor guarantee a tragedy-free life. The point of the article is about police responsibility in those instances.
The police were given evidence of threatening behavior and did nothing. The reasoning they gave was that her choices made before she knew he was a bad egg absolved them of the right to interfere. What would you think if you tried to report a credit card theft and the police said, "Well you voluntarily handed your card to the waiter in the restaurant so we can't do anything about it" The point of this article is this crime became the catalyst for the changes in laws and anti-stalking act so as to eliminate this kind of ridiculous response.
Strangerland
Unlike you however, I've not claimed to know. You are claiming she made a mistake, even though you cannot know that.
Or maybe she met a guy who was an excellent liar, and put on a show that would have convinced anyone on the planet that he was an awesome guy, then turned out not to be.
The point is, you keep trying to claim she had poor judgement and made mistakes. We don't know if she exhibited poor judgement or if she made mistakes.
And you also keep putting the blame on her. You say one thing then say the other.