Police in Tokyo have arrested a 70-year-old man who caused a ruckus on a Japan Airlines (JAL) flight in August and kicked two female flight attendants.
According to police, Yoshitoshi Aida was aboard a domestic JAL flight on Aug 2, heading to Haneda from Aomori Airport when he refused to fasten his seat belt, yelled at and kicked the two female flight attendants before the aircraft landed at around 9:30 p.m., Fuji TV reported Tuesday.
The flight attendants, aged 31 and 24, sustained injuries that required two to three weeks to heal.
Police said Aida was drunk at the time of the incident. He was arrested on Sunday but has refused to divulge any details by stating, “I’m not talking until a lawyer arrives.”
© Japan Today
48 Comments
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maybeperhapsyes
So many if's, but's and why's to this story, I don't know where to start.
One thing I don't get is what kind of kick requires 2 to 3 weeks to recover from?
It wasn't Mr Miyagi was it?
Thunderbird2
Ah, another elderly Japanese gent who thinks it's fine to abuse people when he can't get his own way. At least he's not saying he doesn't remember because he was drunk... so he's just a curmudgeonly old git who gets his jollies being a bully.
Toasted Heretic
I'm not sure why age comes into this. The man was drunk. Drunks shouldn't be allowed on the plane.
kohakuebisu
Poor ladies.
Hope he gets a proper punishment, not a suspended sentence. They are basically the same as getting off.
garypen
The kind that gives you a valid excuse to take some paid medical leave from work.
albaleo
That's a new one.
That could be anything from a bruised shin to a broken fingernail.
gogogo
What a serious baby.
Gorramcowboy
I would have stomped this guy out and claimed self-defense.
taj
Is he also suffering dementia? It's hard to imagine how else such behavior is possible - even from a drunk. Utterly ridiculous.
boogah
“I’m not talking until a lawyer arrives.”
this dude must have lived in the US or something.
Toasted Heretic
Violence is always the answer. Especially when it comes to possible dementia.
pacint
Not sure exactly what went down, not sure if it was dementia.
As for putting him down and claiming self-defence, 90+% of self-defence claims are thrown out in court or earlier. Move on onto Jail don't stop.
Daniel Naumoff
A case of old retard die hard... A shame, of course. Hope he is banned from flying, drinking too.
Toasted Heretic
True. As per usual, we are not furnished with all the details. Nothing excuses that behaviour but I can tell you from my experience that sufferers from dementia/alzheimer's can be prone to irrational sometimes violent behaviour. Lashing out at loved ones or strangers due to frustration/confusion.
Stomping them, calling them retards and so on is really unhelpful. Not that you have said that, pacint.
Luddite
Drunks are supposed to be refused boarding, it rarely happens as it means delaying the plane while they remove the offending person's luggage. I get extremely nervous when I see someone under the influence on a plane, they can be dangerous but unlike elsewhere you can't avoid them.
lostrune2
What, are their skirts not short enough or something?
(It's known that drunks are friendly to skirts)
Yubaru
ANd here in Japan you would have been arrested and taken into custody for assault, and gotten into worse trouble that the guy who started it all.
Know where you are and the law, before putting your foot in your mouth.
Myhumbletake
He seems like an “upstanding” oyaji.
ZainichiOnna
Seems I’m not the only one having issues with (passive) aggressive japanese old men!
Dango bong
then
hmmm wasn't that like 3 months ago?
Dango bong
blame everything on his poor sickness. no way. that doesnt help the ladies who got kicked, beat the old turd senseless then maybe he will rethink his behaviour. either that or put him in a looney bin where he beloengs, not mixing with normal people in public
Gorramcowboy
Whatever the case is, somebody should have stepped in after the first attendant was kicked.
Some of you here would rather talk this clown down, good on ya. I prefer efficiency in such situations.
Toasted Heretic
And when someone you love develops the disease will you be as callous? I think not, young man.
If it is alzheimers or dementia, it doesn't excuse what he did but it should certainly be taken into consideration.
Toasted Heretic
Without knowing the facts?
Just start stomping. Until you get all that rage out, eh?
Chris Mair
Drunk enough to assault the flight attendants, but sober enough to ask for his lawyer?
Educator60
Chris MairToday 08:18 pm JST
“Drunk enough to assault the flight attendants, but sober enough to ask for his lawyer?”
The alleged drunken assault took place in August The arrest was on November 26. Plenty of time to sober up between.
clamenza
Another old fart over 60 who can't stand taking orders from a woman.
Pukey2
I hope he's put on a no-fly list permanently. That's what they do to unruly passengers in China.
WA4TKG
I once had some idiot such as this kicking the back of my seat on the way back from Singapore.
Apparently, he didn't approve of my t-shirt with all the "Don't to THIS, don't do THAT" signs on it (Red Circle with a line through it) that you see in Singapore. I informed the attendent to either get him to stop this, or I was going to kick HIM a few times....it stopped.
smithinjapan
Pukey2: "I hope he's put on a no-fly list permanently. That's what they do to unruly passengers in China"
Not just that, he should be charged with two counts of assault, counts of endangering the lives of those on the airplane, a number of charges relating to drunkenness, and any other possible charges that can apply, not to mention fines and compensation to the women he assaulted.
smithinjapan
I've seen these idiots who won't wear seat belts countless times, and some like to lie down on the seats if the ones next to them are empty. Japanese are amongst the worst offenders when it comes to not buckling up (and staying buckled up).
Cosmos1
When a person refuses to buckle up and starts kicking , it is time to introduce the life vest which is under the seat.
Flight drill announcement " life preservers can be strung together to form a straight jacket in the event of a ........."
Daniel Naumoff
I fathom not how ignorantly some call for dementia, when he was sane ("sane") enough to avoid escalating the situation for himself and used "not wrong until lawyer comes" right. I guess calling him retard was bad of me, misleading, gomen. GOMEN. He is a piece of scum. Hope that is more clear.
CaptDingleheimer
The most incredible part of this story is that he knew his rights and actually stood up for them.
wtfjapan
nobody should defend this guy , it doesn't matter if the flight attendants where rude or whatever, the instant he assaulted one women, then another he lost any excuses he had. JAL and the women should file official complaints to the police for assault and this moron should be sent to court to face justice.
OssanAmerica
Rather astonishing (and frightening) that in this day and age of over-the-top security measures, boarding passengers aren't checked if they are drunk, potentially leading to an incident like this one at the least, and conceivably much much worse. If this idiot can't be charged criminally, and I believe he can, he should be sued in civil court and end up supporting his two innocent victims for a few decades.
thetoleratedone
I wonder why the male passenger was violent towards the the two female flight attendants. I know from experience female JAL flight attendants can be very rude, snobbish, arrogant and condescending but that is no excuse for violence. Make a complaint when you get on the ground or just do not fly with them.
sensei258
Because he is 70, they felt obligated to protect his dignity and call what he did "Causing a rukus", because that doesn't sound as bad as what it really was...assault and battery.
sensei258
You can't br refused boarding for being intoxicated (they sell alcohol on the plane don't they) unless you are behaving badly
Tokyo-Engr
@Sensei - I have actually seen someone refused boarding for being intoxicated. They were not misbehaving but they were literally staggering. This was on an Asiana flight departing Japan. The guy put up a bit of resistance at first but did not get belligerent. (I would not have wanted to sit next to that guy)
My experience flying JAL has been the opposite of above. They have never been rude and I have watched them put up with some awful crap with a smile on their face. I think maybe that is part of the problem.
Gorramcowboy
@Toasted HereticNov. 28 07:49 pm JST
Without knowing the facts?
Just start stomping. Until you get all that rage out, eh?
Not sure where you get the idea but no rage whatsoever. As somebody has posted above, as soon as he physically assaulted the flight attendant, a women no less, any decent guy should have stood up and stepped in to defuse the situation. If he's getting physical due to intoxication you'll be sure I'll do what it takes to subdue this guy.
@maybeperhapsyes I'm sure any hard kick around the knee joint could take weeks to heal. Could have injured the surrounding tendons or ligaments. Could have hyperextended the knee joint. Who knows?
Just a user
Did a survey did you?
lomae
Thunderbird2Nov. 28 04:19 pm JST
This is the most British thing I've read in some time haha!
It seems many older people regress into prepubescent behaviour unfortunately.
Scrote
I want to know why JAL waited three months before having this guy arrested. The police should have been waiting at the terminal to take him away.
toshiko
He probably has experiences of being arrested before. Not necessary in USA. Japanese courts provides court appointed defense attorneys free.
Luddite
You can be refused boarding if under the influence. It's part of civil aviation law. They can also refuse to serve you alcohol on the flight, it's not a right. It's also why you are not allowed to drink your own booze on board.
As I said earler, those who are intoxicated are regularly allowed to board otherwise the plane will be delayed while their luggage is removed. The airlines just leave their cabin crew and other passengers to deal with the consequences, which is unacceptable.
pacint
It's sad that anyone would promote violence as a means to end violence
So true. Violence IMO should be the last resort, usually advocated by People that can only see/know violence as a conflict resolution.
Marcofantyn Alfonso
what a lowlife old twat.yucks.
kicked flight attendant ???