Man arrested over death of elderly man who rebuked him for ignoring red light

Jeeze. In front of his kid even. Horrible.

punched Komaki in the face, knocking him to the ground, Komaki suffered a fractured skull

Wow, he's strong! :o

I'm glad they caught this dangerous psychopath, I didn't think they would. I would say 30 years in the Big House would be the right punishment.Let's hope his son - age unknown - also faces some serious jail time as an accomplice. Rest in Peace, poor old man.

Simply ask the person as to if they are a member of the police force or in any other way equipped through license or law to be questioning your decision to cross a road --undoubtedly safely-- when they reply, 'No', move on, ignore.

Its very sad that someone died out of this... But being abused for crossing a road on a red light? In other countries that would almost always result in a fight.

Too bad for his son who will see his old man go to jail or who knows here in Japan. I wish those who run red lights take this to heart. As a driver, I'm cautiously aware of bicycles and pedestrians doing that without caring for their safety. But there are weak laws in this country as everyone knows which puts the blame on the driver not the red light running nut.

But being abused for crossing a road on a red light? In other countries that would almost always result in a fight

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Yes and in other countries, your ass would be ran over.

How is someone being pissed that you are walking against the red light lead you to believe that this is "abuse"?

Now did the guy not make it all the way across and the light changed red and the old guy said something? We will never know.

Could have been the same guy who hurled abuse at me a couple of months ago when I mistakenly crossed on a red. It was my mistake - I was looking at the wrong light at a kind of confusing junction - but instead of a simple "excuse me, the light is red" the old geezer went ballistic, screaming at me, calling me all the names under the sun. To be honest Im surprised he didnt polish himself off with a heart attack or stroke the way he was carrying on. Not the punching in the head type, I just watched with shock initially, eventually bemusement, moved onto amusement and finally just gave up and walked off laughing. Im surprised the guy didnt knock me to the ground. He was still ranting at me when I was 30 metres down the road.

Jack, he didn't run a red light. He was a pedestrian crossing the road with his son.

The old guy who told him off got punched, but hit his head on the sidewalk/pavement as he fell. Now that is very unlucky. They'll have a hard time proving murderous intent.

A red light for walking?! The old man sounds like a nut! Shame he wasn't a cop and dealing with drivers!

Sympathy to all involved. Poor dead man, poor son and poor guy who accidentally killed someone I've something so stupid.

While not at all condoning violence and certainly not this horrible incident, people in Japan often deem themselves capable of correcting and admonishing others with an extremely entitled attitude. If I went around getting into other peoples business no doubt the ratio of altercations I would be involved in would also go up. These old geezers are often drunk and looking for trouble, and because Japan is historically safe and respectful of the elderly, they have not developed that sort of street sense that would remind you that you are insulting others.

Too bad for his son who will see his old man go to jail

Good for his son his father goes to jail before his mother or he will be the next. Whatever the old man did this reaction was cruel, the old man was not life-threatening.

Sometimes, I meet some strange guys like that old volunteer educator at the traffic light, unless they go physical that require self defense, there is no reason to batter about. A few quick steps away and the old huffing fellow stays alone frothing at the mouth and my life goes on fine. One minute and I don't even remember. Who cares, I don't even know who he was. :-D

If he ignored the red crosswalk it seems he could have ingored the old git yelling about it.

During police questioning Yamane was quoted as saying he lost his temper when he was rebuked by Komaki,

Another weakling with out the brain power to exercise some proper SELF CONTROL, this ace hole also lacks discipline, social behaviour skills, road sense and a few other things. Lock him up for 10 years and educate him on anti social behaviour.

Too many of these self entitled over privledged types who think thay are above the law, better than other members of society and use violence when they dont like something or things dont go their way.

Teach this barstool some manners and respect in prison.

Now dad has a criminal record and the guilt of having killed someone add to that the child's trauma - a bad situation

This 48 year old jackass sounds well like a total nut case, but he is responsible for the death of this poor old man who told him not to cross a red light?? Any normal adult would just ignore the old guy and keep on walking, but me thinks this 48 year old idiot, probably had many many other issues, not just red lights and old people telling him what to do. RIP old dude

This old man should have tried yelling at j-walkers in New York! lol And hey, it's not the punch to the face that killed him it was the knock on the ground. It's the pavement manufacturer that needs to be sued, not the guy who punched him. It was self-defense.

Any normal adult would just ignore the old guy and keep on walking

Is there such a thing as a "normal adult"?

it's not the punch to the face that killed him it was the knock on the ground. It's the pavement manufacturer that needs to be sued

Maybe it was the old man who killed himself by asking for trouble at first place. Old abuser, once things went wrong and he didn't even have time to apologize, but a capital punishment (even a punch) for a yelling is a bit to harsh. Everybody knows if you punch an old man in the face, it's the end of the game. Would have he dared to punch a strong-built and young guy for the same? What would the court decide and say? We will see.

Sadly, I have seen this kind of thing quite regularly, although not resulting in death. Many times I have seen a loopy senior jump in to hassle someone younger about their manners and they are extremely agressive. Just the other day I saw an old guy on the train abusing everyone for not sitting close enough together. One semi-senior intervened to calm him down and the old coot wanted to fight him. Just watch your P's and Q's people. There are plenty of nutters out there waiting for an excuse to snap.

However, on the other hand, this guy should not have belted the old fella. He should have just walked away. Now, he is going to the 'Happy House' for a bit of cool off time.

Sad incident and I don't think anyone is truly to blame.

Yeah, the guy shouldn't have snapped and punched him but it sounds like the guy fell wrong. This happened to a good friend of mine spend 10yrs in the big house due to a similar incident(verbal conflict outside a pub and the he slugged was 20yrs old and died from concussion due to hitting the curb).

As for "Self Defence" read up on the legal definition(your local laws) of Self Defence vs a Fight and understand why 95% of all Self Defence claims are thrown out of court as they don't pass the Litmus test.

People forget that the real life is not a Dojo/Kwoon or a Movie, whatever you do has repercussions(some can be deadly).

What a classy guy..I hope he gets life!

Are you kidding me? Are we all ignoring the fact that this man is almost 80 years old?? He might be completely senile! Did he really deserve to be punched in the face by someone 30 years younger just for warning him about crossing on a red? I run into senior citizens who like to lecture people all the time, but the best thing to do to calm them down is just say you're sorry and it will never happen again (even if you don't mean it)...at least that way they feel that they won the argument and they'll leave you alone.

I'm sorry, but the 48 year old deserved no sympathy for killing a senior citizen and really should be locked away!

The old man might have had a bad day, and picked on the wrong guy who was having a bad day too. RIP Grandpa

Who appointed this old fool to traffic enforcement? Nobody. He should have minded his own business. Now a man is going to face charges for involuntary homicide, when his intention was to just remind him of the virtues of Japanese ritual politeness.

I was rebuked for doing the same thing a few months ago. I was happy because the man assumed I understood Japanese unlike so many others who assume that I don't.

@ "Disillusioned"

"Sadly, I have seen this kind of thing quite regularly, although not resulting in death. Many times I have seen a loopy senior jump in to hassle someone younger about their manners and they are extremely aggressive. Just the other day I saw an old guy on the train abusing everyone for not sitting close enough together. One semi-senior intervened to calm him down and the old coot wanted to fight him. Just watch your P's and Q's people. There are plenty of nutters out there waiting for an excuse to snap."

I agree that I've seen a lot of pre snappers. One old lady and an old man got into it near a supermarket- both looked like they had blood in their eyes...but I just kept going....us gaigins have enough to worry about here in J-land.

Nicky: Sorry to hear about the old man who flew off the handle at you. Maybe it was the same guy, maybe not -- in any case it's a prime example of what the suspect, and the dozens of similar cases you read about every couple of months in Japan. People fly off the handle WAY to easily at the smallest of things, never thinking for a second where it's going to take them. Do these people not realize that PRISON isn't going to calm their tempers any? What kind of example has this set for the man's son in this case?

The bottom line is there there needs to be a better outlet for people who have a lot of pent up stress: be they the old man in Nicky's story, this guy who killed the old men in this case, or anyone else on the verge of snapping for whatever reason, and there needs to be better help for those who simply can't get rid of the stress through everyday methods.

nisegaijin

This old man should have tried yelling at j-walkers in New York! lol And hey, it's not the punch to the face that killed him it was the knock on the ground. It's the pavement manufacturer that needs to be sued, not the guy who punched him. It was self-defense.

What ? Might as well sue the company who made the trafiic signals too for installing a red light, just think if they didnt make the red light none of this would have happened.

Sheesh some people really have no clue.

the old geezer definitely didn't deserve to die over this though, but sometimes karma is a b****.

When I see people acting like cretins in public it is my custom to tell them so. Most of them react like I'm the dangerous psychopath.

I am flabbergasted that some commentators here actually try to excuse the perp. Murdering an old gy in front of your kid for the crime of.... making a remark?? Good grief, what a twisted perspective.

Where I grew up, old folks were always keeping us younger ones in line. We used to call certain 'nosy' neighbours 'curtain twitichers'. Yeah, they annoyed the hell out of folk but most people just dealt with it with a quick apology while muttering inwardly 'old fart'! This gentleman was nearly 80. The forty something chap should have had a lot more control. Violence begets violence. I am guessing a lot more than some old dude getting on about a red light was simmering here.

I've seen plenty of folk here admonishing others without using their heads or people skills. I saw an old gentleman only this morning having a go at a young girl who was jaywalking across a road texting. He was quite right to have a go but the way he was doing it would have gotten Mother Teresa's knickers in a twist. She was in the wrong but wouldn't accept it. No sense of responsibility there. Mind you, morning rush hour isn't the most conductive time for a little bit of a 'verbal spanking'.

On another note, it is getting a little sad if people doing something wrong or dangerous cannot be pulled up about it. In my younger days back home, that is how it used to work. Nowadays everyone is getting afraid to say anything for fear of being punched or god only knows what else.

" The nosy old know-it-all died, but its hardly murder. That part was an accident.. "

Unbelievable. I can believe the sort of company I am in here. Punching people in the face for the crime of... making a remark??

Whatever happened to the concepts of self-control?

Punching anyone is a criminal offence so of course slugging some one out side the pub makes you a criminal, unbelievable how some try to justify violence.

And most defintely in this case the 40 year old is guilty of assault causing death.

EE.

As I said read the law-books and read the court transcripts, not all that clear from the article.. Neither of us were there so the real evidence is in the court transcripts.

And you would get a surprise how the law views things different from the average person in the road or what they perceive are their rights and they can do legally.

It is entirely possible that if the young guy had been alone, the older guy would have said nothing at all. It was probably the fact that he was showing a bad example to his son that made him admonish the father. The young twit in turn probably didn't like to be told off in front of his son. Just conjecture though.

Either way, punching people is a bad idea most of the time, and particularly if the punching bag is not much younger than Kinsan and Ginsan...

WilliB.

If that is true it makes you a way better person than most of the humans out there. Kudos.

I can't guarantee what I would do under a certain given set of circumstances and I been trained in the military and MA but again kudos to you that you will always have 100% of control regardless of what happens. Truly a super-human and way better than the people around you.

I am saddened quite a bit by reading some of the comments here by people complaining about the older gentlemen's actions in admonishing the 48 year old man for breaking the traffic safety law. He did nothing wrong and I would hope that someone like him would do the same if it were me doing something similar particularly if I had a child with me.

The father showed poor judgement to say the least in crossing against the light, and also was setting a very poor example for his son, no matter what his age is.

It takes a village to raise a child, and with incidents like this and because of people like the 48 yr, old that others will stop and reconsider before maybe saving someone else's life.

Another nutter.

The father showed poor judgement to say the least in crossing against the light, and also was setting a very poor example for his son, no matter what his age is.

@Yubaru: I am in complete agreement with you.

I feel so sorry for the son, he's the one who will ultimately have deal with this sad situation, both socially and financially. The father should have used more common sense and deferred to a cranky old man. Now there are two families that have been ruined by this senseless tragedy.

Its me:

" If that is true it makes you a way better person than most of the humans out there. Kudos. "

I am a way better person than most humans because I do not punch out octogenerians on the street because they say something to me???

Good grief, what a view of humanity.

@Yubaru:

Same feeling here. I can not believe the attitude that some are showing here.

Josh W Keller:

The attacker is 48. I do not call that "elderly".

To whoever posted this:

*the old geezer definitely didn't deserve to die over this though, but sometimes karma is a b*****

Seriously? You must have one weird idea about karma.

If the younger / middle-aged guy was so bothered by what the man did he could have just kept on walking. There was absolutely no reason to have attacked the man, none. I'm not a pacifist, I don't like people yelling at me and would probably have been annoyed with the older man too. However, unless he'd grabbed me or gotten physical in any way, there's no way I would have punched him and I wouldn't want to be friends or family with anyone who would have. That's not superhuman or perfection. It's simple self-control and human decency. Yes, it's indecent to go around punching people who say things you disagree with, even if they shout those disagreements. I can't even imagine how mortified I'd have been if I were a kid and my father had punched someone who yelled at him. My father was not the gentlest person in the world but even he would never have done something like that. Seriously, what's wrong with people that they can find a reason to explain this kind of reprehensible behavior? How many times have I read posts in the past where people bemoan the fact that Japanese look the other way when someone does something wrong? Well, is it any wonder with people such as Mr. Yamane running around and so many willing to defend him.

Wow.... what a temper... mmmmmm a anti-social group member? A Chimpira?

Could have been the same guy who hurled abuse at me a couple of months ago when I mistakenly crossed on a red.

I had such an experience too. There were no cars at all, no bicycles, nothing...so I crossed on red light and one man shouted abuse at me. I do not know why people get so furious if you do not endanger anybody. Some traffic lights are useless. If the street is too narrow and there are traffic lights on every corner, very inconvenient.

Anyway, the man shouldn't have losses his temper, or at least he could have shouted back, no need to punch an elderly man in front of his kid.

Road rage pedestrians...What's going Japan? I can't fathom letting go of my child, fighting or even arguing aloud. He has traumatised the child and ruined so many lives in a senseless act. What a violent man.

I'm not taking the side of the violent middle aged man by any means...who knows what was going on there. I was just saying I am glad the osekkai old geezer is dead. There's a big difference.