Man dies after being pierced in eye by umbrella last month

More like stabbed....(nice to see a follow-up here though)

What is the difference between 'accidental injury resulting in death' and involuntary manslaughter in this case then? Accidental injury makes it sound like the guy was rock climbing or and fell when he was just struck by a colleague.

This is a horrible way to go. And the comments by some of the posters before were disgusting.

It must have been quite a forceful stab to go through the eye and into the brain! Drinking doesn't excuse violent behavior. They guy should do serious time for this.

They were arguing, and one used his umbrella as a weapon.

Was that really an accidental use of the umbrella?

Accidental? The guy drove and umbrella through the victim's eye and reached his brain. You don't do that by accident and certainly not using a bit of strength. I'm so sorry for the guy who died. Like Pukey said, that's a horrible way to go.

Looking at the broader picture here - thhus was an argument between two employees, right? Japan has a serious lack of support available for those dealing with work-related stress. You just don't get this sort of thing in other countries, as most companies have an HR department that actually does something. Alcohol or not, this tragedy could've been avoided if the work dynamic here wasn't so messed up. It's seriously dysfunctional. I've spoken to therapists in the field and even they have no idea what's going on - and also lack governmental support. Let's not go down that rabbit hole...

RIP

@GrungeHamsterJUL. 13, 2015 - 08:31AM JST What is the difference between 'accidental injury resulting in death' and involuntary manslaughter in this case then? Accidental injury makes it sound like the guy was rock climbing or and fell when he was just struck by a colleague.

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You are right, It is not accidental injury, He stabbed forcefully to pierce to brain, If he was opening umb and it hit someone;s face, accidentally hit. In this case he purposedly stabbed. In many such cases, prosecutors just try to charge manslaughter so that plea bargain comes, it adds involuntary but not in priliminary stage.

Injury accidentally resulting in death, I could understand. But accidental injury? I was under the impression that he had hit him intentionally. Was this assumption incorrect?

my guess is that he actually didn't ram the umbrella through the man's eye. he was pointing it at his face/eye when something happend. how else could you not get involuntary manslaughter?

A bit different, but i have almost had my eye taken out by careless umbrella wielders on the pavements of Tokyo.

You'd think educated, professional, men with careers would behave and show better business/ social etiquette among their peers. The guy here featured in this story is an Engineer for crying out loud.

" You just don't get this sort of thing in other countries, as most companies have an HR department that actually does something. "

No, we get people going completely mad, bringing guns to work and slaughtering everyone in sight.

Alcohol was involved. That explains everything.

”accidental injury resulting in death"? This was no accident.

"You'd think educated, professional, men with careers would behave and show better business/ social etiquette among their peers. The guy here featured in this story is an Engineer for crying out loud."

it used to be...

Educated? He is just an engineer. Bachelor degreed people are dime a dozen in Japan. He is just an engineer. trade trained person. Report does not mention shape of top of umbrella.

If Hokaido, small fish, rice, mizo soup, vegetable or sort of, and water. no fat people in that prison. If they send him elsewhere he gets a bit menu up status.

Alcohol was involved. That explains everything.

Careful, many posters equate an explanation of the circumstances as an excuse for the behavior, and get all freaked out.

Sorry, but accident it was not. Intentional murder, no, and so I think involuntary manslaughter would suffice. If he had swung his umbrella, hit the guy in the head, and he fell and the FALL, for example, put him in a coma and he died, I could understand it. But to have had his eye socket and brain pierced by the tip of the umbrella would require an intentional stabbing of pretty decent accuracy (especially when drunk). No accident there, except that the man probably did not intend to kill, only to injure.

The Japanese John Steed! Deadly with an umbrella!!

@smith

I think Sherlock Holmes would have deduced, from the time of the event, that the guy was absolutely hammered Nd therefore quite incapable of stabbing the victim deliberately in the eye.

That time of night, I can't get my key in the door. Heck, I can't get my sorry arse up the path to the door.

No way it was deliberate.

Pointing sharp objects at someone's face makes it hard to argue "accident."

Public intoxication to this level should be punishable by law. Send them and every other drunk to the drunk tank for the night, slap them with a fine in the morning, and you'll solve a lot of groper "accidents" too.

Well I didn't mean to start an argument whether or not this person intended to kill or cause harm to his coworker. I was just confused by the wording of the article as it could have easily been something that was lost in translation perhaps. It could even be that the definition of laws related to incidents like this are different.

Its should at least be manslaughter if not murder- its not easy to accidentally hit someone in the eye so hard that it penetrates the brain. What a misleading title- it should something like umbrella penetrates brain and causes death. Eye is bad and might lose the eye but it would extremely unlikely to kill.

When it rains, it pours. Soory for both victims.

So close to retirement and this idiot throws it all away.

@@JapanGalJUL. 13, 2015 - 08:10PM JST When it rains, it pours. Soory for both victims.

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Who is another victim?

WOW!

Was that really an accidental use of the umbrella?

The translation of 傷害致死罪 to 'accidental injury resulting in death' is rather misleading. It doesn't mean the injury was accidental - it means there was no intent to cause death (it doesn't exclude that there was intent to injure). Effectively he has been charged with the equivalent of manslaughter.

The translation of 傷害致死罪 to 'accidental injury resulting in death' is rather misleading. It doesn't mean the injury was accidental - it means there was no intent to cause death (it doesn't exclude that there was intent to injure). Effectively he has been charged with the equivalent of manslaughter.

Thanks for the additional information. I should have looked that up myself. Seeing the Japanese, I can say that the translation is not a very good one. I wonder if it's official.

lucabrasi: "I think Sherlock Holmes would have deduced, from the time of the event, that the guy was absolutely hammered Nd therefore quite incapable of stabbing the victim deliberately in the eye."

So, in your opinion he was just poking the sharp end of the umbrella at his face by accident? because regardless of whether his aim was off or not because he was drunk, he clearly was still stabbing at the guy, and at best then it was a complete fluke he hit the mark. Zorken's explanation makes more sense and is more in line with what people are saying.

@smith

No. I think he poked his friend deliberately in the face. The fact that the umbrella went into his eye is the part that's accidental. He'd have to be a trained fencer otherwise.

"I was drunk, so I don't remember doing it"

intentionally ...... that is not accidentally ...

@oken: Thank you for writing in Japanese. Shogai Chi shi. Usaually used to fighting that resulted in Death. Often yakuza fighting that resulted death of a opponent member Verdct on trial sentencing is usually equinrtent of murder

Bearing in mind also that Japanese tend to strike not lunge like fencers, even if they are sober, and that the umbrella was one of the (usually cheap clear) vinyl ones, it may be the case that the strike coincided with the colleague's advance onto the umbrella which would have been near invisible.