Police investigate possibility of stalker in slain Chiba university student case

what a waste of human life...so sad!

Utter waste of life. Maybe she worked there because she needed money to get through University. So sad that she had to please old men to get an education.

"Investigating the possibility of..."???? There's ZERO to investigate. It obviously WAS a stalker. Well done Keystones. Go out and nab the scum.

If she was in a situation that she was doing this because she NEEDED money, not because she WANTED money, the I sympathize with her and her family.

However if she was just doing this because she was greedy, then she played with fire and got burnt.

I wish that stories like this would discourage young women, especially attractive ones with a good head on her shoulders, would discourage this kind of "easy money" jobs.

I just realized that horrid typo... you get what im trying to say.

Note to self, dont type and try to troubleshoot connections at the same time... train of thought wreckage.

The two friends must have just missed the killer, if the fire hadn't been going for very long.

...but her introduction said she liked to be pursued aggressively and forcefully

It I were a plaintiff's attorney in this country I'd do anything to represent this girl's family in a wrongful death action against her former employer. It appears the place either selected her introduction for her, to say she liked being chased forcefully (or at the very least condoned it by publishing that on its website or storefront), and more importantly, also knew or should have known that customers often pursued the women in a fashion that was "beyond what was acceptable." Slam dunk.

Beautiful girl...how very sad! I teach some men who frequent these clubs very often. I am always amazed at their immaturity and attitude towards the women. This is just entertainment folks...please do not take these relationships as anything meaningful.

Unfortunately, in this country the "industry" that panders to disgusting, sick and weird guys is huge. And young women know that they can make a lot of money living out the fantasies of these dirty old men. Yes, "Darkknghtz", that's a very good point but I'm sure it won't come out at the end of the investigation.

How sick can people be to use a human being to make money in a very cheap way? Demean a young woman, make men chase after her and make money huh? The company managing the business removed her photo and introduction from their website on Sunday, but her introduction said she liked to be pursued aggressively and forcefully

I shall curse the sick idiot who thought out this great idea of publicity.

If she was in a situation that she was doing this because she NEEDED money, not because she WANTED money, the I sympathize with her and her family.

Darkknightz, I have never met a 4th year college student who "needed" money. Those that do generally drop out of school and get a job. But even assuming she simply wanted some extra spending money for a designer bag, does she still not deserve sympathy? She was stalked, probably raped, and murdered. I am not too familiar with the industry but I imagine there are tons of girls who do it and experience no problems like this. It's not like this girl was a crack-addicted prostitute flagging down cars in East Oakland.

I am always amazed at their immaturity and attitude towards the women

I agree with the statement. At least the women know how to bank off it.

her introduction said she liked to be pursued aggressively and forcefully.

Translation: buy me lots of presents

This is very sad, but unfortunately I fear this poor girl won't be the last. The proliferation of snack bars/hostess clubs in this country means scores of women will continue to be viewed as second-class citizens whose role is to relieve older guys' sexual tensions/pervert fantasies. The system is set up for young, attractive girls to fall into this line of work. How else do girls of 18/19 afford designer handbags and expensive clothes? Certainly not through any regular job. Also, if a young girl wants to put herself through years of university, how else can she earn enough money without having to work every waking hour, and thereby ruining her chances of graduating with a good grade? The system is rotten. And it will never change, because 90% of Japanese lawmakers are.....surprise, surprise, old men!

chotto it might not have been a stalker. I could have been random or it might have been someone who just met her. To be called a stalker requires a period of stalking.

What we clearly have is a murderer and an arsonist, two things for the rest of us to be infinitely more worried about.

Sad case, but that goes with the territory when you work in a bar and advertise, or let it be advertised, that you like to be aggressively pursued. Mix in the typically sexually frustrated j-nutter here, and you've got potential for disaster, as this case obviously was.

I hope her family can afford a lawyer to prosecute the bar owner in a wrongful death case as mentioned before.

P.S.

EIGHTY COPS? WTF? Does it take that many to sit around in the koban and wait for this guy to turn himself in?

Why are they assuming it was a man? Could have been a woman lover or a very jealous woman worker from the club.

nikoniko78 wrote: This is very sad, but unfortunately I fear this poor girl won't be the last. The proliferation of snack bars/hostess clubs in this country means...

means nothing. We don't what the motive for her slaying was. Even if it was a simple case of a loser male going after a young attractive female target, neither the young attractive female targets nor the male losers will vanish for the clubs disappearing.

And what make you think they are such a problem anyway? You don't have any statistics showing this is more common in the club industry and Japan is one of safest first world nations going.

I don't see how Japan is any better or worse in this respect. The U.S. has its "Gentleman's Clubs", its lap-dancing, its "escort services" where women end up exploited, abused, and dead with equal or greater frequency.

All reports indicate that this was a hard-working college student who had aspirations to teach (she'd done a summer of intern teaching at her former high school this year, and was praised by the other teachers there), was well-liked, intelligent, and outgoing. Like many part-time "kyaba-kura" hostesses, she probably looked at it as just a job--more lucrative than working at a convenience store, but not particularly risky for someone who thought she could take care of herself.

I suspect in Japanese the "pursued aggressively and forcefully" comes across as somewhat less dramatic than it does in English. "Sekkyokuteki na otoko ga suki" is really a pretty common way of saying you prefer a guy who'll take the lead in things. Unfortunately, in this context it comes across as a marketing-driven invitation to have one's way, something the club owner was no doubt perfectly aware of.

Even 80 officers are unlikely to have much luck, but I hope they find the perpetrator and bring him (the chances of it being a her are slim to none, I think) to justice.

I don't think any of the readers here know what they are talking about. I have never seen "a disgusting old pervert" at such a place, as all customers are quite young men between 20 and 35 and quite good/normal looking. These young women are not working as prostitutes, just drink with you as companions in their club. The best it gets are lingerie clubs where they still just sit with you and dance occasionally - nothing like a strip club though. Stalkers exist everywhere, and this one is no different. I feel sorry for her, but don't blame her for trying to make a little extra money (albeit only about double the normal part-timers hourly wage). Of course eighty Keystone Cops trampling all over her club will ensure the culprit is never found.

About 80 officers have been assigned to the case and many of them are now focusing on the “cabaret club” she worked at three times a week in Ueno.

Yeah, I bet they are focusing on all sorts of caberet clubs, soap lands, telephone clubs, etc. etc.

The two friends must have just missed the killer, if the fire hadn't been going for very long.

I don't mean any disrespect to people who are grieving, but they should be treated as suspects for now.

I suppose it could be a stalker or an obsessive customer... However since there wers no signs of a struggle, it suggests that she knew this person and probably let him into her apartment. (unless she was sleeping or drugged at the time of the attack) The knife wounds being so deep means that this person did not hesitate. It the violent act of raging psycho who most likely knew her. I really hope they catch this man before he hurts someone else. (Yes, I think it is pretty safe to assume that the person is man because most violent murderers and almost all arsonists are men)

Needless to say no one deserves to die and especially not like this but she was in the Adult Industry. Rough industry and a lot of sh*t happens.

Hope they catch the evil that committed this. Brutal murder, regardless.

Well, it is very dangerous milieu and anyone who steps inside, should be fully aware of possible terrible consequences. I don’t think that the system is rotten, if some women prefer to earn easy money- it is their choices, but again, they have to live with consequences.

marshka: I believe it is the system. Globally, Japan has the lowest percentage of women in upper managerial positions(at 7%). It's not that women 'prefer' to make easy money in sex industries. They have fewer options here. If they work at a typical Japanese company, they will never be promoted to higher-level, higher-paying jobs. So it's understandable why some women might choose to do this type of work. If women had more opportunites, then there would be much fewer of these kinds of clubs and university students like this girl would probably be working in restaurants or retail. A much safer environment than a cabaret club.

Her parents must be crushed...

Dolphingirl: agree and not agree:) I still strongly believe that human beings always make a choice in a life. Some prefer to work in a grocery shop, get very small amount of money ( no designers bag etc), some prefer to make quick money. Again, maybe they think they have to do it, but in fact, it is a matter of personal choice, as longer as they haven’t been pushed to work there. Agreed that in Japan women are not promoted, can not do career. In this aspect there is a part of society’s responsibility.

Even if her murder was connected to her job, what does that matter? What if this woman were a firefighter, or police? Would we be justifying her murder then? Those jobs are dangerous too, shouldn't those women expect to be burned in a fire or murdered on the job, too? I'm pretty sure no poster would make comments like the ones I'm reading here in those cases, though. Who cares if she was a kyabakura? She knew the risks? What a ridiculous justification. This is Japan, women take risks walking down the street here. We need to stop giving these criminals excuses! It's never okay to murder a woman, no matter what her job is. Her job was only risky because criminals prey on women in these jobs, and they do this because we tell them that it's okay to prey on women like this. Every time we say something callous like "She should have known the risks" or "Well, she did work in a cabaret..." we give unstable men an excuse to murder women because they're not "good" women, so no one will miss them. We need to stop giving sickos a free pass on crimes like this. This woman had every right to live her life and have her safety guaranteed, no matter what her job was.

I hope they catch whoever murdered her and send a message with this case. Especially if it was a customer.

no, we dont give an excuse to murder, we just simply say "because criminals prey on women in these jobs"

I for one would like to know just how seedy this snack bar is. Anyone have the lowdown? I've been to one or two of these places and my experience was not what I expected. I went with two teachers (one a woman) and my girlfriend (who became my wife) and it seemed just like any normal tiny bar albeit with a young (not overly attractive) woman to pour beer and light smokes for people. It was hardly the den of iniquity that I had heard. Mind you I have been outside of places known to hire a lot of filippinas and to be honest it looked quite whorish. Do the women deserve better or worse treatment for working at such places? No. But the degeneracy of the clients may be judged. Still, I am surprised that an aspiring teacher would want to work at any such place. Just imagine what would have happened had one of the PTA members stumbled across her in her evening position. Sadly, it probably would have made an even bigger scandal in their lives.

despite the article saying "adult entertainment business," using the words "adult industry" is not fair to her. We all know what "adult industry" means in English and her job is just drinking and flirting for money. It's not fair to lump those together.

Actually in some japanese media the story has been reported that the boyfriend of the friend arrived to the crime scene before the friend, and that he should reportedly have been discovering what was going on. At least thats what my japanese friend said, and she said it sounded suspiciously as if the boyfriend might have been involved. But this is just second hand knowledge, i havent read those articles myself.

There are sooooooooooo many types of bars that caters to people with different services. If the dead girl might have specialized in "aggessive" service, then it sounds likely that she might have ended up with a costumer following her home and went over the edge. I have once spoken to a japanese prostitute myself who started her work in a "Kyabakura", and it is the reality that many young women that start a job in a kyabakura later on in life continue in a more seedy place. There are actually a few good books and reports out about the subject. So there is more to it often than just "drinking and talking" in many cases. But it depends on the clab and depends on the girl.

Teaching English is also a profession where stalkers and possibly murderers can strike. This girl was a university student working a part-time job in a club. Brantastik don't be so quick to put down women who work in mizushobai business after all there wouldn't be this kind of business without the men who demand it.

Women who work in mizushobai CHOOSE to do so. As with any other "risky" job, bad things can happen. It is really sad that this happened, but the likelihood of something going wrong would have been much less with a less risky part time job.

In my opinion anyway, the blame against men for the existence of these type of services is is misplaced. If women were not willing to provide the service(s) for the pay offered, it wouldnt exist, bottom line. Just because men "demand" something, do women HAVE to do it? nope, doesnt work like that- anyone can choose another line of employment.

Women who have no desire to actually work a real job for a living have found they can get paid more to do this kind of stuff, so they choose to. Sometimes it works out, but in this case it was a sad (and fatal) mistake. At least I hope they catch the person who did this so they cant do it again.

Anything that doesn't require a resume or an application to get it and/or anything that has the only skill requirement being something that isn't even a skill (i.e "be female") to me isnt a real job. Also anything that you have to hide from your parents that you are doing or that you cant mention at a party when someone says "what do you do?"

I think we all kinda know what is a "job" and what is "a way to get money" and the difference between the two?

I really don't understand how people can say that women 'choose' this type of work and are somehow responsible for the whole sex industry. I also don't think it is fair at all to imply that this woman was partly at fault for getting murdered because she chose a risky job. If this had been a man murdered who happened to be a taxi driver or a convenience store worker, his job probably wouldn't even be an issue.

dolphingirl:Did someone push her to do it? If not, then it was a choice. I think everybody understands there is not an excuse for such awful criminal act, but being in certain milieu (where ladies are just chatting and flirting nothing else;)) make a person higher exposure to the certain risks which might occur in this “work” field

blacklable et al,

Even bona fide prostitutes do not deserve to be murdered. They lady was killed in her house. Outside of that, it doesn’t matter one bit what she did for a living. The fact is someone made the choice to stab her to death. That is the only thing that should matter. Who cares what she did for a living, poring drinks or even more, which I am guessing she did not do. In the end we cannot excuse murder for any reason!

Exactly, people get stalked in many professions (teaching is a big example) and being stalked is not a choice.

And an interesting trend is hostessing and selling bottle service is becoming quite popular here in the US. The legitimate form of this is definitely not an adult service.

does everyone remember the "stalker" craze in the mid 90s, i think there was even a couple of TV Dramas on the subject there is no question that mizushobai increases exposure to such activities, just like walking through Times Square with 100 dollar bills hanging out of your pocket makes you more likely to be mugged neither deserves but a once of precaution is worth a kilo of cure

ounce of precaution is better than a pound of cure mate