crime

Woman assaulted, robbed on street in Hiroshima town

29 Comments

A 22-year-old woman was assaulted and robbed while on her way home from work in Saka, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Sunday morning.

According to police, the victim suffered head injuries and had her bag containing about 35,000 yen, driver's license and cell phone stolen, NTV reported.

Police said the incident occurred at around 12:25 a.m. The woman was quoted by police as saying she was walking home when she was grabbed from behind by a man who beat her about the head several times before fleeing with her bag.

The assailant was described as being between 40-50 years of age, about 170 cms tall, of medium build and dressed in black.

The woman was taken to hospital where she was treated for her head injuries and was released later Sunday morning, police said.

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29 Comments
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Insane! why are so many women being attacked recently :(

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Safety Japan? Not any more! Wake up people! There are many freaks and undesirables out there ready to take advantage of anyone stupid enough to put themselves in the position where they can become a victim!

-13 ( +8 / -21 )

This, as a top story of the day, just makes me feel safer in Japan. Not many countries can get away as lightly as a "today a woman got roughed up a bit and her purse stolen"

9 ( +11 / -2 )

So, Disillusioned, you are saying this is the woman’s fault? For…going home from work?

8 ( +10 / -2 )

Disillusioned:

" Safety Japan? Not any more! "

To the contrary. The fact that this is national news shows you that "Safety Japan" is very much for real. In most countries in the world, including the modern Western world, a simple mugging would hardly make to more than a one-liner buried back in the local pages, if at all.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

Agreed with the above poster. This must happen hundreds if not thousands of times a day in Europe alone. My 80-yr-old step-mother has been attacked repeatedly in this way in London and Toulouse.

Extraordinary to see this making national news in Japan; this to me is a mark of how safe it really is here..

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Nandakandamanda, do you realize that you just compared a country (Japan) to a continent (Europe)? As for this being national news, it does show how safe Japan is but the coverage of crime here is nowhere near as comprehensive as in most western countries.

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

@Disillusioned...So she was "stupid" for walking down a public street??? Your very comment shows who is "stupid"...

6 ( +6 / -0 )

What a wonderful country!

A woman is assaulted and robbed and it's in the headlines.

In the U.S.A. it wouldn't even make the newspapers.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

I agree with everyone else below, it's thought provoking that this makes the headline. Here someone has to get shot at, as the minimum to make any headlines.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

She must have been really pissed off.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Bertie is right. In USA, local gun battles do not make national headline. I live in a peaceful city nearby Las Vegas City where there are gun related crimes every few days, Never in national media news even some get death penalty verdicts. Not even when cops kill unarmed civilians. It is just a local news for a couple days.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

well i dont know if Japan is safe. but here in south america my father has been assaulted 2 times with guns. the second time they stole US15,000. 6 months ago someone got into my sister house and stole a washing machine. my house was robber 8 years ago. my other sister almost died in a armed robbery 1 year ago.. well I think Japan is safe.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The early signs of societal breakdown....

0 ( +1 / -1 )

So, Disillusioned, you are saying this is the woman’s fault? For…going home from work?

Not necessarily. What he is saying is that sometimes people who are victims took really grave risks that were not necessary.

For example I have a permit to carry a gun in public, if I was to openly walk around legally in gang territory such as the crips with my gun showing and I was shot and the police told me not to openly carry my firearm in gang territory is that wrong for them to do that? Is that blaming the victim?

When police tell people to walk in groups at night is that blaming the victim?

Here is another scenario, lets say I want to walk to the store and I have two routes I can take. I can take route A that will take me through bar scene at closing time and has a very high probability of me getting assaulted or I can take route B which is twice as long but zero risk of me getting assaulted. I take route A get assaulted and when the cops arrive they tell me to stop using route A and to take route B next time. Is that blaming the victim?

If you engage in behavior that you know before hand carries a high risk of something bad happening to you and no one is forcing you to engage in such behavior then well you gotta admit the ball is kind of in your court. Sure on the principle you have right to do such activities and not be attacked but is it realistic?

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Here in our state in USA, people are mot allowed to carry a gun in public. There was a case that cops mistook a blight hem of a cap as a gun and shot the man, People don't walk around. Thanks to inexpensive made-in-USA Japanese brand cars, people use cars in USA. People do not visit gang or drug business area. Gangs? They fight each other in their territory. If people have a gun in his/her car, cops can shoot. Some people might keep a gun but not visible. Each state differ, so I wrote about our state.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

You people seriously think every crime like this makes national news? Get real, a client of mine was hospitalized during a mugging here and the news never reported it. Not every murder gets news time as well. Certainly not national news. It all depends on whether it's a slow news day and what some editor decides to run with that day.

However, crime rates in Japan are falling: as the number of young people is declining and most crime is committed by under 40 males, well that segment of the population is much smaller than historically. But on a percentage of population, rates are steady.

Japan is still one of the safest places for personal violent crime and theft. Happy to live here and happy to raise a family here, but I still teach my kids about personal safety. It's not perfect, but who or what is?

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

This, as a top story of the day, just makes me feel safer in Japan.

Nonsense. News outlets are in no way obligated to report based on anything other than what their customers want to read. And for the vast majority of foreigners living in Japan, the "Safety Japan" is myth is kept alive by only letting one or two "minor" crimes on the front pages of sites like this.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Japan is at least safer than USA. That is for sure.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

japan is definitely more dangerous than it was a decade ago. I would never let any children out b ythemselves at night

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

This, as a top story of the day, just makes me feel safer in Japan. Not many countries can get away as lightly as a "today a woman got roughed up a bit and her purse stolen" Wow, someone using common sense in the japantoday comments. I'm amazed, I honestly thought all the posters here were the hysterical panic type that think that every time there is an incident in Japan it proves it's the fall of Japanese civilization. Nice to see someone who isn't a slave to their emotion, and can use the slightest bit of p

0 ( +0 / -0 )

...of logic.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

japan is definitely more dangerous than it was a decade ago.

Umm, no it's not. Crime statistics show crime to be lower than ever. Of course I'm sure that to the people who freak out every time they read of any crime at all, it would seem that crime is up. Of course, if they took even five minutes to research, they would realize they are being overly panicky, and being sucked in by the media line, rather than basing their emotions on real life.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

a simple mugging would hardly make to more than a one-liner buried back in the local pages, if at all.

That might be so but this was obviously a slow news days as there are numerous muggings in Japan daily. They just don't make the news. Do you think all those signs around stations about pick pocketing and muggings are just preventative measures?? Come on guys. Japan might not be nearly as dangerous as some of the places we grew up (in terms of violent crime, sexual assault is another matter) but you've got to be silly if you think this is a one off case.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Who is saying that? What people are saying is that the fact that this even makes the news, slow day or not, shows that Japan is pretty safe. In other countries, stories like this would never make the national news because even on a slow news day there would be much more serious issues to report that would well preempt a story like this.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

So Disillusioned, you speak of this woman as being "anyone stupid enough to put themselves in the position where they can become a victim" just because she was walking home from work? Maybe she lived close to where she worked and didn't need to drive, or maybe she did not have use of a car at the time. It was about 12:30 in the morning, dark outside at the time. But what was she supposed to do, wait until the sun came up again so she wasn't walking home in the dark? I have heard of people blaming the victims of a crime, but you definitely take the cake with your ridiculous comment. This woman doesn't need to be scolded for her "stupidity", she needs to learn some self-defense moves so she can use the element of surprise and kick the ass of an attacker if God forbid this ever should happen again.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Women should consider taking more precautions when walking alone at night, they are seen as softer targets after all. At home most women wouldnt think of walking home at 1230 at night and I will be expressing that message to my daughter when she gets older here. Just get a taxi.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

tmarie: Yesterday, Las Vegas had 3 murder(s) cases and that was on Southern Nevada news. It was not slow. Maybe slow today that it will have only gun related shootings and killing buy cars. National? This does not go to National as usually. However, Ohio got headlines recently, beside Boston. Kidnapping and random shooting against a parade.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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