A woman and her daughter were attacked by a man wielding a pair of scissors in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture, on Thursday afternoon, police said Friday.
According to police, the 20-year-old mother was holding her 5-month-old daughter while walking along a street at around 12:30 p.m. when a man on a bicycle approached from behind, TV Asahi reported. The woman told police the man yelled at her to get out of the way, then stopped his bicycle and kicked her to the ground.
As she was trying to protect her child, the man produced a pair of scissors and cut her hair and clothes, before getting back on his bike and fleeing, TV Asahi reported.
According to a description given by the woman, the assailant was in his 30s or 40s, wore a black down jacket and black pants.
© Japan Today
40 Comments
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MaboDofuIsSpicy
Johnny Scissor Fingers is back.
Dennis Bauer
What prime example of manhood, i hope they find this looney!
Nicky Washida
What the HELL is wrong with these people? And I bet while all this was going on passers by just stood there gaping at them not lifting a finger to help. Bet your ass he wouldnt have yelled at a big guy walking on his own to get out the way. Find this guy and teach him how tough he really is. I will PAY good money for that to happen.
kwbrow2
@Nicky According to what I saw on the news last night, it was a quiet street with little traffic and no sidewalk. I doubt if anyone was close to this woman when this happened. My Japanese is not good enough to fully understand what the broadcaster said. But, I too hope they catch this wacko.
Cletus
Considering how often we are told how safe and great this country is they sure seem to have a lot of loonies running around playing stabbie and cutty with knoves and scissors. Lets just hope they catch this nuff nuff before he hurts someone.
tokyokawasaki
Excellent comment Nicky. I do not need to say anything now :)
tmarie
So that's a mom and kid stabbed, a kid maybe blinded by acid, a racial killing, a wife killing her husban... Did I miss anything?! The crazies have been working overtime this week!
Hope mom and baby recover. Poor is going to suffer a lot more teams due to this.
LoveNot
Unfortunately there are many aggressive men nowadays, i wonder what causes there frustration, usually they pick the easiest targets like women and kids. I really hope he is caught. At 12.30 pm maybe there were many witnesses on the street. I hope some of them helped the woman but I wonder why they did not catch him on the spot.
LoveNot
Anyway, I think he harbors deep hatred for women because he was rejected many times.
tmarie
Or perhaps he's just been laid off from work or the kid he put through uni can't find a job?! Why jump and assume he hates women?! The guy has issues indeed but we don't know what or why.
multitasker
the nutbars are coming out again!
smithinjapan
What a brave man and shining example of humanity! What's with all these loonies lately? I mean I know there are 'toorima' incidents at least a couple of times a week here, but it's starting to turn into two or three incidents a day, it seems.
I hope the woman is all right, and of course her baby, and I hope this guy is found, resists arrest and gets a bit of a lesson taught to him, and then does some time (during which he's taught MANY lessons).
Nicky -- you are SPOT on with this one.
Disillusioned
There are so many people like this in Japan it is frightening! i can't believe how many people I see 'losing the plot' on a daily basis in transit. This is a rather extreme example, but it is all the same illness.
nath
Some strange happenings going on here...
shanabelle
Edward Scissorhands returns....
Wurthington
If I ever saw that happen I'd quickly be looking around for the nearest object to club the guy with! I'm not about to stand around and do nothing... couldn't live with myself if I didn't.
bicultural
So the only thing that got cut was hair and clothing? Misleading title, but a traumatic experience for the young mother, I'm sure.
Samantha Zoe Aso
Absolutely disgusting. Picking on a woman carrying an infant. I'd wish I'd been there....,,
In the 13 years I've been here, I've witnessed stuff that in my own country would have been reported as assault or reckless behaivour towards another.This kind of attack really is the lowest of the low against the most vulnerable and unable to fight back. I could post an elaborate and very vivid summary of exactly what I think of this 'person' but the moderator would probably delete it!
Nicky~ I have seen assaults in public and witnessed no-one lifting a hand to help.
Tahoochi
Another weirdo. I wonder what kind of neighborhood she was walking through.
Although I agree with previous posters who have been commenting and voicing concern regarding the apparent increase of crimes like this, I still think it's relatively safe in Japan. 1 or 2 reports like this a day in a country of 130 million.... not great news, but I'd rather be here than most other places in the world.
AmericanForeigner
No. This has got to stop. People are committing crimes here on a nearly daily basis.
No-one helped this woman because of a lack of empathy and not wanting to get involved.
There was no trigger, no reason for this to happen, except for the frustration of living in this society with all it's rules and emphasis on repression of emotions.
And where was the father?
billyshears
Apparently there were no other people around. And where I come from in Chicago, it is generally the same story: most cross to the other side of the street when something is going down. Mind you, the one fortunate aspect in Japan, given the simmering urban stress and tension in this society, is that guns are not freely available.
billyshears
LOL "nearly daily basis"!
Franchesca Miyara Yang
Lazzaris AlbertoJAN. 27, 2012 - 06:50PM JST
I read somewhere that Tasers are illegal in Japan. At least the ones like the U.S. Police carry. But stun guns are ok if used on self defense. My husband bought me one when we were in the U.S. last year visiting some friends. The brand is Black Cobra and its voltage is 5 million. It cost him around $70 dollars I think. I have seen 1 million volts stun guns advertised in various Japanese websites but never as high as the one I own. Hopefully, I won't need to use one anyone, anytime soon. (self defense of course!)
FightingViking
Why the scissors ? Is he a hairdresser ? I don't know many men running (cycling) around with a pair of scissors handy...
billyshears
He might be an arts and crafts teacher just had a rough day with some "monster parents" and their pesky offspring.
krisallenation
Did that lunatic attack in Tokyo, Aichi street or Okazaki city, Aichi prefecture?
mrkobayashi
americanforeigner, please read the article (and previous comments) and refrain from making wild speculations or you will be called a troll. Maybe no one helped because there was no one around, as other posters have mentioned. Where was the father? Well, since the article states this crime took place on Thursday afternoon, I would think the father was at work, trying to provide for his young wife and baby. Do you accompany your wife 24/7?
Elbuda Mexicano
Mr.Kobayashi, very good comments, father?? Middle of the day, most likely at lunch or at work, right?? Thank god/s this mother and child are ok, and I hope this idiot criminal gets arrested ASAP and if possible, yes the DEATH PENALTY!
Shaolin7
Whatever the case may be, tmarie, there is still no justification for projecting his anger onto innocent people.
Utrack
There needs to be more cackle factories for the nutters to go to. People like him need to be diagnosed early on and given the right medication so they don't become like him or worse. Like the teenagers beating up homeless people, there is definitely something wrong with those kids some imbalance in the brain also the same thing is probably wrong with the young men and woman who murdered Mr. Bishnu Prasad Dhamala in Osaka. There are many more cases where there has do be something really wrong with there brains. Like the man who put battery acid in the childs eyedrops or the woman who stabbed her husband to death etc. A cases show the perpetrators are mentally unbalanced.
7solace9
Japan has so many instances of one man taking heavy "white collar" punishment against another and justifying it by what was only a small mistake that there is a specific term for this bad behavior in the Japanese language, though I cannot remember the phrase off the top of my head. Anyone? Seems to be what this man was doing. And he was probably doing it because it had been done to him before by others. Do not be like him; do not spin the wheel of abuse.
As for the lady, I am always quite pleased when I hear of a J-girl who knew martial arts and hit a chikan or attacker where it hurts. The Japanese film "Hick Kick Girl" is motivational and has some good demonstration points. See link bellow. But for those without the time to practice martial arts, I would recommend the stun gun which can temporarily incapacitate and even disorient an assailant. Just letting the crackle of electricity be heard before hand has its own deterrence value. Actually, I know several martial arts and also carry a stun gun.
High Kick Girl film special feature clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlELq3XGrIY
AmericanForeigner
Having 'a hard life' or living in a repressive society is not an excuse to attack women and children, especially not with scissors.
We hear too many stories about bladed weapons and innocents, the frequency of these kinds of attacks is staggering.
Samantha Zoe Aso
I think we will all agree that people who commit random attacks on strangers obviously have serious u Issues. Issues which have surpassed the daiy stresses that we deal with in life. Personifying any pent up anger, rage, sadness whatever onto a woman walking down the street with a baby just spells mental health issues to me. In any society. A rationally, well balanced mentally healthy individual would not go out and commit a random attack.
AmericanForeigner
And they don't in other countries Samantha, but it seems to be an outlet for pent up frustrations here, all too easily unleashed. More empathy for others would prevent these kinds of incidents if the government would do something about it.
LH10
Johnny Scissor Fingers is back. LOL! thankgod it was only her hair and clothes, and people had/ are having a hard life should have the right to be angry, lets get high and drunk instead of killing one another. now that's more fun!
Jonathan Prin
Nothing serious here, no injuries. Also, the man was perhaps mentally ill. So wait for him being caught. 100 times worse in other countries... Stun guns : except if you train everyday, you are likely to have it used against you or get sued for using it wrongly by injuring your attacker too much...pepper spray best solution no doubt, and efficient. Read police, legal, and medical reports to fully understand all possible situations please before giving a conclusion to this case.
Maria
AF: Are you delusional? Especially given your supposed nation or origin - land of the random gun-totin' attack.
7solace9
True, pepper spray seems best for those concerned about being disarmed. And, I should note that what I carry for self defense is due to incidents that I experienced after returning to the US, being drugged, menaced and harassed by some group of Caucasian people. Very strange since I am a nice, quiet, Caucasian person who has had nothing like this ever happen previously, and I am very picky about who I associate with. It all adds up to me seriously considering leaving the US. There are more peaceful nations.
tmarie
I have no idea why anyone would suggest I think this is excusable. It isn't. However, accusing him of hating women is a huge assumption - hence my comment. The guy issues, however what those issues are haven't been reported and there is no need to speculate.
darkwolf15455
Its the middle of the day theres got to be witnesses