crime

Youth found dead in vacant lot in Shizuoka; police suspect bike gang involvement

25 Comments

A 17-year-old youth was found dead in a vacant lot in Hamamatsu City on Thursday, with injuries to his head that appear to have been caused by a hammer-like instrument found nearby. Police have received information that Daiki Yoshiwara,17, was part of a local motorbike gang, and are investigating if they are involved in his death.

Police said blood was found at the scene and there were marks in the ground that indicated Yoshiwara had been dragged several meters, likely in an attempt to hide the body in bushes.

They also told reporters that a friend of Yoshiwara said she was unable to contact him on his cell phone since Wednesday evening, but a man heard the phone ringing on Thursday morning, and picked it up and answered it. She went to collect the phone, and started looking for Yoshiwara. She found his body and called the police.

© Wire reports

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25 Comments
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All I'm saying is it seems a bit harsh to condem a teenager to his/her death all because they annoy you. That is all. By all means fight fire with fire but what have these bozo done to you except wake you from your slumber on occasion?

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Nanda I live in Nagoya and I can tell you when these punks are around all the old people quiver in fear. They've had pets killed in front of them and had property stolen by them. But they are not Hells Angels, this kid could have left if he wanted to. He wanted to play the tough guy, and pretend to be James Dean, and Marlon Brando, he made his choice. You seem to boo hoo this punk who probably did some bad stuff himself, again in big letters HE MADE HIS CHOICE.

No person forced to join this gang to begin with, he did so on his own free will. Again, we can make good choices or bad choices, in the end we pay for the choices we make. If he joined and knew getting beat out was the only way out, then he made the choice, too bad for his girlfriend, so sad she found the body, in the end HE MADE THE CHOICE.

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Cops can't be bothered to do a proper investigation of a rape case so what would you expect them to do with this lot? You don't find these kinds of idiots running amok without restraint in the US, that's for sure.

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Is this related to the "scooter gang" arrested in Chiba?

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Its a shame really and who know why he was killed? However the bosozoku arent so bad, really. I had first hand experience with them and we just talked about bikes. They reminded me of myself when I was a youth. They are just bored juvinile delinquents who take the exhaust off their bikes and annoy people. Hey FREEIN JAPAN, what are you watching on TV thats so engrosing? Its crap aside from the baseball! Its probably more interesting watching the bozo, at least from a cultural perspective.

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freeinjapan. Agree 100%. I have seen them wipeout on their bikes and its the only bloody mess I laugh at.

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besides he was only 17.

so adults deserves to die more than teens?

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Bikers’ gangs should be banned. They are full of drugs and also the biggest trouble makers. The victim in this case must be involved with something bi, and they killed him. Most of the times there is a motive or reason for murdering someone. However, no one has right to kale live from another human being. Many young people start this as hobby but later on they turn into crims. Hope that police doesn't take long to apprehend killer and put him behind the bars. This could also be the job with few members of the gang. Time will tell and we will see. JTJP will we get some news from fast police soon?

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@Dogdog - no, not calling disturbance of my TV viewing a capital offence (then again, maybe depends on the show =D), was just trying to put the noise into context. How about the fact that it would also regularly wake us up as well? It gets fairly annoying when you have to constantly put small children back to sleep because a bunch of punks can't think of better ways to spend their free time. As far as your "at worst" comment, many of these little fools don't just stop at disturbing the neighborhoods and traffic... quite a few of them also like to lash out by mugging people on the streets at night, vandalizing property, etc. To think otherwise is just wishful thinking, maybe it's best if you go put your head back in the sand.

@nandakandamanda - thanks for elaborating, you made some very good points. I have to say though that choosing to ignore the problem will never solve anything, just allow it to grow even more rampant (and also result in a death as may be the case with this 17 year old). Traffic accidents can be caused by their antics on the street as well, and in most cases there is not that much traffic on the road after midnight so I think the risk of an accident being caused by a police chase would be rather limited. The police could always back off if the chase becomes too dangerous and starts endangering the public, which is regularly done by cops in the states. At least by then they would have descriptions of the vehicles, individuals involved and a plate number they can hopefully use to track them down later.

As for not wanting to mark the youths for life with a criminal record, well that's not really feasible either, is it? Imagine if they applied that logic to anyone who broke the law... "Well, if we arrest this guy he'll probably lose his job, and possibly his family will leave him, so we'll let it slide. I'm sure he'll eventually figure out it's not good to drink and drive." Also, if they're arrested as a youth, it goes in a Juvenile record and would not actually affect them in adult life. Perhaps if some of these knuckleheads have their lives ruined by the poor choices they've made, others will start seeing that maybe this route isn't so "cool" after all. The contacts could be made via other, more positive groups that could be established and promote better behavior and morals rather than making it a point to cause others frustration. Maybe the J-gov could implement some of these kinds of groups for younsters along with the "Morals education" (insert sarcasm).

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ptolemy, one of the reasons kids get beaten up to within an inch of their lives here is exactly because they try to leave. It is considered traitorous. The guy might just have been trying to do the right thing... especially with that girl in the background.

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Should have chose his friends better. I honestly doubt this was the first time his buddies displayed violence. He made the choice to join this gang, bought his little scooter to fit in, and in the end made a bad choice. Some bad choices don't have a consequence like this, others do. Welcome to life. Sorry he is dead, I feel for his family. Unfortunately kids aren't taught how to objectively, much less subjectively, make good choices, neither in school or at home. Again, probably not the first time his chosen pals displayed violent behavior, the gangs here aren't Hells Angels, so he should have left.

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I am living in Hamamatsu and it has been mentioned by some of my neighbors they expect a rise in crime due to the hard hit automobile manufacturers. This murder seems un related.

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What they do is part of growing up here. For the most part they go on to get regular jobs and lead 'honest' lives. They 'graduate' from these gangs as soon as they reach the legal age where they could then on be prosecuted as an adult. It's all calculated, and the game has been played out again and again. Some of the groups even have their own lawyers. They have links above them into society, and people who keep an eye out for them. Many of their graduates continue to maintain links and they can be found in all walks of life.

If the Police intervene actively , two major outcomes are on the cards. One is that someone will end up getting hurt or killed. The same thing has happened repeatedly in the UK where the cops then get prosecuted for chasing someone 'to their death'. Injury or death are seen as escalations of the lower level problem which is somehow tolerated by the population at large. The other outcome is that the youth may end up with a criminal record, which could affect his/her job-worthiness in a traditionally hermetic Japan. The Police make a conscious choice to watch and let them grow out of this phase in their lives, without marking them legally or physically as far as possible.

Please understnd that I am not defending them in any way. The above are the reasons I have been given, and it was only my own laziness and lack of time that prevented me from writing out this long explanation as to why it is not simply laziness on the part of the J cops.

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I have asked myself for many years why this happens just in Japan. At least in Osaka they fear chasing them will lead to accidents or bystanders getting killed. Whats shoking is the survival of the Yakuza and these gangs in a developed wealthy nation. They would be shot by a vigilante sniper in the US or even a regular Joe would casually get out of his car and whack em with a crowbar. Sorry for the mention of violence. Anyone remember the movie Black Rain? Osaka hasnt changed a bit besides more punks and ladies putting makeup on in public.

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As for the youth himself... yes, it's sad that someone so young has lost his life to violence. But then again, you live by the sword you die by the sword.

Oh pleeeeze, lazy opinions, the kettle calling ......

He was a member of a biker gang, who at worst probably took the silencers out of his bike and disturbed the local neighborhood and traffic, he wasn't a 'soldier' in the Gambino family.

However disturbing your TV viewing is a capital offence, is that what you are saying?

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@ jipster - Ain't that the truth! lol

@ nandakandamanda - so if not lazyiness, then what? Fear maybe? I personally used to witness these "gangs" of bozo's running amok down route 16 in Yokosuka every single night, at around the same time. I couldn't even hear the TV over the noise, and I lived on the 9th floor. Would also watch from my balcony as they would weave recklessly around the road (including in front of oncoming traffic), surround cars, and block the intersections to stop traffic. I also watched one night as a J-cop vehicle drove down the road than ran in front of my building (which was horizontal to 16) following them until they were almost to the point of meeting up at the intersection. Once the J-cops realized they were about to meet, they stopped, pulled an illegal u-turn and hauled butt outta there. Oh, and by the way, the intersection the bozo's so loved to block, was right in front of a Koban.

As for the youth himself... yes, it's sad that someone so young has lost his life to violence. But then again, you live by the sword you die by the sword. He put himself in that situation, no one else. And before someone tries to slam that comment, try to remember that plenty of people grow up in harsh environments and manage to get themselves out, so don't cry calling for pitty over someone that didn't try hard enough.

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"Just lazyness on the Polices behalf."

Maybe that's your point of view, but in my opinion your opinion is just laziness.

There are several reasons why the police take the position that they do, and laziness is not such a large part of it.

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These gangs are all over the place. I see them all the time in the downtown area cutting people off, reving their engines, driving dangerously/illegally etc. and nobody stops them. I told the police one day to get off their a**es and stop them instead of wasting time on stopping mama charlies. They are so obvious in their actions that the Police could just wait for them and jump them. But no that would be too logical. Just lazyness on the Polices behalf.

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aw.. i feel sorry for his friend who found him D;

bike gang..no loss ..less noise

thats just mean, if yu want to stop the noise, break the bike not kill the members... besides he was only 17.

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Some other gang members probably couldn't find a job or got dissed by a female or felt lonely or got angry, or just felt like killing someone, or etc... so they killed him.

S

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He probably wanted to leave the gang.

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bike gang..no loss ..less noise

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kawai so....very sad

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play with hammers and somethings bad things happen.

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Damn.

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