Japanese student released after arrest amid Hong Kong unrest

There are countless reasons he may have chosen to go there. Do you guys really lack the imagination to come up with any?

He wasn’t protesting.

I read somewhere else that he just went out to see what was happening, got too close, and was presumed to be a protester. If you watch any videos of the police you can see they just round everyone up. he is lucky that he didn’t get injured while being arrested.

Fascinating. You'd thunk that people would actually praise this individual for allegedly participating in demonstrations against the police state and the Chi-comm government.

But alas, I should have known better with the people here, his Japanese ethnicity would prevent any of that. How typical.

But yeah, militarists has taken over in the 30s. People forget that Japan was one of the first signatories to anti-racism in the league of nations.

This is going no where. Hong Kong’s water comes from China. They could just turn the water off in the worst case.

And why do you suppose they haven’t done so already then? If it’s so simple, what is stopping them?

Good that he was released. Probably best to stay away from Hong Kong for a while.

He's a hero for fighting for democracy, and being a freedom lover, shoulder to shoulder with the millions of HK Citizens who hate Communist China and their puppets Lam and the Police. Solidarity!

Freedom and Democracy for HK! Go after the puppet HK Police and "government"!

Japan desperately needs a courageous hero willing to stand up to a dictator like Abe, for Japanese are just too yesman and never stand up to fight for their freedom.

As always, those loudest to accuse Japanese of whitewashing their history, are in fact the biggest offenders. Thousands of Japanese publicly marched against the Abe administration in July of 2017 as well as August of this year. Even the notorious anti-Japanese media outlet Arirang showed highlights of the march two years ago.

Agree with the first commentators. However, it is easy to get caught in a riot or protest when trying to go from point A to point B. Not like they stay in Speakers Corners anymore...they fill the roads and streets, blocking vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

And why do you suppose they haven’t done so already then? If it’s so simple, what is stopping them?

If Hong Kong fights a revolutionary war of independence like the colonists against the British, China shuts off the water. It won’t get that far because it’s going no where. There is no leadership.

Who is leading the protesters?

If he is living in Hong Kong, then demonstrating is fine.

If he is a tourist or hanging out with friends, but doesn't live in Hong Kong, the most he should have done was document with video and photos what is happening.

There is a line that people who don't live in another country shouldn't cross. At 21, perhaps he needed to learn that the hard way. Foreign countries don't recognize the same rights we have at home.

Not all countries have laws that allow foreigners to protest against the Govt legally. Mexico doesn't allow it and mainland China doesn't. I don't know the Hong Kong laws. It has never come up in my visits.

This is going no where. Hong Kong’s water comes from China. They could just turn the water off in the worst case.

@Ganbare Japan!

He's a hero for fighting for democracy,

He can come back to Japan and fight for democracy in Japan.

Japan desperately needs a courageous hero willing to stand up to a dictator like Abe, for Japanese are just too yesman and never stand up to fight for their freedom.

@oldman_13

https://asiancenturyinstitute.com/politics/954-japan-s-stunted-democracy

After Japan surrendered in defeat at the end of World War 2 some 70 years ago, the US post-war occupation regime under General Douglas MacArthur instituted democracy in Japan. Unlike France, Korea and many other cases, the Japanese people did not fight for their democracy. This may be why Japan has been a virtual one-party state for much of the post-war period, with the rightwing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) holding nominal power.

This is why Japan needs a hero like Hikaru Ida, who can set fire to the flames of democracy in Japanese hearts.

There is no true democracy on earth where one party stays in power for 70 years. In true democracies there are always periodic power swing between left and right.

He is a foreigner in HK and was only held for 3 days. A foreigner arrested in Japan is more often than not, held for 23 days. Chinese law seems more advanced than Japanese law.

Dude,

Instead of going over there and protesting China's politics.....stay over here and protest your government's decision to pour nuclear-active water into the ocean and your government's inability to come clean about anything.

@JuminRhee

Japan democratized back in the late 19th century. It was on par with 19th century britain, Germany, and the US.

Only the US, UK, and France had functional representative democracy in late 19th century. Japan and Germany didn't, and were basically authoritarian states pretending to be democracies in name only, and this is why Japan and Germany couldn't stop the rise of fascism that eventually became Nazism and Imperial Japan militarism respectively.

@juminRhee

Japan democratized back in the late 19th century. It was on par with 19th century britain, Germany, and the US.

Only the US, UK, and France had functional democracy in late 19th century. Japan and Germany were, and this is why they Japan and Germany couldn't stop the rise of fascism that eventually gave rise to Nazism and Imperial Japan militarism.

Same thing I was thinking. What dog does he have in that fight? Being that Japanese once brutally occupied that island, not very appropriate for him to be there.