A 32-year-old man fell to his death after proposing to his girlfriend on a bridge in Miyakojima, Okinawa Prefecture, early Monday morning.
According to police reports, the incident occurred at around 12:05 a.m. Monday near the central part of Irabu Bridge. Fuji TV reported that the man fell 30 meters into the sea.
The man had been in the car driven by his girlfriend to Irabu Bridge. After parking on the side of the road, near the center of the bridge, the two exited the vehicle, and the man made his proposal. He had been drinking and slipped off the bridge moments after his girlfriend said yes, police said.
After receiving an emergency phone call from his girlfriend, police launched a search for the man. Seven hours later, at approximately 7 a.m., his body was pulled from the sea. He was taken to hospital where he was confirmed dead.
© Japan Today
34 Comments
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thepersoniamnow
Damn now thats a tragic ridiculous story. Feel pretty bad for him, but she must be devastated.
Mocheake
Dang!
cleo
You don't just 'slip off' a modern, well-parapeted bridge like Irabu. More like he climbed up on the parapet and slipped. Performing some daft 'Lookitmee' antic to impress his new fiancee. I'm sorry he's dead, but it was a stupid, stupid thing to do.
Daniel Naumoff
This is one tragic occurrence. I hope this can be blamed on the alcohol, I really do...
Shinjuku No Yaju
You can see a more detailed story along with tragically hilarious J-TV graphics here: http://www.asiaone.com/asia/man-falls-bridge-and-dies-right-after-proposing-girlfriend
Nessie
30 m is definitely survivable. Maybe he hit a pier foundation or just couldn't swim.
gogogo
@Nessie: At 30 meters you would be breaking bones, assuming he landed feet first (and not a professional) he would have broken all his legs and not been able to swim, esp. fully clothed.
Monozuki
He apparently couldn't hold his liquor. RIP.
quercetum
Was he drunk when he proposed? Would he have if he had been sober? More interested in the drama than another drunk story.
Nessie
Yes, so survivable.
goldorak
"He had been drinking" doesn't mean the bloke was blind drunk, could have had a couple. Ppl slip/fall all the time, drunk or not, especially when they're over-excited/happy/distracted etc.
This is a tragic accident, feel sorry for both.
Harry_Gatto
Assuming of course that her account of what happened is true. Maybe she said no so he jumped?
cleo
Ppl don't climb over the side of a bridge and totter on a narrow ledge unless they're very drunk, very stupid, or both.
Kaerimashita
you would be very lucky to fall off Irabu bridge and survive.
clamenza
Harry Gatto - I was about to say. Japanese guys are infamous for not taking rejection well and she could be saving herself some blushes here.
Valance Liberty
Smells like sushi, more like she said "no" and said he was going to kill himself so she said "YES" then...
Rik314
I feel sorry for the GF but if you are going to do dangerous things and get yourself killed doing it, it is something hard to have sympathy.
Dan Lewis
What if she wanted to break up with him, he was heartbroken and jumped, or she pushed him off and is now telling a sob story to cover things up??
Kestrel
Harry gatto, danlewis, i think you guys are closer to the truth.
FizzBit
i fell out of tree at 3 meters and had the wind knocked out of me. Depends how you land. If that happened, it would be very difficult to stay afloat and try to get your wind back.
All of the drinking and driving commenters are just a bunch of knee jerkers. You don't know how many drinks he had or when he last consumed them. Legal limit is 0.8 in many countries so you can still have 4 or 5 beers over a period of time, eat some food, and still be able to drive according to the biology of the law.
Im sure he just wanted to make a memorable "peacock" moment out of it. Nothing wrong with that. Just an accident. Let it be......
Luddite
How do you fall off a bridge unles you were standing on the rail?
I feel sorry for his girlfriend though.
goldorak
Well said fizzbit, exactly the way I see it.
I think most of us 'not-so-perfect' men/women have been careless at times and that's probably what happened here. Death is too high a price to pay for a moment of carelessness or bad judgment.
mmwkdw
Maybe she pushed him ?
dcog9065
Dear god that's almost farcically tragic. If it really went down as the girl said it did, I can't really imagine too many more traumatic moments one could endure
DaDude
Irabu Bridge is one of the most beautiful places in Japan as it goes over the bluest sea you would ever want to sea. If I proposed there, it would without a doubt be in the daytime. RIP
ListenTheTruth
As per, Cleo makes an assumption that is again just wrong, and in this case, callous. A person has died and that’s all you have, ridicule and scorn? Nice. Well, if you’d actually BEEN to the bridge or even bothered -OMG!-- to Google it, you’d see that your premise are like your thoughts, blown away.
There is a minimal guarding fence along the entirety of the structure.
gaijinpapa
Well she has an amazing story to tell her grandkids.
Sad. When I was young they told me that you die when its your time, and everything is ordained.
But - what a ridiculous, meaningless death.
But it DOES sounds suspicious. Couldn't she have asked him to stay and kiss her instead of going to the other side of the rail? Sounds more like it was a no.
Put it this way. If she said no, and then he jumped off, she's not likely to tell anyone that.
Harry_Gatto
Not really, the fence looks to be a metre high at least, hard to fall over that accidentally.
cleo
More like exasperation that a young person with everything to live for would literally just throw their life away.
Been there, drove over it, it's very beautiful. The 'minimal' guard fence is high enough to prevent a person just 'slipping off' - you'd have to make a point of climbing over it. Which brings us back to the stupid bit. Guard rails are there for a reason.
HonestDictator
It's the idiot's fault. He climbed OVER the railing and then fell. Alcohol makes people do stupid, stupid things. I feel sorry for the fiancée.
Andy
Based on the Asia One child-like graphics, he only has himself to blame. Idiot.
lostrune2
He was celebrating too much?
Ah_so
He probably was an idiot, but that doesn't mean he deserved death. You have to commit an extreme crime in society's eyes to deserve death, and he didn't. He was foolish.
I feel sorry for him most of all - his life had ended unnecessarily.