FreeInJapan comments

I remember an article almost exactly like this either earlier this year or late last year... I wonder if it was the same guy. One would think Denny's would learn their lesson by now, and ask someone to pay up much earlier than 12 hours later! =P

My guess is he felt the 15 hours was enough time for the alchohol to get out of his system. What a loser...

Not only did he go after something so ugly as her, he PAID to go after something so ugly as her!!! Jeez, with such bad judgement, it makes you wonder how badly Yokohama's local government is spending money on other things!!

Not clearly stated but think it's pretty obvious that he was likely drunk at the time of the accident. His strategy was likely to turn himself in well after it's possible to prove he had been drinking and driving. What a punk.

What kind of sick bastard shoots a kid, let alone shoots an 8 year old in the face while dressed as Santa!!???!! I want to say more on this... but find myself at a loss for words...

Let's not forget the ever-so-common "bait-and-hook" conn that many women (and yes, sometimes men) use when looking to tie a husband into married "bliss"... i.e. the all too commmon scenario of having an incredible girlfriend who absolutely loves to have sex, try new things, etc., only to become no longer interested in doing such things after tying the knot. Especially after they have children. When life turns into "Go to work, come straight home, don't get to do things you enjoy unless it's free, and no, you're not getting any" is it any surprise that some become attracted to the allure of an extra marital affair?

I think some posters are all too eager to point the finger at men as being "hardwired pigs" but are in complete denial that the wife could also contribute to driving the husband to look elsewhere. The same can be said for a husband that doesn't pay attention to his wife, driving her to look for affection elsewhere. Does that mean that women are hardwired to have an affair if they don't get the "princess treatment"?

@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).

@ 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.

So if the police are barred from going in after them, send in the Military! Totally agree with their right to protest, but only to a point... rioting on this level takes it way too far, especially when you start attacking your own who had nothing to do with what happened. Agree with above, jailtime for a whole lot of punks. Even better, jail time with hard labor to repair all the damage.

As for punishment fitting the crime, I pose this argument: These men went after CHILDREN, for the simple fact that they were supposedly paid to do it by people who didn't agree with a woman's right to receive an education. Just the fact that they are willing to carry out such an attack on a child, let alone do it for MONEY, tells me that they are too dangerous to be allowed to carry out the remainder of their lives (be it in or out of Prison). They will not show remorse, they will not repent, as a matter of fact I propose that should they wind up only going to Prison the likely scenario will be they will then have the chance to possibly spread their hate to other willing minds (i.e. other inmates) who may or may not be getting out of that prison and carry on the cycle. Not to mention the COST of feeding and clothing them, health care and such, the burden of which falls to the taxpayers of that country. insert sarcasm Sounds like a fair deal to me! Maim and kill, and then retire on the public's bill!! end sarcasm

As a father, I cannot see any excuse for mercy to be shown to any individual that harms a child, be it my child or someone else's. Doesn't matter what country, it's a heinous act that deserves a harsh punishment. In this man's mind, there is no defense nor reason to have mercy on such an animal. If someone defends that person's right to live, then they feel the way about same about child murderers and such. If you can live with that, great for you, sweet dreams.

@smithinjapan - First off, I never stated they did something to me personally, but am going to assume you mean to speak of the person doing the actual hanging never having something done to them by the CRIMINALS being hanged.

I find it funny how you stick to they "eye for an eye" reference instead of referring to it as justice. In reference to your statement of "If you, for example, were to hang them, then who gets to hang you?" - If I were to apply your warped logic to all criminal acts, well, then I would have to ask myself "Well, if he puts this person in prison then who gets to put HIM in prison?" That kind of logic, I actually do have a problem understanding. I do however, agree with you on one point... the victims SHOULD have the first chance at throwing the acid. It's totally their right.

Personally, I fully believe that the throwing of the acid would help to set an example and the hangings would serve to remove at least SOME of the radical lunatics running around and make the world just that little bit safer. I believe that, using this route, justice would indeed be served and have yet to see anything from you that remotely comes close to changing my mind (and I'm apparently not alone). Realize this, there's a battle going on between one side that does not have rules, and the other side that is restricted by rules. I'm not by any means saying that we should throw out all laws, but I personally don't believe it's the wrong way to go if we start using an escalation of force and dole out some harsh punishments as deterents. It would in no way resolve things quickly, and would most definitely get ugly, but it's already ugly and getting worse. Sometimes the Ends justifies the Means.

Moderator: Readers, please focus your comments on the story, not at each other.

@Nippon5 - Well said!

@smithinjapan - I believe Sarge read the article just fine and happens to agree (pretty clearly stated in his post), as do I. "Having them hung is a bit much" you say? I suppose you're all for suspended sentences for people who kill their children as well, huh?

I say toast this fool, but unfortunately I smell a standard sentencing of "smack on the wrist"... suspended of course. Chalk up one more reason to home school my kids...

Wait, I have it... there was a bike in need of a registration check attached to a bike rack on the back of the car! It was noticed by a police officer that was dutifully standing watch over an ATM, who called in backup, leading up to the "wild" car chase. The fact that these hoodlums were found in a stolen car and charged with other offenses is likely coincidental and because the bike was found to have a valid registration the J-cops decided to proceed with the other charges so as not to waste all the effort.

My point being, I'm just surprised to see actual action taken to pursue anyone... as usually the case (observed in person) tends to be the police will shy away from pursuing anything larger than a moped.

A bicycle in need of registration check that is...

Rookies aren't allowed to drive police cars.

Ok, then perhaps they were confused and thought it was a bicycle??

Actually, I'm surprised the J-Cops actually GAVE CHASE at all! New eager Rookie perhaps? Giving chase seems totally against the police playbook in this country...

She got my attention!! Too bad I don't dig psycho...

Then again... if my kid's ever DO get in trouble, I guess it could be handy to just say "It's all those damn video games' fault!!"

I'm sooooo sick of people trying to blame video games, music, T.V. and movies for "corruption" of today's youth... be it in Japan or anywhere else in the world. I grew up playing tons of video games (while listening to all kinds of music), watching T.V. and loved the hell out of movies! Not once did I steal a car; break into a house; drink and drive; do drugs; kill someone; etc... why you ask? BECAUSE I HAD PARENTS THAT ACTUALLY CARED AND RAISED ME PROPERLY!!! You want to stop the supposed "corruption" of Japanese youth? Stop trying to turn the focus on fictional outside influences and concentrate on the real problem, PARENTING!! And before anyone tries to pose the question... Yes, I am a father. I also have the common sense to know that the responsibility of raising my kids right lays at my feet and mine alone (well, my wife's too).

W.T.F!!!!!!!!!!! is wrong with people today!!??!! That's not even freakin human! I too will be hugging my children tonight, and am saddened that burning in hell still isn't even close to a fit punishment for all involved, though it's a start...

Brilliant... I had a lot of entertainment and disbelief reading the articles on Microsoft bidding for Yahoo, and Yahoo pretty much saying Screw You!! And yet, lo and behold, somebody is crawling back on their knees... I can just imagine the conversation:

Yang "Um, yeah, I think the BEST thing you could do would be to buy us now." Microsoft "Yeah, um, what was that you said...? Oh, I remember... SCREW YOU!!"

Microsoft will wait for Yahoo to go bankrupt and buy 'em up nice and cheap. I guess Icahn wasn't so crazy after all huh Yahoo? D'OH!!

I’m not going to drink for a while.”

"... for a while." LOL, nice to see he's dedicated to reforming himself, "for a while."