kurikuri comments

When one sexual assault makes it to the news in Japan, it reveals how rarely these crimes become public - not how rarely they occur.

More than 95% of sexual assaults go unreported (Japan Gender Equality Bureau 2021), police dismissals are common, and the media are reluctant to cover cases, so a report like this is a misleading anomaly, and Japan's 125th-place gender equality ranking (WEF 2023) reflects a system that hides violence against women rather than addressing it.

bass4funkToday  07:21 am JST

Glad to see it. I think every country should have it for the absolute worst offenders.

Nobody, least of all, the leaders of a nation, should have the right to kill their citizens.

It's barbaric and archiac.

MocheakeToday  02:01 pm JST

I told an older Japanese friend that there are bad cops in every country. He looked at me incredulously in total disbelief and asked if there were cops like that 'Even in Japan?' Maybe he doesn't read or listen to the news.

Many Japanese believe their own hype about 'safety Japan'. For certain crimes (such as this), nothing could be further from the truth.

TamaramaToday  06:41 am JST

I would suspect these statistics probably somewhat mirror global statistics in relation to teaching. What was once probably a pretty good middle class career has significantly dulled in appeal over the course of the last couple of decades. It would be interesting to hear what teachers think, but I hear lots of stories about entitled and demanding parents, poorly behaved students, long working hours, average pay etc etc.

Definitely a career I would steer my own kids well away from.

False equivalency.

Conditions are immeasurably worse for teachers (or any workers, for that matter) in Japan, and they always have been.

ZaphodToday  08:37 am JST

Ah_so

Isn't it amazing that a Saturday night punch up can get into the news in Japan?

Yep. Japan is a nation state with high social coherence, high-shared identity, common values, common culture, respect for the law, trust in authorities. I like it, you like it, many people like it.

lol, the classic rose-coloured glasses comment. If only it were half true.

carotiToday  06:29 pm JST

All these keyboard warriors being all tough and saying these athletes should just suck it up—I'd love to see you out there committing your entire life to your sport in front of the entire world.

While athletes are accustomed to scrutiny, everyone deserves respect and constructive feedback rather than personal attacks. Imagine how you would feel receiving such harsh and often unfair criticism.

Positive encouragement is not that hard.

lol yup double standards.

A lot of you who go hard on athletes get your knickers in a twist over just one or two negative comments or downvotes, and you’re anonymous!

You might have been harshly treated in your life so you think others should be too.

But if you don’t like getting unnecessarily harsh feedback about some comment you made, consider how people in the public eye might feel about something they have put their heart and soul into for years.

FluteToday  10:16 am JST

To the behalf of JT, I think they are being factual : the guy was arrested for the threatening as of now. The actual stabbing charge will fall later when he admit or in 23 days (or 46 if they expect to need a longer discussion thus go first for illegal caring of weapon or the like).

So I think, they should more like go for something along the line of :

Osaka : Man arrested for threatening woman with knife on street suspected of stabbing a tourist

Or to be consistent and fair;

Chinese woman stabbed in Osaka by a Japanese man who also threatened a Japanese women.

They don't need the arrested part in the title necessarily - the main news is that a woman was stabbed, surely!

virusrexToday  10:04 am JST

Unfortunately one of the constants of Japan Today is that in case of sexual abuse and assault there will be always some commenters blaming the victim or justifying the aggressor, being one of the few places that allows this obviously invalid conduct works as a magnet and attract this kind of people, it may not be long until the site becomes famous for it.

I don't think this perspective is unique given that we are in Japan, which does not have a good record of fair treatment of women in the criminal justice system or elsewhere in society.

Pukey2Today  03:51 pm JST

Gambare:

Get back to us Herve when you find evidence that 6 million people were "ethnically cleansed" by WW2 Japan as they were by the Nazis.

It's very disgusting and sickening to be so dissmissive of these sort of crimes, just because it may not have reached 6 million. Very sick. I have to wonder how these sort of people can look at themselves in the mirror.

The elderly gentleman, Shimizu-san, was also brave enough to decide to visit China next month. I can only imagine how seeing those images could have affected a boy. But he has a conscience, which is more than what I can say about these dismissive people and their whataboutism.

In case you hadn't noticed, there is some solid Japanese nationalists among the commenters on JT who reject anything negative about Japan, whether it includes facts or not.

I suspect most of them are local Japanese who are too afraid to comment in English themselves.

It's not too different from the nationalist view of America you see among Trump supporters.

ianToday  01:17 pm JST

kurikuri

Today 01:14 pm JST

Yeah, it's not acceptable.

That is partly why we decided not to raise our part-Japanese kids in Japan.*

Where they live now, nobody says anything about how how they look ( a bit Asian) or how different they are. They are considered equals with everyone else, no matter what they look like. Even if you have an accent here nobody even says, "Oh, where are you from?'.*

Just let everyone be a part of the coimmmunity and don;t make them feel different.*

You should be proud of that place.

Where is that?

We live in 2 countries during the year, Ireland and NZ.

Yeah, it's not acceptable.

That is partly why we decided not to raise our part-Japanese kids in Japan.

Where they live now, nobody says anything about how how they look ( a bit Asian) or how different they are. They are considered equals with everyone else, no matter what they look like. Even if you have an accent here nobody even says, "Oh, where are you from?'.

Just let everyone be a part of the coimmmunity and don;t make them feel different.

OssanAmericaToday  05:17 pm JST

Sexual abuse in Japan is an issue. But it's an issue in just about every country. Try India if you really want to see abuse.

Japan pays so much to support the UN (2nd largest contributor after the U.S.), which through it's many arms targets Japan because it's a country with no risk of reprisal.

Wwhataboutism and misguided defensiveness.

Let's all deflect embarrassing yet constrictive and necessary criticism by comparing it to another, often worse, issue elsewhere.

mallaceToday  04:03 pm JST

Marc LoweToday  01:38 pm JST

Unfortunately, committing this sort of crime in overly omotenashi customer service oriented Japan is a piece of cake, really. It saddens me that a scam like this, typically found in Brooklyn or Long Island, would make its way to lovely Japan.

It would be the same anywhere else in the world with modern food standards and regulations and it has nothing to do with 'omotenashi'.

Yes, I've made complaints about food in various countires and been apologised to and compensated.

It's a law, after all, and not an option for retailers, etc.

OssanAmericaToday  10:30 am JST

kurikuriToday  08:55 am JST

Name a nation on Earth that is not 'closely connected' to China.

Any nations where China is not a major trading partner?

Any nations where China is not a major strategic adversary?

The guy said 'connected'.

No nation can escape close ties with China if they want to survive economically, not least those in the Asia Pacific region.

> KaowaiinekochanknawToday  08:49 am JST

Since NZ Giv is so closely connected to Chinese interests, expect other nation of the 5 Eyes to back off even more than they already are in regards to intel sharing with NZ.

Japan is already an intelligence sieve.

The song about 3 men in a leaky boat comes to mind.

Name a nation on Earth that is not 'closely connected' to China.

Any nations where China is not a major trading partner?

Negative NancyToday  10:35 am JST

It's weird that this is being suggested as becoming more widely spread, because that particular episode of disgusting racism and degradation was very specific to the United States. I think it is very important to be discussed within the US, but I'm reading Japan Today.

Black Americans being free from slavery is 'disgusting racism'?! How so?

Racism and slavery are worldwide phenomena and not isolated to the US. It can be found throughout Japanese history and today, just like in any other nation.

Japan enslaved and exploited Koreans and Chinese through forced labor and sexual slavery before and during WWII so it's a good reminder for people in Japan too.

Jonathan PrinToday  02:44 pm JST

Soon communities to ask for specific rights and Japan will not be Japan anymore.

It is not Japanese who have to make efforts to get foreigners to feel more comfortable in their own country.

I played badminton with Japanese because I followed their rules. The sympathy from my fellow players at that time will forever be remembered.

'Japan will not be Japan anymore'? What will it be then?