Japan is a Peaceful Country - Crime of the Week? Sharks in Parks! Shark Attack!

Japan is a very peaceful country. Ask the Japanese, ask anyone who has ever been here. The Japanese will tell you, "日本は平和な国" ("Nihon wa heiwa na kuni" - Japan is a peaceful country). It is. Japan is an extremely peaceful country. In the west you constantly have news about grotesque crimes, murders, bombings and wars, in Japan? News about ducks crossing a road in downtown Tokyo.

Left: My image of typical USA news. 

Right: Naked anime girl seems typical Japanese news 

The crimes that hit the news sources in Japan are completely out of this world when compared to the crimes that hit the news compared to, say, the United States. In the USA, the news is about riots, police brutality, government spying on citizens, Americans losing their freedoms, white collar crimes and idiocy about what kind of fashions movie stars are wearing. 

Ducks crossing busy streets in the world's most crowded city, 

Tokyo, was big news for several years in Japan.

Photo from NTV - Channel 4 Nihon TV (Japan TV) Network 

In the USA, there are roughly 17,000 murders per year. Japan, with roughly half the population of the USA has about 1,000 murders a year... Many of those murders are murder suicides so it is not exactly an apples to apple comparison. If there is a murder in the USA, it doesn't even hit the news unless the victim is a famous person or the relative of a famous person. In Japan, a murder usually becomes big news all over the TV and news networks for weeks after the incident.

The comparison of US news and Japan's news shows two countries that are as different as night and day. Here's things I skimmed from Yahoo news just now.


In the USA: 


*Police Beat Protestors
*Hillary Clinton Commits Fashion Faux Pas at G20 Meeting
*Teen Rapes 5-year-old at Ohio McDonald's
*More Catholic Priests Accused of Molestation
*Shooter Says Angel That Ordered Him to Kill Looked Like Olivia Newton-John


Okay. Yeah, that cops beating people up story has been going on for a long time. It's winter now, just wait until it warms up again and then we'll start seeing more of this. Hillary Clinton's fashion? Ugh. The only thing worse than kissing Hillary Clinton would be to kiss Imelda Marcos. Who cares what her fashion is? Why are Americans so concerned with what people are wearing? Teen rapes 5-year-old? At a McDonald's? WTF!? Priests rape kids? Same old, same old... Murder says angel that told him to do it looks like Olivia Newton John? Well aren't all angels beautiful like Farrah Fawcet or Olivia Neutron Bomb?

Now let's look at the news in Japan:


*Fukushima Nuclear Plant Toured by Journalists
*Three People Found Dead of Starvation in Saitama
*Search for Disaster Victims on Fukushima Coast
*Emperor Leaves Hospital After Surgery
*Dead 1.5 Meter Long Shark Left in Park Has Cops Fishing for Motive

Right. Dead 1.5 meter (about 4.5 foot long) shark left in public park?... Wait!.... What?!


Japan Times has the story: 

A dead shark found in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park has sparked an investigation into who brought it there, an officer at Yoyogi Police Station said Monday.

A park security guard called the police at 7 a.m. Sunday after finding the shark, which was covered by a blue tarp and measured about 1½ meters long, the police said.

The shark had been gutted and was found near a parking lot for bicycles near one of the entrances leading to JR Shibuya Station.

"The shark was not rotten, so I guess someone left the shark not so long ago," Hiroshi Okano, a deputy chief at Yoyogi Police Station, told The Japan Times by telephone. He said the police station is keeping its carcass at a storage facility there.

Okano wouldn't disclose any other details because the matter is still under investigation as an illegal dumping case.

On Twitter, dozens of posts from Feb. 14 to early on Feb. 15 said a shark was being exhibited in front of a sushi restaurant in Shibuya. The tweets later said someone had taken it away.

Only in Japan! And, actually, this is a pretty big story here in Japan. So what the deal is was is it seems that this shark was on display in front of a sushi shop. The sushi shops claims that some dumb gaijin (foreigner) told the sushi shop that we was an artist and wanted the shark to use to create some artwork. So, the sushi shops gave it to him. They say he must have dumped the shark in the park...

Uh, huh... Riiiiiiiight. Now, pun intended, but that story sounds really fishy! I don't believe that for a minute and it seems that the police don't either. It also strikes me as odd that the supposed perpetrator of this heinous crime is, of course, the unknown and shady foreigner...

Now, we all know that all foreigners in Japan are criminals, crack-addicts, sun-glass wearing untrustworthy, despicable characters (present company excluded)... But I don't know too many who have a hankering to be walking around carrying a 1.5 meter long shark under their arm... Also, considering that all artists (and musicians) are dirt poor, how is this artist going to get this shark home? On the train? And to think that a sushi shop is going to pay several hundred dollars for a fish (yeah, yeah, I know a shark isn't a fish) then just give it away to some guy walking up the street is a bit too much to believe.

Let me just say, "I don't think so."

I seems that the police don't believe this story either and are "grilling" (pun intended) the people from the sushi shop. It seems obvious to me that they had this huge shark that they didn't know what to do with and some Einstein there decided to dump it in the park and blame it on the scummy foreigners...

Heck, that's what any thinking person would do! 

Well, that's the sort of thing that hits the news in Japan.

Ok. Maybe I would call the police... Or at least the the Coast Guard or the navy!

The other thing about this that really surprises me is that the park attendant, upon finding the shark, would actually bother to call the police? Really? If it were me, I'd just get a big trash bag and throw it out on trash day. The other thing is that the police would actually bother with this. Do the police in Japan actually have so much free time that they'd launch and investigation as to where this shark came from?

Don't those police clowns have any real criminals to catch? No they don't... They only have traffic tickets to give out and sushi to eat, in between raiding prostitution parlors and arresting S&M dominatrix queens.

Nihon wa heiwa na kuni. Japan is a peaceful country. (With the police wasting our tax money).


Thanks to Marta Karpinska

Old Skool Yakuza Gangster Assassination - New Skool Government Fear Mongering

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." - Rahm Emanuel

Well, as it has been said, never to let a good crisis go to waste, a gangland killing in Japan has gotten the police and the mass media in a huff to show the population of Japan just how much serious danger they, and their children, are in. What ever will we do? Well, obviously, we need to rely on the police to protect us from these senseless gangster killers who are out to kill us all and eat our children. Read on.

Yakuza are going the way of the samurai... The ones I see never dress nice like this anymore.... They only dress nicely like this in the movies...

It looks like the Yakuza gangsters in Japan have really fallen on tough times. It seems that things are so bad that they've started eating out at crummy family restaurants. What ever happened to the classy joints these guys used to hang at at? You know, guys like Don Corleone who would only go to those ritzy members-only clubs that were filled with those classy hot dames like you see in the movies?

Yeah. Like this. High class women... Gentlemanly attitude

Gangsters hanging out at family restaurants!? I mean, has business gotten that bad? My business is bad too but I never go to family restaurants like Denny's. I hate that place. Family restaurants are over-priced and the food isn't good at all (excepting the salad bar at Sizzler's). And trust folks, even though I don't go, I do know that Denny's in Japan is MUCH better than Denny's in the USA. Denny's in Japan is actually kept very clean and the service is good (well, this is Japan, after all).


But, that's not the point. Never mind.


It seems that in Chiba, a Yakuza guy walked into a Denny's restaurant, pulled out a gun and blew away another Yakuza guy who was sitting there. I think it was a planned "hit" because there was no big scene or fight before the shooting.   


The Japan Times Reports in "Mobster Dead in Eatery Shooting":

CHIBA — An apparently underworld member gunned down another yakuza in a crowded Denny's eatery in Togane, Chiba Prefecture, and then fled, police said.

The shooter, thought to be a gangster in his 60s, remains at large. The victim, Yoshiaki Furukawa, 62, from Kujyukuri, also apparently a yakuza, was shot in the chest. The gunman fled by car from the Denny's Togane Bypass outlet at around 10:05 a.m.

Police, who suspect the killing stemmed from money troubles, set up checkpoints on key routes.

Furukawa entered the Denny's with four others at 8:45 a.m. He started talking with the gunman, who came in shortly before 10 a.m., at another table near the door before he was shot.

"I heard a loud bang real close, just a few meters away from me," said one customer. "When I looked over my shoulder, a man was lying on the floor, bleeding."

So, the Yakuza are out shooting each other in what looks to be a planned event and what to the police do? They scare the entire eastern half of Japan by telling people to take their little children home from school and setting up roadblocks for someone who they don't even know what he looks like.

The female news reporter on the left at the start of the video is amusing in how much she tries her best to look serious and that she actually cares. Also notice the dozens of police and intentionally high visibility at the crime scene. They must have sent every single policeman available to make for great news video!

From the description of the Japan Times quote above the only thing that this news report adds is that the shooting was near a Denny's that is near two schools. I hate to sound like a Negative Nelly, but, well, yeah. The Denny's is near a train station, like probably every Denny's in Japan. Nobody in their right mind puts a family restaurant - or a school - too awfully far from a train station, especially when we're talking about big Japanese cities. Nevertheless, this gives the broadcasting station enough "gunpowder" to be able to scare everyone that the Yakuza are coming for your children! The underlying message being that we need the police to protect us from these out-of-control demons.


Once again, the police will use this incident as some sort of proof that we need more police protection and more laws clamping down on the Yakuza (which has been ongoing for this last year). I think that sort of notion is complete and absolute nonsense. Let me explain and add some perspective to this.


From the Associated Press:

Japan, where very few people own guns, averages 124 gun-related attacks a year, and less than 1 percent end in death. Police often raid the homes of those suspected of having weapons. 

And may I add this from the Asia-Pacific Law Review: 

Gun crime does exist, but in very low numbers. There were only 30 crimes committed in 1989 with shotguns or air rifles. With no legal civilian handgun possession, Japan experiences in an average year less than 200 violent crimes perpetrated with a handgun, of which almost all are perpetrated by Boryokudan, organised crime groups. Most gun crimes involve only unlicensed possession, and not the commission of another crime. 

Anyone can see that the hype doesn't reflect the reality. We don't need more laws curtailing whatever it is that the Yakuza are doing, especially ridiculous things like scalping tickets and we certainly do not need to increase police or government budgets.


We need to cut government spending. With our public debt at 229% of GDP, we certainly do not need to use these sorts of excuses to increase police budgets for crimes that kill 127 people a year (and nearly all of them perpetrated against gangster by gangsters - not regular people) in a country of 127 million people. Heck, in 2010 over 350,000 people died of cancer... 


But laying in a hospital bed with tubes in ones nose doesn't make for good or exciting TV news, now does it? Shootouts and panic are much better for increasing budgets and asking for more taxation. 




Thanks to Japan Times and News on Japan

American Exceptionalism: How Murdering Children by Drone is Actually Saving Lives - When the US Government Does It!

If America ever passes out as a great nation, we ought to put on our tombstone:  America died from a delusion she had Moral Leadership.  ~ Will Rogers

I think America needs to order that tombstone to be made.

I think because I am an American, I meet and talk to a lot of Americans (of course). You know, birds of a feather and all that. I'm no Einstein, but all I can say is that there sure seem to be a lot of boneheaded Americans running around with some very twisted and weird ideas. I think that can be expected from the average Joe Blow, but you'd think that university grads might offer a bit more logical and clever insight... I am often really (unpleasantly) surprised at how dimwitted, sheltered, egoistic and naive my countrymen are. 


Of course, not all American university graduates are knuckleheads. But there are far too many of them that are. Maybe it's the schooling? As one of my favorite author's, Fred Reed wrote recently about US university education:


“Look, the US is in intellectual collapse. The average American university wouldn't qualify as a high-school in Japan. It's crazy. The whole world know it's crazy. But take out the Kims, Khans, Nguyens, Wangs, and Cohens, and what's left is Albania in 1750.”


Of course, the average American will have none of this when it comes to pointing out how low the mighty have fallen. Why? Well many of them will tell you; "Well, in spite of our problems, you've got to admit it: America is still the greatest country in the world."


Another writer, Mark Davis, adds:

"Self-glorification is a powerful narcotic. Every country has a state that promotes itself shamelessly, but since WW II Americans have been on a binge thanks to non-stop propaganda about how great that made "us". Many believe that 'It's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way.' But the cognitive dissonance that is rising undermines this paradigm. It's hard to simultaneously believe that this is 'The best country in the world' and 'Everything is going in the crapper!' at the same time."

Now, hold that thought for a second... The one about cognitive dissonance. Americans are really bad when it comes to this. I think it's the schooling, or maybe it's the fluoride in the water. Or maybe it's too many fried and fatty foods (deep fried bacon covered hamburgers anyone?) I don't know. But there are A LOT of Americans who seem to have a problem in this area.


....


It's not often that I read something that really infuriates me. But usually, recently, if I do read it, it's something really cretinous written in the American media or said by some American who has a problem with cognitive dissonance. Incredibly, you see these people on American TV all the time so the general public hasn't a problem with parroting nonsense. Lately, I've been trying to ignore this trend, but last night I read something that was just simply unbelievable: It was, of course, an American guy regurgitating dim-witted detritus that he read in a newspaper. 

Japanese troops celebrating the fall of Singapore

I come from the most self-centered, conceited, ethno-centric nation in the world. And, no, I'm not talking about Japan. Japan may be Xenophobic, but no nation in the world can hold a candle to modern day American chauvinism, delusion and self-righteousness. Like I said, the Japanese may be Xenophobic but they are not bombing and killing brown skinned children on the other side of the world 24/7 like the USA is now doing in six Muslim countries... (As my friend Kevin Riley says, "Japan used to do that, but we grew out of it.")


Now, onto what made me so mad about how ignorant some Americans can be! (If, someday, they find out that the cause of this malady is 85% all of Americans suffer from dyslexia, then forgive me.) One of my friends (who lives in Japan) posted this picture on Facebook yesterday:

Underneath it, my friend wrote (now remember we're talking about someone who lives in the only country that has had atomic bombs dropped on it) :

To raise awareness of the horrific effects of war, I plan to place this photo of a dead child as my profile photo for the rest of January. He, and other innocents around him, were murdered in Pakistan by one of many US drone attacks internationally. According to one statistic, in Iraq alone, over 110,000 civilians were murdered by the US. Add to that deaths of innocent civilians in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and then add to that deaths authorized tacitly by the US through its sale of weapons, the toll of murders is mind boggling. And let's not get into the history of US aggression: Grenada and Vietnam are examples that come to mind.

Do you feel that the murder (and subsequent cover up by the US govt) of civilians is wrong and must stop now? If so, I encourage you to help raise awareness of these atrocities by making your profile picture that of this innocent child, for this month. Raising awareness can help save lives. You can help save a life.

Okay. So far, so good. Who wouldn't be against killing 2 year old kids? I mean, what's to complain about? That's what my friend posted. Pretty simple to understand. There were many comments and "likes." 


Except one. One commentator was an American male who completely misses the point. I couldn't believe how illogical his comments were. It would be okay if he were just your typical stupid Beavis & Butthead type, but I checked this guy's profile and he is a university educated man and the managing director of a company! 

Beavis and Butthead are not a problem. The problem is that 

there are 22 million American males with the same intelligence level.

I will write this guy's two comments below and let you read how absurd they are and mirrors of US government propaganda (there are still Americans who believe that stuff!?). It is astounding that a supposedly university educated American male can be so, well, so uninformed (I'm being polite, as you know). Before I pick his comments apart, here they are for you as written: 

"A depressing photo indeed, but hardly fair to label this as murder. The drone attacks have saved more lives than alternative courses of action. Muslims are not always labeled terrorist - this is the same type of misleading remark that people who are on the other side of the coin would make from their perspective. I find it more distressing that we don't make a bigger deal about the bombing that takes place in markets where innocent people are shopping and living their daily lives. There is more violence taking place between varying Muslim factions than are being killed in a military campaign. I was not in favor of going into Iraq from Day 1. But the regime in Afghanistan did protect the culprits from 9/11. Pakistan for a variety of reasons is trying to placate all sides and find it's own strategic advantages in Afghanistan. I find the photo sad but misleading as this is not a simple problem. The civilian casualties would be less if there were a more honorable government that truly cared about people more than power and money running Afghanistan..." 

He adds in his immediate follow up post:

"I looked this up a few minutes ago. "The reports make it clear that most civilians, by far, were killed by other Iraqis. Two of the worst days of the war came on Aug. 31, 2005, when a stampede on a bridge in Baghdad killed more than 950 people after several earlier attacks panicked a huge crowd, and on Aug. 14, 2007, when truck bombs killed more than 500 people in a rural area near the border with Syria." Excerpt from NYT...  the deaths are deplorable, but most of them do NOT come from U.S. military activities. If anything violence is likely to escalate after we leave."

This guy's comments are incredible. George Orwell, pick up the phone. America is calling you!... 


His first line, "A depressing photo indeed, but hardly fair to label this as murder"? Hardly fair to label this murder!? Hardly fair to label this murder!? An innocent child is killed by a missile fired by a robot drone and this isn't 'murder'!? What is it then? Oh? I see. It's an accident? If someone (like you or me) intentionally fires some projectile into someone's house and it kills a child, it's most definitely called "murder." But if the US government does it, it's not? OK. In that case, it's called "bringing democracy to them" or "collateral damage"? 

I think it's hardly fair to call this "flattening a house" or "killing family"

I'm sure this is the typical American who would say that, "World War II? Oh, dropping atomic bombs on civilian cities like Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not murder... Because, of course, killing innocent people actually saved lives. Don't you know that?" 

All Americans seem to know this. Repeat after me: Killing actually saves lives. We need war to have peace. Slavery is freedom. Ignorance is strength.  

Yeah, sure. But this lady and her kid shouldn't have 

bombed Pearl Harbor in the first place.

The guy then goes on to write some more cockeyed litany, let's skip those (there's so much) and go to another one that really makes me want to slap my forehead with it's inanity and that is this one:

"I was not in favor of going into Iraq from Day 1. But the regime in Afghanistan did protect the culprits from 9/11."

Am I the only one who sees this glaring logical inconsistency? Let me get this straight: He was, "...not in favor of going into Iraq from Day 1"? Okay. I'm with him so far. Got it.... "But the regime in Afghanistan did protect the culprits from 9/11."??? 

Wait a minute (there goes that cognitive dissonance again!) clear-thinking people might ask "What's the connection between Iraq here and Afghanistan besides the letter 'a' in both names?" 


First off, that bit about the Afghan government protecting culprits of 9/11 is not true at all and US government propaganda. The government of Afghanistan said they would turn over Osama bin Laden to a third country if the USA would provide proof of his guilt, which the USA said they would do within 48 hours of the World Trade Center Attacks, but never did. And secondly, what does the regime in Afghanistan have to do with Iraq?

Oh, yeah. I forgot. We'll just conveniently forget that even president Bush admitted that 15 of the 19 supposed hijackers on 9/11 weren't Iraqi or Afghani, but from Saudi Arabia - a US ally. But, hey, what's the difference, right? Saudi, Iraqi, Afghani, all towel-heads and camel jockeys look the same, right? 

Japanese? Chinese? Korean? Asians?... Whatever! They all look the same, right? 

Damn! I'm pulling my hair out with this! This should be a total embarrassment to all Americans and the entire educational system of that country! How can American people be so benighted? It embarrasses even me!

This guy is so brainwashed; so wrong on every level and so full of propaganda that I don't know whether I want to strangle him or just slap him silly. It drives me crazy that people who think this way actually exist on this planet. I could feel the fire coming out of my ears. I posted back:

"The drone attacks have saved more lives than alternative courses of action"? That's total and complete nonsense. Why are US forces bombing people in countries that haven't threatened or attacked us? Get out of this imperialist "USA is world's police force" BS. What right does the USA have to be bombing these people? Or, do I infer, that you consider US lives more important than the lives of brown skinned kids in the middle east? The best course of action would be to kill no one and that is to LEAVE THOSE PEOPLE ALONE! Japan, Sweden, etc., etc. do not have terrorist attacks against them. Can't figure out why? Because we are not killing these people in their own backyards. Americans need to wake up and get out of this stupid mindset."

My friend who made the original post wrote to me and said that "...we probably can't convince (that person), so we need to plant the seed." 


My friend is a very diplomatic and nice person. I am not.


To all Americans who believe that we have a right and we are special in god's eyes; to all Americans who think that the United States has a duty to be the world's policeman, and to all other peoples who are apologists for American state-sponsored murder, I say:


"Realize this, about Americans from this American who escaped the madness; (about) my brothers and sisters back home; after 150 years of history of US imperialism, exceptionalism and indoctrination - as well as 40 ~ 50 years of conditioning in US government public schooling are not quick to change their beliefs and thinking because of a few exchanges with you or me on Facebook or other social media.

It does anger me greatly when Americans think we are "saving lives" by killing people. I know people don't read anymore but the the classic book, "1984" has a lot to say in it about that sort of Orwellian nonsense. That this gentleman fails to realize that when it comes out of his mouth is astounding... In today's America, "war is peace," etc… Americans should know all about this… Need an example? In Vietnam, an American major was famously quoted as saying, ""It became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it." 

US troops burning down Vietnamese villagers' homes in order to save them

Americans are in serious denial. The end of the US empire is coming soon (not soon enough) and people like this American guy will be suffering greatly because, like an alcoholic, they fail to acknowledge the sickness. Tough love is all they deserve, if that.

Why Americans can actually think we have the right to be bombing people in foreign countries or have our navy buzzing the coast of nations on the other side of the world shows the madness of the typical American… I wonder how much Americans would like it if the Chinese were buzzing the Gulf of Mexico or, if Russian drones were killing American children and then Russians claimed that "the drones actually saved lives because of we didn't use them, our soldiers would die"?

Americans who claim this sort of thing are idiots, or at best, liars and it should be pointed out for what it is (for their own good, at least). I do not take kindly to this sort of justification of killing children and think that when people do try to justify it, they should be put on the spot for it.

Killing children, no matter what the reason, is not necessary, cannot be justified and is simply murder.


To think that some Americans actually believe that "killing people by using drones actually saves lives" shows the depths of deprivation and lack of humanity that far too many in today's America show. There is no hope for those people and that country.


There are many Americans who have been waking up and realizing the truth in recent years. But, they haven't a good future in that nation and the awake ones know it.


It is too late.... America is over..." 


......


Later I calm down and unruffle my feathers... Now, dear reader, you know something that really infuriates me: US state sponsored murder of innocent children overseas 24/7 and American citizen's rationalization of it. 


But it's hardly fair to label it as murder, isn't it? And, you've got to admit it; America is still the greatest country in the world.

Everyone is Sick: People Do the Weirdest Things When They Are In Love: Why I am Against the Death Penalty

"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread." ~ Mother Teresa

"Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence." ~ Eric Fromm

"At the extremes, people are considered, or actually are, nuts. But as time progresses, what used to be considered eccentric, is viewed as abnormal and in need of medicating, or at least worthy of employing members of the American Psychological Association to treat." ~ William M. Briggs

"When love is not madness, it is not love." ~ Pedro Calderon de la Barca

There's not a person in this world who isn't suffering from some sort of mental disorder. I have one. So do you. The most ill of all of us are the ones who are so vain and narcissist - or extremely ill - that they won't, or can't, admit it.

I think there isn't anything wrong with having failings. We are, after all, only human. Humans are imperfect.

In 1995, the religious cult called Aum Shinrikyo committed the Nerve Gas Attacks on the Tokyo Subway. After years of searching, one of the top suspects in that crime voluntarily gave himself up to police (that's an interesting story, in and of itself - the police didn't believe that it was him when he gave himself up, so they turned him away). The police had always been baffled how he was able to remain a fugitive for so long. Now, maybe we know.

Yahoo reports: 

A woman claiming to have lived with a senior member of the doomsday cult behind the 1995 nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subways turned herself in and was arrested Tuesday for helping him evade police for nearly 17 years. Akemi Saito, also a member of Aum Shinrikyo, gave herself up after Makoto Hirata surrendered to police on New Year's Eve, according to police and Saito's lawyer. Hirata has refused to explain how he managed to keep underground for so long despite being one of Japan's most-wanted fugitives. He is suspected of involvement in a cult-related kidnapping-murder in 1995. Later that year, Aum Shinrikyo released sarin nerve gas in Tokyo's subways, killing 13 and injuring more than 6,000. 

This is a weird story. These crimes allegedly committed by Hirata are heinous crimes and cannot be forgiven nor forgotten. That he would be protected by this woman, Akemi Saito, is the part that is probably most curious to the average person. But, I don't think so. Sounds like she probably loves him. She is sick. We're all sick. Modern society is making us all sicker by the day.

Hirata caught on surveillance camera at Osaka station on 12/31/11

If she weren't sick in the first place, she would have never joined a religious cult. Agreed?

Now, let's extrapolate that thought. Let's consider Hirata. Is he a criminal? Oh, most definitely. Is he sick? Oh most certainly, without a doubt he is a very sick man. Most people can't even conceive of doing the things he is accused of doing.

Now that he's been caught, if convicted, Hirata will probably get the death penalty. 

It might seem that I'm getting off the subject here for a second, but let me state here that I am completely and unequivocally against the death penalty for any crimes. Why? Because of the finality of it all. Men make mistakes. In the history of the law, we have executed the wrong guy many times. Most definitely, many times, Japan has sentenced people to death only to find out later that they made a mistake (sorry link in Japanese only). In my, possibly errant opinion, I don't think the Japanese legal system would ever admit that they executed the wrong person. The United States has certainly executed the wrong person. A CBS report showed that, from 1973 to 1995, in 5,800 cases that resulted in capital convictions, there was an error rate of 68%! Is there any doubt to anyone that this sort of error has happened many, many times in our history? 

Claude Jones was executed in Texas in 2000. Whoops! Wrong guy!

I am against the death penalty. Even if we know absolutely sure that someone committed a crime, we cannot make exceptions to the rule of law and change the law, or make new laws, for that individual. So, I am against the death penalty if only because having a death penalty means that, ultimately, we will someday execute the wrong person. I may agree that Hirata needs to die for his crimes... But, like I said, if we have a law that allows the execution of Hirata, then the law is on the books and that allows us the margin for error to, in the future, as in the past, to execute an innocent person. We must be a society of law and the rule of law. Not a society of mobs and mass disorder.

But I digress... This post is about Akemi Saito.

The girl next door? Saito Akemi

I think there are a lot of people like Akemi Saito running around Japan's big cities -  or any big cities around the world for that matter. Even though, in Japan, the cities are  bustling with people, they can be very lonely places. I've even read before that, when talking vending machines first came out, that they were popular with young people because they could at least hear someone's voice. I don't know if that's true or not. It is probably partly true, partly false.


But I do know that there are a very many lonely people here in these big cities...

Think about it; healthy people, in the first place, do not join cults. I would submit to you that healthy people may not even go to church at all. 

In Japan, often, church people go around to houses and pass out literature or ask for donations for this or that. But that word is not for me. 

I am always polite and kind to these people, and on blistering hot summer days, I sometimes offer them tea. They take that as a hint that I am interested in their church. I am not. Even so, I usually praise them for their selfless work towards their beliefs (I think that it is what they are supposed to do; "Spread the word"). Many times, these people will ask me to come to their church and attend services. I always decline.

At the front door of my house, I have a crucifix hanging over the door. Am I a Catholic? No. But when Mormons or Jehovah's Witness folks come by, they always ask me about it. People are surprised by my answer.

My crucifix

"Well, that was a present from a very high ranking Catholic priest from the Vatican who was once my friend long ago. I haven't seen him in years. He went back to Italy. I didn't know what to do with it, and I don't want to throw it in the trash can, so I hung it over the door. I figure any 'extra insurance' couldn't hurt." 


Hard core religious people are usually very surprised by that; worship of idols and all that...

Fact of the matter is even though I think these religions are all the same, I respect them all. If I had a Koran or a Torah or any other religious artifact or book, I feel guilty about throwing them away (my psychological quirk) so I don't want to accept anything from these kind people. (If someone cherishes something, I don't want to crumple up that and throw it in the trash... Perhaps I am too sentimental...)


They again ask me to attend their church, I always reply, "Sick people go to hospitals. I am not sick enough to need to go to a hospital now. If I do get that way, I will go. For now, the church in my heart is enough for me."

But I drone on. The point? I think that people are all sick. I think that people who go to church do so for a longing. It's not a bad thing; it's a good thing. To each, their own. It is human nature. I think that people who really get hard core into it, may be very sick and lonely. I think it might be a contradiction that today's society makes people sick... So, if you think about it, in today's world, being sick is the new normal.

Like I said, I'm sick. You're sick. Hirata is very sick. The sickest ones are the the people who won't admit or refuse to see that they are sick. Akemi Saito, the woman who "loved" Hirata (or what he represented) and hid him for all these years, how about her? Would you say that she is sick? I would.


These two are very sick and lost people.

These people need help. I hope that they don't sentence Hirata to death. I hope that Saito isn't sent to prison for decades. These people need help. 

Akemi Saito should not be sent to jail where she becomes a guest of the state (and a tax burden on you or me) she is sick. She should be in a mental hospital where she is a burden to her family and her insurance company. Hirata will, unfortunately be sent to death, which will cost the taxpayer millions. But he should be sent to an insane asylum for the criminally insane and be the likewise burden to his family and insurance company (if he had one).


I know the Nazi's did it, but I'd like to think that our civilized society doesn't imprison or execute mentally ill people.

NOTE: Even though I think these people are sick, I do not think that we can blame society. Everyone is master of their own destiny. That being said, is it anyone's doubt that finally, our political and legal system is broken? The government claims that we have the death penalty as a deterrent. But, history shows that this deterrent doesn't work. Why? Even with the death penalty, people commit premediated murder or mass and serial murders. This proves that the death penalty doesn't work as deterrent.

I suggest an economic solution to the problem. Say an insurance based one. Insurance companies insure everyone. If they insure someone, and that person commits murder, the insurance companies pay millions and that person loses everything in retribution (their home, bank accounts). You think that their family and loved ones losing their homes wouldn't be motivation to not commit crimes? I do. 

If someone is deemed a bad risk, they can't get insurance. No insurance? No car, no home, no job, no family. Sure this economic solution may sound draconian or like a utopian dream, but the political solution that we've been using for so many centuries is not working well.

Anyone with any other ideas?