Latest 15 of 52 Total Comments Show All

• 

  dano2002 at 12:29 PM JST - 23rd June

  my secrety was to hit them on the head with a newspaper. every get on the train with your japanese wife and/or girlfriend and get the guy that just stares? So, i just hit them on the head will a rolled up newspaper.

• 

  SpanishEyez37 at 12:39 PM JST - 23rd June

  Ok how did this person get away? JR Osaka is so crowded and yet no one saw anything?

• 

  jewel at 01:28 PM JST - 23rd June

  I agree with others that my first impression from the photo was those "beefy arms". I think its a man. Also middle aged women often have short hair. I think thats a wig being worn.

• 

  rjd_jr at 02:24 PM JST - 23rd June

  Jerseyboy, it's wonderful everything turned out fine for you, but my planned response has hardly anything to do with the mentality of Japanese citizens, nose diving of Japanese citizens, or any other irrelevant non issue. The phenomenon of society not acting during times of crime or distress is hardly new or hardly unique to any nation. Not too long ago in my state, a father beat his 2 year old boy to death on highway. A crowd gathered to watch, including a group of several males, and did absolutely NOTHING to stop this act. Only a police officer eventually shot him to death. That's just one of several cases in the past few months. My point being, it's one thing to confront a criminal stealing a purse, quite another to confront a 6 foot three, three hundred pound criminal assaulting or stealing someone's purse. There is a HUGE psychological divide between a purse snatching and a knife attack as happened on this train station. For one thing a knife attack is sudden, swift, and deadly. Multiple people can be slashed and bleeding to death before it even registers to anyone that someone has been knifed. And then you have shock. Unlike a gun attack where a gun shot will scare people, make them scream, and scatter or cower, a knife attack is a completely different phenomenon. I won't be so arrogant as to presume that in such a situation I'll replicate what I saw in a Jackie Chan movie. I'm being honest in that self preservation is most important, no one knows for sure how they will react in an extreme situation such as a knifing. Experts have been studying this phenomenon for decades, and it's the norm that people will do nothing.

• 

  Zen_Builder at 02:39 PM JST - 23rd June

  I am with rjd_jr.

  A person can seemingly bump into another one while knifing them. Most people won't even register it or the person till the knifed guy drops or starts screaming. By that the person that did the knifing is already lost in the crowd of the platform.

  Being trained in MA and having been in few situations I reasonably well know how I would react. And I know I won't turn into a copy of Jet Li as that is movie-fu pure and simple.

  HTH.

• 

  kirakira25 at 04:58 PM JST - 23rd June

  Me and my two children (aged 1 and 3 at the time) were attacked in a crowded supermarket check-out queue. The guy kicked under my pram and tried to up-end it with my 1 year old sitting in it. I screamed for help and not one person came to my aid.

  I asked for the police to be called thinking they would protect me, but the guy told them I attacked him (with the pram!) and injured his foot so badly he had to go to hospital (there was not a mark on his shiny leather shoe though) and the policeman arrested me for assault in front of my children.

  Don`t tell me for a second that "out of sight out of mind" is a good way to be. My kids and I are still traumatised from that experience 6 months on, and I would ahve been eternally grateful if someone, anyone would have helped us.

• 

  isthistheend at 09:56 PM JST - 23rd June

  I have to feel for kirakira 25. I've heard several times that foreign women, in particular just don't get any form of empathy or help on these shores. I remember one wife of a famous foreign baseball player here tell me, once she slipped and fell completely on some descending stairs, and not a soul would lift a pinky to help her up. But a guy attacking pram takes it to new heights. Anyways, its the ol "did I hit you in the back/shoulder/knee/butt as I was walking by, or did you just imagine it?" syndrome.

• 

  WilliB at 10:10 PM JST - 23rd June

  Cammi,

  Japan is still a safe place, but within a population of 110 million you have your share of nutcases. And with the publicity that the recent stabbing got, it causes some copycats to crawl out of the woodwork. It always happens. Still, most people live their entire lives here without ever encountering something like this. Keep some perspective.

• 

  lipscombe at 10:41 PM JST - 23rd June

  am convinced that is a fella from the photos, the posture, biceps, uncharacteristically long hair for over 30s is a wig. sun visor doesnt seem odd, lots wear them. its just something about that posture

• 

  Pukey2 at 12:16 AM JST - 24th June

  Seems like they arrested a 38 year woman (not man), Ooyama Kazuka. For those of you who can read Jp, check the link to Asahi: http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0623/OSK200806230114.html

• 

  Rigs83 at 01:12 AM JST - 24th June

  I would like to add that it is common response in people to do nothing on the face of danger. It has nothing to due with culture but an instinct to freeze up in hopes that you go unnoticed like deers due when they see a car's headlight while crossing the roads. This happens often in disasters like boats sinking, fires and even during acts of terrible violence that's described hear. Training can prevent this. When you travel learn to plan your exit in the case of an emergency so you know what to do. That means listening to or reading safety instructions so your mind go's to that plan almost unconsciously and should you see someone/s frozen up yell at them loudly, it doesn't matter what you say, to snap them back to Earth. Don't judge peoples action in situations you have never been in.

• 

  rjd_jr at 07:38 AM JST - 24th June

  Interesting post from Pukey, so much for all the "experts" here at JT, wrong again as usual in their rush to make hasty conclusions.

  And Rigs83 is absolutely right, it echoes what I have been saying all along. It is the norm, not the exception, for people to freeze or do nothing in times of extreme situations.

  I would also like to add that it is also natural for those not in situations like the knifing at the Osaka situation to cast judgement and criticize those who do nothing. It is an automatic defense mechanism to "prove" to yourself that your values system is intact, and that you are an "honorable person," as it seemingly goes against human nature not to act in stressful situations.

• 

  lipscombe at 10:17 PM JST - 24th June

  so much for all the "experts" here at JT, wrong again as usual in their rush to make hasty conclusions

  wahahahaha

  kettle to pot "oi omae wa kuro dayo!"

  maybe she was Taiwanese eh rjr?

• 

  westurn at 01:11 AM JST - 27th June

  "It is the norm, not the exception, for people to freeze or do nothing in times of extreme situations."

  Wrong Junior ! It's the norm for Japanese to freeze and do nothing in times of crisis ! Just take a look at the photos from the Akihabara stabbing massacre. Right out front helping a total stranger... some gaijin ! Japanese should be ashamed of their "head in the sand" mentality ! Whole society disgusts me !

• 

  KaptainKichigai at 09:24 PM JST - 27th June

  People without the nads to step up should stop trying to rationalize their inabilty to react or their cowardice due to consequences as "the norm". Stop tooting your own horn about " I have training in MA" if you juat turn around and disqualify it. If you dont have the nads to use it, why practice it?. And stop comparing someone with couarage or proactivity in their hearts with watching too many action movies. If you havent got the nerve, dont insult those who do. The first step to reacting in a deadly situation starts with attitude. My applause to all of you that have the strength of character to imagine your own courage in a situation like this. Surely, I hope you will be there for me as I will for you.

Register or login to add a comment!