Bill and Julia Hawker, parents of slain British language teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker, and their two other daughters, Louise, left, and Lisa, display photographs of Lindsay Ann who was killed in Japan exactly two years ago during a press conference at the British Embassy in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Hawker's family disappointed at lack of progress in investigation

Wednesday 25th March, 06:50 AM JST

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beavis at 12:55 PM JST - 25th March

BigLittleMan, TimorBorder, and some others have nailed it. I will go as far as to add that most any other country would be proud to cough up the evil SOB that did this in order to save face.
But for Japan, as per SOP, the thought pattern is reversed. Moreover, I can't help but wonder what effect all this is having on the Hawkers two remaining children. Dragging them to an @$$ backwards country like Japan to relive the tragedy is just extending the grief of their loss. I'm sure those kids have begun to realize the ineptitude of the Japanese legal system, coupled with the country's all out endeavor to conceal any personal shame, is never going to avail the type of closure that Lindseys parents are seeking. I think its time the Hawkers get on with their lives and admit that Lindsey was unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time. (The REALLY wrong place)
meandmybigmouth at 01:41 PM JST - 25th March

why now, two years on… why haven’t they caught him?

All those J-police bashers...question.....is there no case in Scotland yard where the criminals are not caught for that long?

Moderator: Your question not relevant to this topic.
noypikantoku at 01:56 PM JST - 25th March

J-police are working hard for this! in fact they will put out life size image of Ishihashi (the suspect) and there will be a button . if you press the button a voice sample of Ishihashi will be heard!..like Konnichi wa!! Genki desu ka!!!???.....they will deploy these in every stations.....!!!!!! wake up ! i thought this was a joke! but it's not!!! this is a serious heinous crime! not a gravure model display!
terebiko at 02:24 PM JST - 25th March

Criminals are on the run around the world, he is just one of the criminals on the lam in Japan. The police are probably doing their best, but what concerns me is the statute of limitations here. I guess if nothing changes, in 23 years Ichihashi will be home free. Then he can be a mini celebrity and appear on TV and talk about his crime, or write books about it, like Issei Sagawa. I really hope they catch Ichihashi.
LFTIGER at 04:21 PM JST - 25th March

The Japanese Police need to step aside, and let MI-5 hunt this sorry assed scum down. Probably take about 72 hours!
BBLeo at 06:23 PM JST - 25th March

Shame on cops aren’t they paid enough to do their job, at least for respect towards tourism. It would be good idea to engage some 'head hunters' from China or Russia they will do anything for a dollar. And listen to that: 'Hawker family was briefed about thee investigations in the case.' Were investigators reading to them all the reports that were pulled out from 'Police Archives?' This family must be listening to a lot of crap, and if they brought with them a carpet than can take with them all the reports that were chewed up by cops and their investigators.
Spider at 07:02 PM JST - 25th March

Many people are expressing the view that more investigation time should be spent on Ichihashi's family and finances but surely this is already being done. The Japanese police investigators are not totally stupid and this line of enquiry will already be followed in detail.

More worthy of deeper enquiry is the fact, as has been pointed out many times, that he was allowed to escape barefoot from 9 police offices. Something about this just doesn't ring true. What are the actual known details of the moment of his escape? Why was he not chased?
jeancolmar at 10:09 PM JST - 25th March

One thing you have to consider: To what extent has international publicity spurred the Japanese police to at least put on a show of trying to apprehend Ichihashi. Having watched this case from the beginning I am forced to assume that were it not for this publicity, the police would have quietly dropped this case long ago.

As it stands, the police are not seeking him out for murder but for the "abandonment of a corpse." That's what the official posters say in Japanese. Given the circumstances of Ms Hawker's death this is hard to believe and to stomach.

Did the police allow this guy to escape or were the nine cops who should have brought him in simply stupidly inattentive? I cannot imagine cops willfully allowing a suspect to escape, even the probable murderer of a foreigner. The simple fact alone that this guy escaped under nine cops' noses is terrible loss of face for the police. But, then, you never know in this country.
jeancolmar at 10:27 PM JST - 25th March

Here is a interesting side note. According to Sky News online a company called Famista Inc. is making a video game using Iichihashi's and Ms Hawker's images. The family, Sky News reports, is not happy about this. The company claims it is doing a public service as this game will spread the alleged killer's--excuse me, body abadoner's--image. I think it is sick, just as the life-sized talking cardboard police image is a belated excuse for indifferent, or lazy, or plain sloppy police work.
Spider at 11:15 PM JST - 25th March

Out of interest how many murders involving unattractive, non-white, working class people have taken place in Japan over the past 2 years and why am I not hearing more about them?
jeancolmar at 12:50 AM JST - 26th March

Spider, you are begging the question. What specific murders are you talking about that we are not hear more about? Would you like here about the Japanese guy who murdered and cut up two Philippine women and was jailed for mutilating corpses? You can read about that Debito's latest column in the Japan Times. For other murders of read the crime section of this journal, which ordinarily does not tell if the victims were attractive or not.
Spider at 05:07 AM JST - 26th March

Spider, you are begging the question. What specific murders are you talking about that we are not hear more about? Would you like here about the Japanese guy who murdered and cut up two Philippine women and was jailed for mutilating corpses? You can read about that Debito's latest column in the Japan Times. For other murders of read the crime section of this journal, which ordinarily does not tell if the victims were attractive or not.

It was a rhetorical question. My point being that there is a certain school of thought that suggests this crime is getting so much publicity because it involves the murder of a pretty, white, Western woman.
DaDude at 10:13 AM JST - 26th March

I know that this case especially hits hard for us foreigners who live in Japan because it is an unsolved murder of an English teacher by a Japanese person. However, if you walk by any police box or even post office, you will a huge poster of what he looked like and several more pictures of what he may look like now. You guys can't say that police aren't even trying. Heck, his picture is 3 times bigger than the members of the Aum Shinrikyo who have killed 20+ people. I live west of Nara and I have seen several posters of Ishihashi. This may be an unsolved case but does the Scotland Yard catch every single criminal?
Castella at 12:19 PM JST - 28th March

Interesting posts. All of which begs the question: How good are Japanese detectives in actually solving crimes? Many cases are closed with a forced confession. Perhaps they need to spend a little more time at Scotland Yard...
smithinjapan at 12:02 AM JST - 29th March

Spider: "My point being that there is a certain school of thought that suggests this crime is getting so much publicity because it involves the murder of a pretty, white, Western woman."

Dude, it's getting more press in part because she is a foreign national murdered in Japan. Since Japan is a homogeneous nation comprised almost entirely of Asians, the being white part falls into the international incident category. If it were just police ineptitude it would have gotten it's usual mention, but that would have been the end. But as stated, since the victim is from a country where police actually catch criminals instead of letting them go, the ineptitude too is going to get more attention.