Hotel murder shakes LA's Little Tokyo neighborhood
The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
-
Court rejects retrial for man on death row over 1961 killings
( 49 )
-
Four men arrested for robbery committed last year
( 8 )
-
Man arrested over knife attack at Shibuya subway station
( 33 )
-
Woman kills three children and herself in charcoal-burning murder-suicide
( 42 )
-
Costa Rica assures fair trial for Watson
( 18 )
-
- Business Teaching Positions - Part-time - Kanto Region
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥3,000 ~ ¥5,000 / Hour
-
- National Relief/Substitute Teacher - summer start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥275,000 ~ ¥300,000 / Month
-
- 営業パーソン
- 加治金属工業株式会社, Tochigi
- Salary: ¥240,000 ~ ¥350,000 / Month Negotiable
Order by Time Order by Popularity
25 Comments
Login to comment
0
goddog
That is too bad. Stabbed in the neck. Hmmm. Must have been a Japanese that did her in. What is with all the cash? It is America and not Japan, so why are they paying rent in cash. No one does that. RIP
0
Antonios_M
How do you know it? Do only Japanese people stay, live and walk around in Little Tokyo?
0
borscht
He needed to be told?
0
neverknow2
Yes.
0
sensei258
What the story doesn't tell you is that Little Tokyo is only a few blocks away from the LA Jail and "Skid Row". The area is full of criminals, drug addicts, and homeless people. It's not a nice or safe neighborhood.
0
combinibento
That's a bit of a stretch.
0
ElJeffeEnJapon
Grew up going to lil Tokyo all the time. Was never the safest of places. It's true the central county jail (twin towers) and skid row are only a couple blocks away. Sensei is correct. Though the Lapd cop shop is nearby and they have really cracked down on the homeless on skid row, I would never be caught strolling around sho Tokyo at night.
0
XXXXX
I've been told to avoid Little Tokyo while in LA. Now I can see why.
0
mnemosyne23
It sounds like an awkward kind of neck wound, from the chin to the side of the neck rather than a straight cut across the windpipe and jugular.
Just theorizing, but let's say she was jumped by someone who wanted the rent money. They put a knife to her throat and demanded she hand over the cash, but the would-be robber is a newbie and clearly nervous. Obaa-chan senses this and tries to push the robber away. Robber is surprised. Knife tilts and slices the woman's neck as described. Robber panics, runs, leaving obaa-chan behind, maybe thinking she's dead already.
Antonios_M & maglev101: I think goddog's point is that stabbings and throat slashings seem to be the violent crime method of choice in Japan, along with strangling, and since this crime happened in Little Tokyo it's not a stretch to believe it was committed by a Japanese or someone of Japanese descent. Of course there's just as much chance that it was committed by someone else, of any color, race or ethnicity. It really doesn't sound like the work of a career criminal, though. I bet a bit of searching in the building and surrounding area will turn up the bloodied weapon; the perpetrator probably threw it away as soon as possible.
RIP, obaa-chan.
0
OssanAmerica
"Do only Japanese people stay, live and walk around in Little Tokyo?" "Yes."
No I think nowadays there are moer ethnic Korean people than J-As.
0
kjkjkj
In other words it was a completely meaningless statement.
0
PepinGalarga
Japanese people sometimes have a poor perception of danger when traveling or living abroad.
That's why you sometimes see J-tourists traveling in Afghanistan and Myanmar.
I have sublet from Japanese in the US before, and usually it's a cash transaction off the books. Therefore, the murderer must have known the victim personally or farmed it out to an amateur.
0
bdiego
How could this possibly be the safest area of the city, when it is located a block from Skid row? You literally see hundreds of people dealing crack in plain sight standing from the Buddhist temple at the edge of Little Tokyo. Not to mention hundreds more homeless.
I'm not saying Little Tokyo is dangerous, but it's just incredulous to suggest it is the "safest" when you are in eyesight of an outdoor crack marketplace.
0
bdiego
I'm originally from LA and let's just say bottom line, you are about a hundred times more likely to be murdered in downtown than anywhere outside of downtown. Take one look and you'll know what I mean.
0
NeoJamal
Damn right, after the EO9066 ordeal, most Nikkei Americans learned as the Ashkenazi Jews did in that congregating amongst themselves will allow them to become easy targets for pogroms, so many of them dispersed and blended in with other ethnic communities.
0
kanoe81
There are some new condo developments right off Japanese Village Plaza but anything outside that general 2-block radius isn't that safe. The Chetwood is off 4th, so that's already on the edge of J-town. In that area, I'd guess that cash transactions are common because many people don't have regular bank accounts.
As bdiego said, Skid Row is on 5th, and some nasty stuff goes down there.
0
kanoe81
Uh, after the war most of the business owners tried to reclaim their businesses. Some were successful, some weren't. The influx of Koreans to the area is fairly recent, probably around the mid-90's or so.
Assimilation is a major part of postwar JA culture, but the drift from downtown has little to do with being easy targets.
0
Tahoochi
Sorry to nitpick, but shouldn't this be in the world news section?
0
goddog
Antonio: How do you know it? Do only Japanese people stay, live and walk around in Little Tokyo?
I know because I read the crime reports here all the time, and they love to stab in the neck. It is a J thing. Good ole Americans go for the heart.
0
kokorocloud
Tahoochi-- It's probably because it's a Japanese woman involved, even though it happened in the U.S.. I'm pretty sure there have been other stories about Japanese people that happened outside of Japan in this section, so.
Very sad story, pretty gruesome too. I hope they find the culprit. And I have to agree with the other comments here, I don't think I've ever heard that area described as "safe".
0
OgieDoggie
goddog "I know because I read the crime reports here all the time, and they love to stab in the neck. It is a J thing. Good ole Americans go for the heart"
goddog - I thought you knew - in America they always stab you in the back!
0
Badsey
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-little-tokyo7-2010jan07,0,6622700.story
-somebody knew she had alot of cash on her at the beginning of the month. =Inside job + with all the street cameras.
0
bdiego
Very few Americans could stab someone in the heart. They usually shoot you and miss. Sometimes they hit and go to jail. The murderer could be from any class or race, although like Badsey I bet it was an inside job.
Back to top