LAPD says Miura hanged himself with shirt in cell at detention house

Sunday 12th October, 06:03 AM JST

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LFRAgain at 04:49 PM JST - 16th October

Miyazakikn,

your belief that Japanese people used to take their lives for an "easy way out"...

I never said anything of the sort. I said "Miura's death more closely fits another growing trend in the cultural fabric of suicide in Japan, namely that of literally escaping from perceived hardship..."

This is in reference to suicide as it pertains to modern Japan, not perceptions of suicide among followers of some bushido code from an earlier time.

The warrior class in pre-Meiji Jidai Japan may have approached suicide as an honorable way to avoid the disgrace of capture. Japanese soldiers during the Pacific War may have done the same to avoid the shame of defeat. But this is not the Edo Period, this is not the Pacific War, and Kazuyoshi Miura was not even remotely close to being a "warrior" of any type.

it was probably out of shame if he actually commit(t)ed the crime.

This may actually be closer to the truth, and you could have simply said so.
LFRAgain at 05:04 PM JST - 16th October

Ahh, but this can stay:

"I am Japanese and thus probably know about current affairs more than you, so don't try to pretend to be an expert on everything Japanese."

Gotcha.
YangYong at 08:51 PM JST - 16th October

LFRA: The holes in your understanding are vast, so much so that it's doubtful if there is an event horizon to be expected --anywhere or anytime-- of understanding. By simply making up movements of thought you believe you walk away glorious, dear me, did you flick and pick through a short dictionary to type your post and think, oh that word will do? Then slap on a thick clay of emotive blurb. How you --or anyone putting themselves forward as a human-- can laugh and sneer at another human's death is no longer such a mystery it's pretty clear how far removed you are. Good luck to you mate. Don't forget the mantra.
isthistheend at 08:59 PM JST - 16th October

Not to kill a dead horse again, but tonight I was talking with a normally objective and intelligent Japanese man in his 30's and he raised the following points. 1) Its quite difficult to commit suicide with only a tee-shirt. 2) There is not anything in that small cell room with which to hang oneself from. 3) Law demands he be watched constantly (not every 10 minutes) until he's released from that cell to the next stage.

Is any of this credible?
Loki520 at 09:15 PM JST - 16th October

Not correct. Every prisoner can NOT be watched 24/7. Unless there is a compelling need to put a suicide watch on someone, they are left to their own devices and checked on every few minutes.

Secondly, it is NOT as difficult as one would think to use a tee to kill yourself. Rolled up like a rope, they are quite strong, albeit not as long as would be optimum. Wouldn't take much for a dedicated soul to use it anyway.

And ANYthing can be used to hang yourself from. A light fixture comes to mind, bearing that installed items in a cell are usually more soundly fixed than what you find in your home (for the safety of the prisoners and guards). A high bar cross beam would work if it's high enough off the ground.
Loki520 at 09:17 PM JST - 16th October

You'll probably find that he is kneeling.

That would take a serious amount of self-determination.
isthistheend at 07:25 AM JST - 17th October

Thanks Loki520 for your response. The J-native was trying to say that since they made long and hard deliberation of over 8 months to bring him to L.A., they were almost compelled to treat him as a special case. For example, the Jon Ramsey daughter's suspected guy who they flew in from Thailand. That type of high powered alert watching. Not leaving alone for even 10 minutes. Secondly, maybe a tee can work, and of course I'm not at all versed in matters of this kind, but after seeing a photo of O.J. Simpsons potential room the other day, I didn't notice any high beams or sound light fixtures. It looked very, very bare. Just a bed, a window, and a toilet in the same small four walls. And third, don't you think the J-public is owed some kind of explanation more than has been received to date. It does look fuzzy. I'm not saying send the camera film if any were taken. If not, this is another bone of contention in the highly camera'd 24/7 style which Japan shows in convenient stores no less. Is this the bottom line? No security camera in the cell for a very infamous and widely followed foreign criminal? I'd think they should have given him at least a security camera watched cell, don't you?
IchyaParadise at 03:22 PM JST - 17th October

How is he infamous? Because it is in Japanese news? That it made it into JT? Maybe it was mildly infamous in Cali, basically just in LA and I'm sorry the Central and East Coast of the states could care less. I am sure most people in Europe, Africa, China (and the list could go on and on) could of cared less. Did he warrant being watched for suicide? No. Again, the best thing this guy did, was spare the tax payers money and not waste good rope.
isthistheend at 04:22 PM JST - 17th October

O.K. I meant sensationlizd here in Japan. If you were here when the crime was committed 28 years ago, like I was, you would remember it as the story similar to the OJ Simpson story. The point is, he was taken to a foreign country (USA) and he should have been given some kind of special watch, and still nobody responds about the camera's in the room, or how difficult it is to noose yourself with a tee-shirt. Or is this just a matter of Chinese beans? And did you read the new story, "Miura's lawyer says he has proof his client did not commit suicide.".....I hope its alot of hot air, but....
isthistheend at 09:04 PM JST - 17th October

I take back everything about my doubts. I just talked with an ex Tokyo Police inspector whom is now my English student and who trained in the FBI way back when he began his career. He became absolutely incensed when I asked him his opinion of whether a person could committ suicide with just a tee-shirt, saying he witnessed more times than he cared to recount when J-people took their own lives with a simple tee-shirt, in 10 minutes, sometimes using a door knob as the lynch pin. So yes, its possible, and yes, everybody in LA police force believed they found the man who committed the crime. Miura must have believed he was doomed, and that was it. And my police friend wouldn't hear another word about it.
Loki520 at 09:33 PM JST - 17th October

That's because it's likely true. You would be surprised what a dedicated soul is capable of doing. Things you and I would NEVER consider they will do if they feel cornered. And they can figure things out amazingly fast.

As far as cells go... remember this... US federal law enforcement agencies (of which I belong to one here in Japan) are just as underfunded, if not MORE so, than any other US government agency. Funds will go towards operations, training, dual-use equipment (think video camera that doubles as recording device for interrogations), etc... long before they go to equipment used soley to monitor a prisoner. Military police not so much, but federal law enforcement... definately. Windfall money ("Hey, look what we got!!") is gonna be used to get things like this, and those windfalls are few and far between.

Part of it is this... You know about this suicide because it's a HIGH NEWS ITEM. JN in a US prison for a long ago murder, etc.. The sensationalism of it is what made it news. Prisoners, for the most part, do not require a suicide watch before they are judged and sentenced. A human guard would cost money for ONLY keeping an eye on him. A camera in each cell would cost money to purchase, install, maintain AND monitor. Not likely to happen in EVERY cell. Some yes, but most? No.

Sad to say... MONEY, or the lack thereof, is the root cause of something like this.
Blue_Tiger at 10:39 PM JST - 17th October

I like how people are saying that Miura was somehow "hounded" and "pressed" for years, then go on to blame the USA, the US Justice System, and the LAPD for Miura's suicide, charging some ludicrous idea of a conspiracy in order for the LAPD to, in some grotesque fashion, to "make up" for blundering the O.J. Case (diod anybody see the news, oh, say, two weeks ago when O.J. was found guilty of assault and battery?). What is interesting about this is that Miura was stupid enough to travel to Saipan, where U.S. laws, rules, and customs are ineffect, and have himself caught when using his Japanese Passport (All the while knowing that there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest). Miura then went on to fight extradition all the way up until he was actually extradited.

I say that the man killed himself because he knew he was guilty. Otherwise, why fight the extradition, and hide behind Japanese Law? If Mr. Miura were really innocent, then why not face trial, stand, and defend himself? Why fight? Why act elusive? Why weasle his way out of his responsibility to his dead wife, and stand trial for her murder?

To me, this is no surprise. No, the LAPD didn't kill him, he wasn't murdered, and he wasn't tasered because he didn't understand English (obviously, he knew enough to hire a high profile attourney the likes of Mark Geragos): Mr. Miura was a coward. He murdered his wife (or had a heavy hand in ordering it), and when he was caught (I've heard that some criminals, when they are let off, get some sort of invincibility complex where they think that they cannot be captured again, which some think has happened with O.J.; it obviously happened to Miura, otherwise why did he go to Saipan despite knowing that there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest that was decades old?) he evades, eluded, and tried to slip away, and when faced with the possibility of receiving serious jail time and a conviction for murder, sought a more honorable way to depart. I can't say I'm surprised.
isthistheend at 06:14 PM JST - 18th October

Again, thanks Loki520 and Blue Tiger for your informative remarks. I wish people like you would join the comments of these and other topics more in the future. We need the words of experts and well informed, as much as just those wanting to blow off some hot air. One more question. Why/how/ does a Mark Geragos not look in the mirror with claiming he has "proof" it wasn't a suicide? Those are unequivocal words, no?
LFRAgain at 01:01 PM JST - 20th October

Blue Tiger and Loki520,

We don't agree on a lot of things politically, but you both pretty much took the words out of my mouth on this. The system wasn't to blame for this. Miura was.
Loki520 at 05:08 PM JST - 23rd October

LFR.... see! We're not so bad...