Osaka taxi driver found stabbed to death

Tuesday 30th December, 01:35 PM JST

OSAKA —

A 67-year-old taxi driver was found stabbed to death inside his taxi in Higashi Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, on Tuesday morning. The murder follows a similar case on Monday when a taxi driver in neighboring Hyogo Prefecture was also stabbed to death.

According to police investigations, Toshiharu Goto was found by a passerby around 7:30 a.m. He was slumped in the driver’s seat. Police said the taxi meter showed 4,900 yen, and an undetermined amount of money had been stolen from the taxi.

12 Comments

likeitis at 01:50 PM JST - 30th December

How much could it possibly cost to put a steel mesh between the front and back seats of a taxi cab? I have heard of way too many murders of cab drivers in this country for this simple prevention method to not be commonplace.
smithinjapan at 02:05 PM JST - 30th December

Sounds like this thing is becoming more and more commonplace. Get ready for the paranoia to hit the fan... and just when the New year's season is peaking.
Disillusioned at 02:37 PM JST - 30th December

Gees! I thought this was the same story from yesterday. It's time for Japan top wake up and catch up to the rest of the world. This is no longer the safe little dreamy place people once believed it to be.
meiwaku at 02:59 PM JST - 30th December

Terrible. But violent crime has been consistently down for the last several years from what I have read. Just more media coverage?
ninjaboy at 05:01 PM JST - 30th December

copy-cat crime?
Loki520 at 05:36 PM JST - 30th December

It's a darn good thing that the Jgov banned all those dangerous double sided daggers. Could you imagine the number of people that could have been killed if they hadn't?

Like I said before... it is NOT the weapon, but the mentality. Likeitis has part of a solution, at least for cabbies. A wire mesh would save lives, and you only need a little opening to pass money back and forth.

These people are STILL in the "won't happen to me" denial stage. One day they may get out of it, but until then this will continue.
BBLeo at 05:54 PM JST - 30th December

Second taxi driver stabbed in a week. What is going on? Who is protecting these drivers? They should be armed with a weapon, to defend themselves, and this could perhaps help a little. Is money more important to company than life of taxi driver. Cages should be installed in cabs.
fantomas at 09:15 PM JST - 30th December

How much could it possibly cost to put a steel mesh between the front and back seats of a taxi cab? THIS IS THE QUESTION
pathat at 12:05 AM JST - 31st December

"A 67-year-old taxi driver was found stabbed to death inside his taxi in Higashi Osaka City...."

"The murder follows a similar case on Monday when a taxi driver in neighboring Hyogo Prefecture was also stabbed to death."

And Japan finally sinks into the abyss.

It was a nice ride.
VOR at 12:06 AM JST - 31st December

taxi drivers are easy marks. they have cash and are completely vulnerable to attack from behind. while we like to fool ourselves into a false sense of security, there are predators amongst us and not taking the proper precautions is just plain stupid.

there are no fool proof methods to dissuade or prevent criminal behavior but some kind of separation barrier or face recognition system in taxis would be a good start.
cainhf1 at 01:12 AM JST - 31st December

I wouldn't say Japan has sunken into the Abyss, Compared to life in an American City you are all pretty safe. Here people get killed for tennis shoes. Violent crime in America is part of everyday life we have become numb to it. The problem is we have no cure.
Japaneselove at 03:07 AM JST - 31st December

However this was bad.