Saitama train conductor assaulted after asking man to smoke in designated area

Friday 03rd April, 09:23 AM JST

SAITAMA —

A 23-year-old man was arrested for assault on Thursday, accused of kicking and punching a train conductor after he was warned for smoking in a non-smoking area on a JR Kawagoe station platform.

Police said Tomoya Hasegawa, a wrecking yard employee and resident of Kawagoe City, got angry at around 11.30 p.m. on March 17 when a male train conductor asked him to smoke in the designated area. He was quoted as telling the conductor: “Don’t give me that, I just lit up.”

He began kicking the conductor when asked again to move to the smoking area. The man then got on the train and got off about 10 minutes later at Matoba station, and assaulted the conductor again, punching him in the face, police said.

Police said Hasegawa went to the station office and told them the conductor had a bad attitude. He left his name and walked off. Hasegawa has admitted to the assault and told police he was drunk at the time.

News reports

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Latest 15 of 64 Total Comments Show All

jjohnstone at 11:42 PM JST - 3rd April

peace lights all the way!! ive smoked in the train more than once as a young intoxicated gaiijan definitly none of you big talkers would open your mouth. zurcronium, smith and the rest need more than a cigarette to calm down i imagine.
Patrick Smash at 12:52 AM JST - 4th April

They should ban people who commit acts of violence on JR from using JR. That would stop violent acts against JR workers immediately. Imagine if throwing a punch at a conductor led to an enforcable one-year ban from using the train network.

Smokers, please smoke where it is considered socially acceptable. You get a better deal here than almost anywhere else on earth worth a mention. You are a minority and the habit is disgusting to many. Get some manners.
realist at 01:16 AM JST - 4th April

Saitama strikes again! Definately has to be the air or the water there . . .I hear they burn PET bottles n Saitama . . .amybe thats the cause.
mnemosyne23 at 02:21 AM JST - 4th April

Regards the non-smoking policy being a rule versus a law: very true. But rules are in place for a reason, as they are intended to benefit the greater good for the majority of people. It's the same reason there are prohibitions against drinking in the workplace: drinking is legal, but it's inappropriate to do it at work, so rules are put in place to curtail that behavior. Smoking is banned in hospitals, but it's not ILLEGAL to smoke in a hospital or on a hospital campus. Does that mean people shouldn't be held accountable for their actions if they light up in the waiting room of the Pediatric Unit? The conductor was totally justified in telling this young man to smoke in the appropriate area.

I think the more pressing issue is that this 23 year-old hoodlum, who claims to have been drunk, was able to beat up the conductor, then GET ON THE TRAIN, then get OFF the train and HIT THE CONDUCTOR AGAIN. Where is the police presence? Where is station security? This type of behavior on a plane would have gotten the passenger kicked off the plane and taken into custody. A train and a plane are different vehicles with different safety concerns, but a passenger who is disruptive to the point of abuse should have some kind of sanction placed on him or her immediately. Take him to the little corner police station and let him sleep it off if he's really that drunk. But don't let him just carry on like nothing's wrong.
bushlover at 08:19 AM JST - 4th April

Zurcronium, If I ever meet you I am going to sue you for plagarism of my thoughts. You wrote almost word for word my own thoughts. What evil method do you have for reading opinions on smoking?
PaulieWalnuts at 08:35 PM JST - 4th April

I saw a monumentous event on the train tonight, 1st time I've ever seen this in Japan. Steven Seagal would be proud. A drunk was kicking doors, yelling, rolling his R sounds a lot and generally being an idiot. Of course no-one did anything and stared at the floor until the drunken idiot knocked into a baby pram .A seemingly disinterested old fella who must have been in his 60s pushed past me with a polite 'sumimasen', grabbed the idiot by the hair, threw him to the floor and stood on his neck. game over. I still can't believe I saw it.
Sarge at 09:05 PM JST - 4th April

"when asked again to move to the smoking area"

He should have been kicked outside the station after lighting up on the platform and banned from riding the railway for 6 months.
Den Den at 12:57 AM JST - 5th April

Apart from a health risk to passive smokers, it is a safety issue as well. Fires on trains or train stations are deadly at this time of night, as most hospitals will not except patients, even emergency patients. If say 50 people are injured, and each patient is turned down by about 14 hospitals...
elbudamexicano at 04:33 AM JST - 5th April

Japan may seem like a paradise to the naked "gaijin" eye, but yes, here in "paradise" and to the trained "gaijin eye" we can see a crazy, nicotin drug addict Japanese looser a mile away. Well, at least I can, how about other gaijins or J friends here?
isthistheend at 06:23 AM JST - 5th April

right on elbudamexicano

We are in the land of Oz. The paradoxes of this place is that we are safe without being so and protected with no protection. In a very real sense, the people govern themselves (or don't) and the J-cops are like ushers at an event, but not pro-active or pro-anaylitic as we all know. The majority, say 90% or so, (decreasing these days?) are "orderly" and the other 10% just flout it with no fear of retribution. Just yesterday, as one train was delayed by the annual "Jinshin jiko" (suicide), the people were piling up so fast on the the subway platform (the alternative to the accident prone railway above ground) that even the stairways leading to the platform were full and had to stop progress. I was about 20th in line, and some guy was pushing me from behind. As there was no where to go, I shrugged my shoulder to get him off my back, and then he started barking angrily at me "why did you give me your shoulder?" (in Japanese). I turned around to see this obviously job-less goon, and since there was absolutely no breathing room, just stared and finally said "Tanomu yo" (be careful). Lo and behold, the guy, then snaked himself past me, and through the hordes of people to squeeze into the next train ahead of us all using the space above the doors to wedge himself in as is the technique. The doors closed, and he was on his hurried way. To where? That's what always gets me. People are in such a hurry, but we all know they have no where to go. Thats what you mena right elbuidamexican?
tigerguy at 06:28 AM JST - 5th April

I hope that some day someone beats the crap out of that guy. Bloody idiot!
mindovermatter at 11:34 AM JST - 5th April

Hasegawa has admitted to the assault and told police he was drunk at the time.

Well Oh.... That's makes it all OK...!

Don't worry, we treat everyone up to age 79 as a 12 year old, you are free to do what-ever you want, just remember to say the magic words, that you were drunk, and your mommy didn't love you, and it didn't matter who you kicked or wipe saliva on!
mindovermatter at 11:42 AM JST - 5th April

Regards the non-smoking policy being a rule versus a law

It's private property, they own the train station, he is a direct representative of the owner of that property, YES it is against the law to break those rules.

This isn't your buddy Kenji's house and his no-smoking sign in his genkan, this is a public facility, and their rules, as with no smoking in a movie theater is punishable by law.

The conductor was totally justified in telling this young man to smoke in the appropriate area.

Of course he was! What planet are these people living on...?
Ah_so at 05:33 PM JST - 6th April

The little smoking areas on platforms are a good balance between the rights of smokers and the majority, but they should be adhered to. Psych above shows how a balance can be achived. Drunks smoking all over the platform is not helpful and this guy deserves the punishment he gets.
nurse13 at 05:37 PM JST - 6th April

The audacity of Hasegawa Tomoya san is unbelievable. After assaulting the train conductor, he then stopped at the station office to report the conductor’s misconduct. I hope he’s dealt with accordingly. And not just apologies and drunken excuses so many assailants/criminals seem to use. The law seems to be too lax and I believe this contributes to the frequency in crimes and senseless acts of violence.