Niigata school principal held for assaulting high school boy on train

Wednesday 24th December, 10:23 AM JST

NIIGATA —

An elementary school principal was arrested on suspicion of assault on Tuesday after he punched a high school boy in the face on a train while it was stopped at JR Nagaoka station.

According to police, Sadaki Maki, 57, principal at an elementary school in Kashiwazaki City, started kicking the train conductor’s door and got into an argument with the conductor at around 4 p.m. on Tuesday. A group of high school boys went over to try to intervene. Maki punched one of the boy’s in the face and the altercation continued out onto the platform. The boy’s injuries are expected to take a couple of days to heal, police said.

Police quoted a deputy station master as saying: “The man kicked the conductor’s door and called for the conductor to come out, and when he did, the drunk man grabbed the conductor by the collar, and shouted at him and then at the boys.”

Police are investigating where and how much alcohol Maki had consumed.

News reports

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Latest 15 of 22 Total Comments Show All

moonbeams at 01:25 PM JST - 24th December

Reading the title, I thought, at last someone takes responsibility..

but then read the article and was very disappointed.
some14some at 01:39 PM JST - 24th December

Police are investigating where and how much alcohol Maki had consumed

and how much did he pay, if possible.
outofmydepth at 02:14 PM JST - 24th December

wow - what a role model this prinicpal is to all the children under his care. this is just so sad. i agree that the year end parties with alchohol must be banned. to have people out and about causing trouble and/or harming themselves is just too much to bear.
smithinjapan at 03:10 PM JST - 24th December

I want to clarify that I don't LIKE the idea of year-end parties being banned, and there's no way in hell people working at the local shiyakusho aren't going to go out and ripped, but it's just so irresponsible, and so easy to avoid these kinds of incidents.

For probably what is the first time since I came to Japan long ago, I've seen police patrolling all over the place. Haven't seen them pull anyone over, and for all I know they're doing nothing, but hey, it seems like they've finally realized there is a direct correlation to the year-end parties and the spike in crime and accidents, etc.
Faderkinta at 03:12 PM JST - 24th December

Really, those end of the year parties are great. I am not sure it would be a good thing to do without. The guy was drunk he should be fined and properly embarassed and made to apologize and on his way. I also think he should have to pay for injuries inflicted.
nandakandamanda at 03:21 PM JST - 24th December

The highschool kid was just collateral damage IMHO. What is unforgivable is his behaviour towards the staff.
ptolemy at 03:39 PM JST - 24th December

Calm down people, all this geezer will have to do is bow real deep, cry some tears, apologize "for being drunk and causing so much trouble" and all will be forgiven. Just another oyaji acting like well, an oyaji. To be expected in this day and age that places so much emphasis on alcohol to have fun. Excuse me I need to go make another drink.
BlackFlag at 03:59 PM JST - 24th December

drunk at 4pm, must have had one of those big 500ml cans
whyamiinjapan at 06:12 PM JST - 24th December

"drunk at 4pm, must have had one of those big 500ml cans"

Ha haaaaa!

I went to a bonnenkai the other night and the head of my department at university was waving an empty sake bottle at one of the younger female members of the department. Twice! We were all like, "Whoa whoa! Hold on there, boy!"
Pukey2 at 09:10 PM JST - 24th December

School principal? Not exactly setting a good example. I wonder whether he'll lose his job. Hmm, I wonder.
eresay at 11:10 PM JST - 24th December

likeitis,

My Mother-in-law is an elementary school principal and was working yesterday. It depends on the city/prefecture I guess but it's not too much of a stretch given the time of year, that he was probably working, or at least supposed to be working, yesterday as well.
bamboohat at 11:20 PM JST - 24th December

Ok, let me get this straight. drunk guy gets on train, people try to intervente, fight breaks out, old guy punches kid in the face.

What are the cops interested in?

How much and where he drank.
bcbrownboy at 07:59 AM JST - 25th December

Like it is: national holidays are for getting more work done, cuz only a few students go to school.

Moderator: Back on topic please.
LFRAgain at 09:19 AM JST - 27th December

I think they're seriously going to have to think about banning year-end parties with alcohol, at least in the field of Education and for civil servants.

I understand what you're saying, but like you said, this is only the stuff we're hearing about, meaning, we're only hearing about this because they are civil servants. The number of incidents like these committed by non-civil servants is vastly higher. Why pick on civil servants when the problem of stupid drunks is universal?
LFRAgain at 09:21 AM JST - 27th December

The 23rd was a national holiday, and no matter the prefecture, public schools are out. It's the law. That doesn't prevent teachers from going to work anyway, but legally, they aren't obligated to work on the 23rd, the Emperor's Birthday.