Three youths in hospital after gang fight in suburban Tokyo
TOKYO —
Three young men were injured in the early hours of Sunday morning in Fussa City when they got into a fight with another group of young men believed to be from Southeast Asia, police said Monday.
Police said the two gangs got into an argument at around 1.20 a.m. The two gangs met again on the street just before 5 a.m., and they resumed arguing. Police received a call saying a man had been stabbed by a foreigner, and when they rushed to the scene, found an 18-year-old man had been stabbed in his side and a 20-year-old man had been stabbed in his back.
Both were taken to hospital and are in a stable condition, police said. The third youth was also taken to hospital for minor injuries. Police are searching for the men believed to be from Southeast Asia.
News reports
Order by Time Order by Popularity
63 Comments
Login to comment
0
meanmutha
this would never make news in the US, but this bit was entertaining, the way it was written...luv the foreigner bit which was to confuse cops and catch sympathy... luv it...
Moderator: It's not necessary to judge everything by whether or not it would make news in the U.S.
0
Beelzebub
"Gangs" usually denotes some degree of organization, even a name for the groups. Was this simply a rumble between rival groups, or a turf war? Fussa City is close to Yokota Airbase. Could the non-Japanese been military dependents? There's probably an interesting story here. Wonder if the media will ever follow it up.
0
Altria
The J-punks are a joke! They'd get pwned by those mincing tap-dancers from West Side Story.
0
bobbafett
Altria is right. South East Asians fight for real, not just posture, pump, and boast. Those J-punks are to busy with their hair and mirrors to even know what a real fight is until they are in one and then its too late.
0
biglittleman
I wouldn't be surprised if the Japanese group started it. It is funny when they assume starting trouble with foreigners is OK especially Non-Caucasians or Non-Blacks. They generally believe they are superior to most. Also since it a common belief that most are overstaying their visas the Foreigners won't go to the police. When Japanese start to get their butt kicked then they want to call the police because they will be believed no matter what unless cameras or eyewitnesses are involved.
0
T_rexmaxytime
biglittleman- your post is all assumption and bias.
0
VOR
Looks like the j-punks came out on the losing end.
0
Richard_III
From what I've seen of Japanese fights, they mostly consist of shouting a lot and sticking your chest out.
Never seen any of the headbuts, kicks or punches you'd expect back home.
0
CMEANDU26
Where do they come up with calling them gangs? They said three were injured but no mention of how many were out in the street fighting? Couldn't this be my group of friends fighting their group of friends?
0
tkoind2
A group of young J boys vs a group of young SE Asian boys. My money is on the SE Asian boys. Surpised more were not seriously injured.
Always get these cocky J boy groups around looking like gang bangers. Reality is these kids would not last a single evening in real gang territory. Solution, don't fight.
0
bamboohat
Funny, I don't recall the phrase "rushed to the scene" in many other articles where cops or ambulances showed up. Why does JT reserve "rushed to the scene" when a foreigner is the bad guy?
Usually it's "when police arrived on the scene they found.." but when a foreigner stabs a japanese, they "rush to the scene.."
hmm. Media bias is hard to cover up sometimes.
0
timorborder
There is a difference between slagging off another group and putting your body on the line. It would seem that these young Japanese chaps have learnt this lesson.
On the hand, what would have happened if the "victims" in this were non-Japanese and the "perps" were Japanese nationals, I wonder if the cops would have been "rushing to the scene" or not?
0
biglittleman
T_rexmaxytime,
A little assumption and bias steeped in reality. I am in Japan. Are you? When in Rome do as the Romans do I say. The fact of the matter,in Japan a lot is based on generalizations. Would you like me to name a few? Foreigners, blood types, men, women..... Despite there being some people who don't fit in that category, many rules here are based on such generalizations. This means that generalizing is an institution in Japan. Since most of these rules have not changed or have changed slowly then most still agree with them. When I say agree I mean as a society or group. In Japan, they are taught not see themselves as individuals but as a group. Quote " We the Japanese...." Thus, it is not unreasonable to use such generalizations to discuss situations in Japan despite the possibility I could be totally wrong.
Moderator: Back on topic please.
0
bobbafett
bamboohat,
That is a strange comment. The cops have rushed to may a scene on JT. Why not do some google work and find it out for yourself from JTs archive pages.
0
airrunwesker
Southeast Asia gang? Ah huh. I get the feeling that if this were a real South Asian gang, and not just a group of teens, this article would have been a lot shorter! What is the world could they be fighting about at 5:00 in the morning?
0
rick0909
bamboohat, I think you would have to see the original stories in Japanese to make a real judgment on "rushed to" vs "arrive".
Japantoday doesn't write any articles, it just takes them from other sources and translates them, I believe.
It says "News reports" at the bottom of every article.
0
soldave
timorborder - in that case the police probably wouldn't have been called at all.
rick0909 - I think it's usually Kyodo News if they are using a reliable source. A lot of the stuff from "New reports" always sounds like it's from a source that might not be 100% reliable.
0
herefornow
Richard III -- you must have seen different J-punks than me. The ones I see generally don't have chests to stick out -- just some hair and a lot of attitude. Maybe if they did have some chests to stick out the outcome would have been different.
0
GW
I dont think kyodo is any more reliable ha ha
0
Altria
Dude, we live in Japan - this is our frickin' ashimoto
0
nutsagain
God, just what we do not need in this world; more aggressive men hiding their innermost fears through postulating the outcomes of violence. Worse, postulations on the basis of race. What utter crap. I think you'll find the majority, the overwhelming majority of Japanese people in fact, to be very courteous and helpful. I have and still do, so let's stop the childishness please ...
0
BBLeo
Let gangs fight to the death. Why wasting money on them? The winners of the gang should than be bashed by police until they will start to ask for mercy from above. It will be good idea to send them straight to the army instead to prison to taste their own faith.
0
depasio
I can really imagine how this started 1. some j guy was making fun of the "eats asians" 2. the east asian is dating on of Japs girls. or 3 Some Jap dude lost his job , got drunk and thought to himself " these gaijins are taking our jobs away, lets pick a fight"
0
rick0909
Soldave, I am not talking about reliability exactly. I mean the translations are don't seem to be exactly correct, because only the 20 year old is a "man" in the legal sense. The 18 year old is still a minor and the other kid is a minor, too.
Also, there's no attribution as to who said the men were from SE Asia. Was it a witness, one of the stabbed guys, the caller?
0
TrappedNTokyo
Maybe they were arguing over the new members that joined Exile and couldnt come to an agreement over choreography styles. "Gangs" in Japan are a joke. They should take a field trip to South Central L.A.
0
biglittleman
I think the SE asian part was probably based on the description given by the three Japanese males.
0
biglittleman
Nutsagain,
Being courteous and helpful, isn't a necessary indicator of what people believe to be true. Social pressure can make someone courteous and helpful. So we can't naturally assume the Japanese men were innocent because they are Japanese. And vice versa.
0
T_rexmaxytime
Why did these S-asians need to stab these punks anyways?
Moderator: Please stay on topic and do not post inflammatory comments.
0
T_rexmaxytime
S-Asians tend to form gangs. (eg california, Viet-gang Mong Gang) Ship them back to their native country and put a severe condition requirement so the customs can control who to let in. Japan needs to protect its welfare.
0
biglittleman
So do Japanese. They are called Yakuza. We can find them in California, New York, Cambodia, Thailand, Philipines, Indonesia and Hawaii. Let's not forget parts of Europe and Australia.
0
T_rexmaxytime
Yakuzas are organized mafia and they have strict rules within the Yakuza community. Also having an organized crime controls the amount of small time criminals because of Yakuzas presence.
Usually Yaks have rules where they are not allow to interfere with non-yakuzas.
0
T_rexmaxytime
By the way I think the Yaks are discusting dispitable organization
0
biglittleman
Gangs with rules are OK? Or just Japanese Yakuza are OK? Does your non-yakuzas interference include the Filipina, Korean, Thai and Eastern European women they trick into coming to Japan for prostitution count? How about the drugs they sell to the beautiful Japanese people?
Moderator: Back on topic please. This discussion is not about the yakuza.
0
rick0909
biglittleman and Trex, Why don't you have your spat about gangsters somewhere else? Its just 2 gangs that fought and some of them got stabbed.
The reason it made it to Japantoday is most likely because of the "foreigner" element.
0
biglittleman
rick0909,
No, thank you.
0
toadold
The days when a magistrate or judge would give a ganger a choice between jail or enlisting in the armed services are long gone in the US. I imagine it is no different with the JDF. Because even an infantryman's job has gotten so technical and demands such a high degree coordination even at the 4 and 5 man fire team level, the armed forces have much higher standards than they used to.
0
bushlover
Young and young is a good mix for disaster. And I guess the SE Asian gang are carrying knives for protection once they are caught at their crimes. I've seen this in Osaka SE Asian guys who were definately watching each others backs as they cased the customers in Kinokuniya bookstore looking for an easy pickpocket target. From the language they spoke I picked up that they were Phillipino. And after going to their country It didn't surprise me one bit. I'd say this could be the case here too. Why the fight I have no idea but would think the J-guys started it and the SE Asians finished it in protection and then fled.
0
bushlover
I won't side totally with the SE Asians as it begs the question why they were carrying a knife in the first place. I stand by my post above as to why this might be. So in this article I put the blame on the situation on the J-guys and their resulting injuries on the SE Asian pickpocket (my speculation) gang.
Back to top