crime

Youth arrested for hitting 16-year-old girl with baseball bat

43 Comments

An 18-year-old youth has been arrested on a charge of attempted murder after he allegedly hit a 16-year-old girl in the head with a baseball bat.

According to police, the attack took place in Iida City, Nagano Prefecture, at around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday while the girl was walking to school. TV Asahi quoted witnesses as saying that the youth hit the girl in the back of the head with a metallic bat. The boy was quoted by police as saying he attacked the girl with the intention of killing her.

The victim sustained minor injuries in the attack. According to police, the girl claims she did not know her attacker.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

43 Comments
Login to comment

So some idiot walked to a stranger and hit her across the head adn stuck around for the police

4 ( +4 / -0 )

WTF is wrong with these people..? This country..? What kinds of Kids are you raising..?

-8 ( +10 / -18 )

This is a kid who needs some serious psychological assistance. His parents need to be closely examined too.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Another senseless crime. Is it me or are the number of these type of criminal actions going up ?

0 ( +4 / -4 )

WTF is wrong with these people..? This country..? What kinds of Kids are you raising..?

Sadly, this happens in many countries - it's not new and it's certainly not unique to Japan. What I really like about Japan though, is they treat it as the serious crime it is and don't pussy foot around when it comes to the charges. In Australia not long ago, a guy did the identical thing and killed the person he hit. He got 3 years in prison. THAT'S a crime.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

This young man doesn't need help, he need a good long years behind bars!! He is 18 yrs old, NOT a kid!!!

4 ( +6 / -2 )

I saw this on the news last night and one thing stuck out about this story from the news report; the guy hit this girl in the back of the head with an aluminum bat and she was hospitalized with minor injuries, with an expected stay of about two weeks.

Now then, knowing a bit about Japanese hospitals and how they keep people in quite a bit longer than "other" countries, like one week to ten days for having tonsils taken out, the injuries dont seem to be that severe. (Thankfully so...)

An 18 year old, young man, swinging an aluminum bat, and all she got was a lump on the noggin'? Ok while it may be more than that, but from the news reports it wasnt too bad. ( Again, thankfully so.....)

She was lucky, and I am glad to hear she will be alright! But this dude is a wimp and thank God it wasnt worse.

He needs some serious talking to, like with a bat maybe?

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Playing too much violent video games. Kids are being brainwashed numbing their moral sensibilities.

-12 ( +2 / -14 )

Poor girl, glad she's able to make a recovery.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Tokyodoumo,

Hahaha your joking right?

Give him life behind bars. Simple solution.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

@real. I've been here for over a decade and have my doubts about your statement. I know in my area the number of violent crime instances has risen. So either I live in the only problem area and recently the news has decided to sensationalize these instances or you are wrong.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Sounds like "Lil' Slugger" from 'Paranoia Agent'.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Keep your eyes peeled, girls and boys -- between this kind of thing and all the random stabbings and people being pushed in front of trains, you never know when you're going to run into one of these nutters. Japan is quite a safe country when it comes to petty crime and people being honest and reporting things found to the police, but when it comes to random murders...

"The boy was quoted by police as saying he attacked the girl with the intention of killing her."

Good. Then there can be no excuse not to try him as an adult.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

China for sailor said: WTF is wrong with these people..? This country..? What kinds of Kids are you raising..?

........

And you're comparing Japanese kids / Japan in general to whom / to what country? Western punks / The West? This is tame compared to the sh*t that kids in the West do / the crime that happens in the West.

Nonetheless the little douche admitted to the crime so as others have said, try him as an adult and lock him up for a good 10 or 20 years.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Oh that's awful! That girl is lucky to be alive! They say minor injuries...but I'm not so sure, she could have internal bleeding leading to brain damage. I hope she recovers alright.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

tolyodoumo - Playing too much violent video games. Kids are being brainwashed numbing their moral sensibilities.

Oh, please! Give me a break! There was violence in society long before video games. This is just another whacko wanting attention and tried yet another random killing to get it.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The victim sustained minor injuries in the attack.

this doesn't make any sense. i mean i am glad the girl is still alive.

but it says the boy used a metallic bat. wouldn't it have almost killed the girl? how could she be still alive?

maybe the 18 year old boy is very weak? or the girl used her good reflex to duck fast?

i don't know... a lot of things don't make sense in japan...

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

@the chronic:

When did he mention the west in his reply? Or make it a comparison?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

"The boy was quoted by police as saying he attacked the girl with the intention of killing her." Good. Then there can be no excuse not to try him as an adult.

How do his intentions do anything to raise his age by two years?

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

habidaccusMay. 23, 2013 - 10:38AM JST @the chronic: When did he mention the west in his reply? Or make it a comparison?

When you say that something or a place is horrible, most people will assume you're comparing it negatively to some other place. Japan still happens to be one of the safest countries on the planet, and as someone from a country considered even safer and with 1/30th of the population on roughly the same landmass, I'd like to say that while there seems to be a fair share of loonies around lately, there have been more knife incidents in my country so far this year than in Japan. Unfortunately I don't think they'll lock this guy up for very long, 5 years tops.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

My son plays video games, and I highly doubt he is brainwashed. That's just an excuse, perp needs to take responsibility for his own action. My son is a straight a student and volunteer at homes shelter. So these kind of acts from perp has no correlation to video games. Get real!!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Ok, the adult in most countries, try to kill a girl that he doesn't know by whacking her with a metal bat from behind. Seems like a capital crime. Most murders or attempted murders are between people that now each other. For someone to try and murder as complete stranger makes him a psychopath. But this is Japan and it's a guy trying to kill a girl so he will probably be tried as a juvee and be out in a couple of years to succeed where he once failed with someone else.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Japan needs to change their statutes about what constitutes an adult. If a person at the age of 18 does not know right from wrong they are not going to learn it by the time they are 20. In every country a person is considered an adult by the time they are 18 and in many countries can be tried as an adult at the age of 12 if it is a crime of violence. Children know right from wrong at an early age. This crime was intentional from a person old enough to know better. One must wonder about his parents and how they raised him and wonder why Japan lets young adults get away with so much just because they are not 20.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

wow Iida is not far from where I live and isn't really a huge city..but looks like no matter where you come from you find all sorts of crazies out there. Hope he gets a proper punishment and the girl isn't too traumatized by all this.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@A Realist

The point is that random, bizarre crimes have dramatically increased in Japan over recent years, something that is often discussed in the Japanese media as a serious social issue. If the causes are not researched and addressed, the problem could easily worsen.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

He's a minor, he will have to do nothing but a little paperwork. Japan needs to get serious about punishing minors that commit major crimes. Jail time!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The point is that random, bizarre crimes have dramatically increased in Japan over recent years...

No, actually, that isn't the point. Because it's not true.

Link: The most recent 2010 National Police Agency crime statistics report and earlier reports indicate fairly clearly that violent crime of all types have been falling consistently year-on-year for the better part of a decade across Japan.

I know this isn't what one wants to hear when it's sounds much more sensational to say things like, "bizarre crimes have dramatically increased in Japan over recent years," but sometimes the truth is a little bit less sexy than complete fabrications.

Of course, the usual suspects here will no doubt claim, proof unseen, that crime statistics are being massaged by the NPA, but that can't be helped in a public forum such as this.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

maybe he got the idea from reading Shōnen Batto

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Another psycho boy? There has to be something in the way boys are taught or raised that triggers these horrific acts of violence in some of them. Something that makes some kill their parents, or attack random strangers because they want to kill.

As a kid I was surrounded by military hardware and was raised on a diet of war movies and "Commando" comics... yet I'm not an aggressive person... so I don't think it's as easy as blaming the media. There has to be something else there.

I hope the girl recovers and that this idiot boy is locked up for a long time... but as a minor he won't be >.<

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I have a cure for this it is called do unto them as they have don unto you.x100

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

sometimes the truth is a little bit less sexy than complete fabrications

Although some parts of the document you linked make for interesting reading, I see nothing in it that refers to the point that I was making, which is the increase of random, bizarre crimes. It is widely known that the overall number of reported crimes has been decreasing in Japan, a trend that experts put down to a number of things including the "numbing" of society, rising apathy among the younger generation and a decreasing, but aging population.

I recently saw a panel of sociologists on NHK discussing the rising rate of random street attacks that were unrelated to robbery. One of the striking (and disturbing) points that was made is how much crime in Japan these days goes unreported (to police), a trend that the NPA must be thankful for when compiling their "improved" statistics.

There was nothing "fabricated" about my initial comment. You missed the point.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Sadly, this happens in many countries - it's not new and it's certainly not unique to Japan.

Really? In my country that "kid" would have a very short lifespan after "hitting a girl by a baseball bat in an attempt to kill her". You see, even members of street gangs have a some sort of "criminal code" and strongly despise such kind of behavior. So, he would be treated like a wild animal, infected by rage either on streets or inside a prison.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The poor bat! Being used is such a way instead of its intended purpose. All joking aside, I think he originally meant to kill her, but after the first swing, he really felt bad and changed his mind.... hence he waited for the cops.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Domb random people hitting other random people with their random bats.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Bogi,

the increase of random, bizarre crimes.

Crime, almost by definition, is random. What motivates one to go against the social order in many cases is difficult for the average person to fathom.

Bizarreness is a wholly relative term. We could talk about men abducting women in their teens and locking them up for a decade. Or a 15-year old stabbing his two younger siblings to death and then wandering off into the night. Or two men hacking another man to death in broad daylight, then calmly explaining why to anyone willing to listen. Those are news items culled from just the past few days or weeks from places outside of Japan, like other major metropolican centers arond the world.

Claims that unreported crimes are even more unreported than before doesn't stand up to the most rudimentary application of logic. Against what non-existent, unreported numbers is this wave or unreported crime being measured? And who's doing the measuring, if not the police? Serious question. I'm not trying to be snarky here, but this assertion doesn't make a bit of sense.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

(cont)

I too have seen the talking heads on NHK and other channels wax philosophically about "what's wrong with Japan." But it is no mystery that this is a widespread issue found in the very phenomenon you say experts attribute to the falling crime rate: "the 'numbing' of society, rising apathy among the younger generation..." Sociologist the world over have lamented these very same points for years. Japan is no different, particularly when it sees the increases in population concentrations around densely packed urban centers growing faster than the human capacity to adapt to the stresses inherent in such living conditions (according to some experts).

New York, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Seoul, Moscow -- each of these large urban centers experiences the same societal pressures that result in the "random bizarre" crimes that make the population stand up and say things like, "Wow. Things lie this rarely happened when I was a kid." To which I'd counter, no, things were probably worse (for reasons that would make this post overly long).

I've only been here 13 years, but being one who spends a lot of time reading the news from a variety of sources, I can honestly say I can't percieve this increase you speak of. Weird stuff has always been happening.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Apologies for the typos.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Japan still happens to be one of the safest countries on the planet,

Yet the country seems constantly surprised when people walking down the street with baseball bats in their hands commit violence. Newsflash: Unless it's on a baseball field, carrying a bat is NOT a normal thing and perhaps the person should be closely monitored.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

omg.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Another senseless crime. Is it me or are the number of these type of criminal actions going up ?

Most likely the news media is just giving it more attention.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

the quotes always says ... Watch's you're step.

now >>>>> >>> Watch's you're back!

poor girl! the desperate youngster found her as a target.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites