Man beaten to death after his car intercepted by gang of foreigners

Drug related? (Do not want to look like I am stereo typing nationalities by the way)

"Police have so far not released the identity of the victim...."

So how do we know he was foreign??

or any information on who owns the attackers’ cars left at the scene.

They left thier car at the scene?

Conspiracy: read the article. They left the car that swerved in front to block the driver, and the second one that rear-ended them, at the scene, and took off in another car. It was obviously planned.

In any case, why not release the identity? Might help.

probably used stolen cars, sounds pretty bad, hope they catch the perps!

"Farsi" isn't the word, whatever your dictionary might tell you. It's like calling Spanish "Hispanic", or German "Teutonic".

Please trust me this time, Mods, the language of Iran is properly called "Persian".

Wiki/Google it if you don't believe me....

Moderator: Either is fine.

Yes, unless the cars were stolen, the police should be able to quickly identify the cars' registered owners. But who was the victim? He must had some ID on him. A driver's license or resident registry card. So far, no Japanese media have reported anything about this or whether the cars were stolen.

Since they were speaking Farsi, I guess they were Iranians.

It was obviously planned.

Left the car at the scene...doesn't sound planned to me.

“Hurry up!” “Wait” and “Let’s go”

Sounds more like mass confusion

lucabrasi

"Farsi" isn't the word, whatever your dictionary might tell you. It's like calling Spanish "Hispanic", or German "Teutonic".

Nope... Farsi is the modern form of the Iranian language, mainly spoken in West Iran and eastern Afghanistan.

They left their cars? Their prints should be all over then. We all know fingerprints are taken at immigration before we enter the country. Hopefully the suspects are caught soon before they decided to flee.

"On the video footage, the perpetrators can be heard shouting “Hurry up!” “Wait” and “Let’s go” in Farsi (language of Iran)."

Clearer Picture:

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/12/21/national/crime-legal/motorist-fatally-stabbed-apparently-ambushed-two-cars-nagoya-street/#.Vndn5LZ97Z4

http://www.tokyoreporter.com/2015/12/21/aichi-cops-foreign-man-ambushed-knifed-to-death-in-nagoya/

This is undoubtedly gang- or business-related, and sounds like a planned attack.

@Reckless... Learned this from my CIA spy book...

LOL don't skip articles recklessly, its bad

I was about to ask 'What does 'Foreign' mean?' (in context).

Then I realised that the writer was not going in for discriminatory language.

Then, at the end, comes the label 'Farsi' referring to how the people spoke.

Then I felt relieved that it does not include me.

Except that lots of people in Japan do have a clear idea of what 'Foreign' means, and that does include me.

SO much for any effort at non-discriminatory language.

Japan you open your doors and this is the potential problem that exists. Learn from the mistakes of of countries problems of inviting the wrong people to their country.

Farsi= iranians, or worse afghanis, how can Japan police can't catch them already and give death penalty ? Also, there is necessary religion involved at some point, when there is a problem. Also, note well they were plenty to beat a songle man. Very typical of Muslim way I have undergone in my country. Hope they kill the egg before it hatches...

Again with the bizarre emphasis on 'foreigners' here. What is a 'foreign looking' person?! How do you know they are not Japanese national without checking their identity first?!~ Why not report it as 'a group of youths' and leave the nationality out until your are certain. Dangerous reporting because it creates profiling behavior resulting in discrimination.

More responsible journalism please, we have the Olympics coming up soon.

Moderator: The use of the word "foreigner" is correct.

Conspiracy theory: "doesn't sound planned to me"

So, you think a bunch of guys with bats and knives just pulled in front of a random person to stop him, smashed into him from behind so he could not get away, mortally wounded him, then sped off in another car that came up to get them was not planned at all?

Sounds like a hit to me.

Didn't know apartment buildings in Japan can record conversations of people on the street.. Very interesting...

Farsi!

Rip to the man, hope efficient Japanese police catch those nasty foreign people. It is fortunate to show that recording from nearby camera caught them so it will haste the investigation. For sure, it is a gang, like Yakuza.

Obviously a grang-related hit. A long time ago, Iranian gangs here used to be into fake telephone card sales.... whatever their business is now, you can be sure it is not legal.

@cracaphat Of course many people would argue that people from modern day Iran are, in fact, Caucasian. It is, after all, the region known as the Caucasus, hence the name.

Must be drug related. Now the good old phone card scam is long gone these Eyeranians have moved on. Two were killed on 2F of Excelsior cafe in Roppongi in daylight a few years ago. Another was arrested and had his client list on him who drank at a legendary sports bar. He was forced to go there and shake hands with anyone he had sold drugs to, then of course those were arrested. Quite a few money traders got nicked that night.

Now the good old phone card scam is long gone these Eyeranians have moved on.

A little background information.

http://observers.france24.com/en/20140228-iranians-deal-drugs-japan-yakuza

Note how this is news. Because it is so unusual.

Iranian drug ring ...

maybe some family problems

Man beaten to death after his car intercepted by gang of foreigners

Or, before the original title was changed:

Foreign man beaten to death after his car intercepted by gang of foreigners

Just what is wrong with saying 'Man beaten to death after his car intercepted by gang'? And why was the word foreign then removed from the description of the victim?

I know that Japan Today is now Japanese-owned, but come on, some of us don't read Sankei Shimbun for a reason.

Hmmm..."foreign-looking." That's a disappointment for Japan Today. Amateurish indeed.

@Moon

Yours is a good comment, but if I cast my mind way back to England, twenty-five years ago, then I suspect that the newsreader would have specified "Iranians" or "Persian-speakers" (not all Persian-speakers are Iranian).

"Foreigners" as a generalization, sounds odd in English....

This film has been shown over and over on Japanese TV today. Whatever he did wrong, that guy sure took a beating for it. The first thing that came to mind when seeing the film for the first time was what "Mike 42" at the very beginning of these comments said: drugs. Then later it was reported that Japanese police suspected Iranians might have been involved. Anyway ... it was an ugly scene ...

"This film has been shown over and over on Japanese TV today"

Yes I saw it on TV yesterday and used my not-yet-perfect Japanese to understand. So yes, IT WAS REALLY IMPORTANT to stress that the victim and killers were FOREIGN in order to reassure the public. Because when this kind of news is reported in Japanese your jaw drops open because...

This doesn't happen in Japan!!

Probably foreign agents - they left the cars because they're long gone out of the country, so they don't care if the cars can be traced back to them.

The foreign victim was probably pursued all the way to Japan.

lubracasi:

"Foreigners" as a generalization, sounds odd in English....

Wow! And your comment hasn't been deleted. I questioned why JT is joining in the usual Japanese media bandwagon and always emphasizing 'foreign' with crime stories, and my comment gets deleted.

Moderator: The use of the word "foreigner" in the headline and story is appropriate. That ends discussion on this point. Please focus your comments on the crime itself.

I don't know why some readers think it is strange that media use the word foreigners to describe the victim and attackers. In fact, I'll bet my bank account, that if any readers of Japan Today were a witness to the crime and the police asked you to describe the attackers, every single one of you would have said they were foreigners or even foreign-looking. That's certainly how I would have described them.

On the TV news they said 南米 (nanbei) which even I know means South American... ;-)

"Man beaten to death after car is intercepted by gang" would suffice as a title.

Iranians or Afghanis, doesn't matter. the question is, what were such unsavoury characters doing in Japan?

BrainiacDEC. 21, 2015 - 06:04PM JST I don't know why some readers think it is strange that media use the word foreigners to describe the victim and attackers. In fact, I'll bet my bank account, that if any readers of Japan Today were a witness to the crime and the police asked you to describe the attackers, every single one of you would have said they were foreigners or even foreign-looking. That's certainly how I would have described them.

Really? I would have said 'middle-eastern looking' or 'Iranian-looking'. You have so much trouble distinguishing between nationalities that you can only resort to 'foreigner'?

If the word "foreign" wasn't included, I would have assumed the men involved were Japanese.

Does that make me a racist? Doh!

sourpussDEC. 21, 2015 - 08:24PM JST

If the word "foreign" wasn't included, I would have assumed the men involved were Japanese. Does that make me a racist? Doh!

Fair enough, but what age would you have assumed them to be? What age? That one was gay and another was really handsome? Does it even matter that they were Japanese or 'foreign'? What difference does it make? Why emphasis their race or non-Japaneses at all? That's the point - what you emphasizes is what the reader and the public focuses on.

Smithinjapan, does yelling hurry up! Wait! Lets go! And then leaving a vehicle behind, sound planned to you? If that's the way you plan your business, then so be it.

Nobody is contributing to vilification of foreigners in Japan.

I think it's fair enough for us to unpack, from our own perspectives, the narrative that this media is presenting. It's not reasonable to have an internet forum and expect people not to draw and debate their own conclusions.

...every single one of you would have said they were foreigners or even foreign-looking.

Maybe. But this is media. It's clunky at best as a description. I don't know what JT aspires to, but I think it could do better than that.

lucabrasi - the name of the language is Farsi. After having lived with an Iranian wife for more than 20 years and even attempted to learn the language a little, I assure you the name of the language is Farsi.

Conspiracy Theory:

" Smithinjapan, does yelling hurry up! Wait! Lets go! And then leaving a vehicle behind, sound planned to you? If that's the way you plan your business, then so be it. "

Hurry up makes absolute sense in the context, as does leaving the damaged cars behind, which you can be sure were stolen, and fleeing in an undamaged one.

I saw the video taken from the mobile phone on a TV show today and it looked like the man who was being chased threw a black bag across the street. The attackers came back after fleeing the first time and searched the car and then as the police turned up they fled again. They were speculating on TV that it was drugs-related and that the bag was an important clue. Obviously the police are not giving too much information away in order to catch them. Hopefully!

This article begs for a follow up. Please let us know what happens next.

This is startling! I hope they catch these people and kick them out!

Brainiac:

I don't know why some readers think it is strange that media use the word foreigners to describe the victim and attackers.

Nobody thinks it's strange. What I and perhaps one or two others think is strange is this obsession (bordering on fear-mongering, xenophobia or just to make attention-grabbing headlines) of making the word foreign stand out in the headlines. That's not the most important thing. What is is the fact that someone was murdered. Then you provide more detailed explanation within the article. Also, I'd be less miffed if they wrote Farsi-speaking than just simply foreign, because that implies all gaijins in general are trouble.

Please trust me this time, Mods, the language of Iran is properly called "Persian".

Wiki/Google it if you don't believe me....

LOL Here's the very first sentence of Wiki's entry:

Persian (/ˈpɜrʒən/ or /ˈpɜrʃən/), also known by its endonym Farsi (English: /ˈfɑrsiː/; Persian: فارسی fārsi [fɒːɾˈsiː] ( listen)), is the predominant modern descendant of Old Persian, a southwestern Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages.

An "endonym" is what native speakers of the language call it, and therefore could be considered its "correct" name. Another example would be the language in the Philippines: We might say "Filipino" (and would be understood), but the endonym is "Tagalog".

I have seen a street fight between angry drivers before. Here is my advice to the peanut gallery, if you are in the safety of 2 tons of steel and 500 horsepower, stay the hell in your car if 6 Iranians with bats attack you. Stay in your car and run their arses over. Thanks and Happy Holidays.

Additionally, learn from the two FBI agents who were ambushed in Mexico... If someone cuts you off and then exits their vehicle with weapon(s), do NOT put your vehicle in "Park". As soon as you do your doors unlock. The FBI agents were in an armored SUV but the driver put the car in park and the assailants were able to open the doors from the outside.

lucabrasiDEC. 21, 2015 - 11:25AM JST "Farsi" isn't the word, whatever your dictionary might tell you. It's like calling Spanish "Hispanic", or German "Teutonic". Please trust me this time, Mods, the language of Iran is properly called "Persian". Wiki/Google it if you don't believe me.... Moderator: Either is fine.

You are both wrong. Persian is an old, Orientalist English name for the language, which is Farsi and ceased to be called Persian that once Persia became Iran.

When in doubt, opt for the native pronunciation/word.

http://www.farsinet.com/farsi/

So where the heck is the video ? Why not release to the the Public ? Perhaps, some of us can identified the suspects.

*powderbDEC. 21, 2015 - 02:13PM JST @cracaphat Of course many people would argue that people from modern day Iran are, in fact, Caucasian. It is, after all, the region known as the Caucasus, hence the name.

The Caucasus is an ancient geographic designation that has always encompasses a variety of ethnic and religious groups. Only the north border area of Iran is part of the Caucasus, the majority of which lies in Russian and the former Soviet states of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and a corner of NE Turkey. There never was a cultural group known as "Caucasians" though the term was coined in error by a German anthropologist in the late 18th Century.

Execute, arrest, jail, trial, prison. In that order.

To all who are on the defense. Fact: there is video footage, and they know the perpetrators are foreigners, so relax. This is Japan, and foreigners are sukunai. So maybe it's important to distinguish. Also, I'm glad to see they used the term 'foreigner' (which, but the way, is not a derogatory term). Can you imagine the hype it would cause if the said 'looking iranian' or 'looking middle eastern' and the got it wrong?

that personDEC. 22, 2015 - 09:12AM JST

This is Japan, and foreigners are sukunai. So maybe it's important to distinguish. What!? That's exactly why they shouldn't be distinguished - minorities are t=usually the ones that suffer from discrimination after all. There are few Ainu and Burakumin so you're saying if these people are in the news their ethnicity should be in the headline!? See the precedence that sets up?

Also, I'm glad to see they used the term 'foreigner' (which, but the way, is not a derogatory term). Can you imagine the hype it would cause if the said 'looking iranian' or 'looking middle eastern' and the got it wrong?

Exactly, the ethnicity of a person is not relevant, period! And that includes whether they are Japanese or non-Japanese

Example of socially-conscience and responsible headlining: Motorist killed in apparent ambush on Nagoya street http://tinyurl.com/h3rtafx

Moderator: Our headline is fine. That ends discussion on this point.

Nationality is just normal information like any news story reports just like the area where it took place, the gender and age of the people etc.

Iranians or Afghanis, doesn't matter. the question is, what were such unsavoury characters doing in Japan?

Ask the liberals. They love to import this type of unsavoury characters.

EyeOfTheCatDEC. 22, 2015 - 03:14PM JST Iranians or Afghanis, doesn't matter. the question is, what were such unsavoury characters doing in Japan? Ask the liberals. They love to import this type of unsavoury characters.

Same as anyone else, surviving. Plenty of 'unsavory' characters in Japan and the vast majority are Japanese.

I think if the video was clear enough to see the perps weren't Japanese then it is clear enough to see the were "middle eastern"

The use of Farsi would be another flag would it not?

So I think it would seem safe enough to have said…"Appear to be be of middle eastern appearance"

And if they got it wrong so what?

The problem with using the catch-all "foreigner" is that it puts me (a white Scotsman) in the spotlight too, as we all know that most (not all) Japanese view us all as foreigners.

It only takes one stupid foreigner to put us all back 5 years in terms of fighting for our rights as equal citizens.

As I heard he was a 28 years old Persian guy named Mehrdad living in Japan with permanent visa with his Japanese wife that 6 years ago married to her who converted to Islam. his parents told he was happy with his life, he also had a 3 years old son. the 6 Persian guys who killed him have traveled to Japan for finding job and they do not have any Visa. Mehrdad's mother told he knew them but does not know why they killed him.

Aydamn: Well, "Mehrdad" was obviously involved in the wrong business and with the wrong people. It is not like 6 Iranians suddenly want to kill him randomly because they don´t have a visa.

sorry I donnu more details...all I told was in Iran news. his parents were referred to Iran criminal court and asked them to help finding his killers. as they told Mehrdad knew the 6 men and all 6 have traveled there for job and have no residency visa but they told we don't know why they killed our son...his parent told Mehrdad has received residency visa after marry to Japanese girl and he worked in his father in low's car shop. I saw no more details in Iran news that was all I saw...as WilliB told maybe he involved in the wrong business and with the wrong people. any way after arresting them all details of this murder case will be revealed.