22 year old British woman found buried in sand in bathtub on Veranda

[TFG]

ICHIKAWA, Chiba -- The body of a woman believed to be a 22-year-old British teacher was found in a bathtub filled with sand on an apartment veranda, police said.

A 28-year-old man lives in the apartment in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture. Police say that the British woman, a friend of the man, has been missing and suspect that the body belongs to her. Police are searching for the man.

The guy the cops are looking for is Japanese.

[Captain Japan]

I think this should be moved to Dead Gaijins. As well, the Kyodo story has this:

The bathtub contained a large amount of sand, covering all parts of the body except for part of a hand.

and this

The case came to light as another English woman, who lived with the victim, contacted the police Monday afternoon, saying she had not come home and that she could not contact her by mobile phone.

That's some pretty creepy stuff.

[Greji]

I think this should be moved to Dead Gaijins. As well, the Kyodo story has this:

The bathtub contained a large amount of sand, covering all parts of the body except for part of a hand.

That's some pretty creepy stuff.

Yup! I can see room here for some real classy follow up reporting. "Gaijin abuses unique environment of Japan by soiling unique Japanese sand. Japanese owner counseled out about associating with undesirables. Ishihara orders all all bathtubs and beaches closed to non-Japanese."

[amdg]

Sounds like suicide, or death by misadventure, to me. Stupid gaijin should know that bathing in sand is not natural and can be a hazard to your health.

[TFG]

She was buried in sand in a crouching position in the bathtub.
Doesn't sound like suicide to me.

[Takechanpoo]

japanese guy who love white woman is eccentric and also treated as eccentric among j-guy.
maybe he too is one of them.

[amdg]

She was buried in sand in a crouching position in the bathtub.
Doesn't sound like suicide to me.

So you're a death by misadventure man?

[Captain Japan]

This report has more information...
Briton's body found in Japan bath
BBC

A woman found buried in sand in a bathtub in Japan has been named by police as 22-year-old missing Briton Lindsey Ann Hawker.
Colleagues identified the body of the English teacher, from Brandon near Coventry, found on a fourth-floor flat balcony in Ichikawa, east of Tokyo.

The cause of death is not yet known but there were bruises on the victim's face, the BBC's Chris Hogg said.

Police are hunting a man who fled the apartment in Chiba prefecture.

The BBC's correspondent said the teacher, from the Midlands, was reported missing by her flatmates on Monday afternoon after she disappeared from her home on Sunday.

Local media reported that Ms Hawker, who worked at the Koiwa school in Tokyo, had been in Japan for only a few months and was a popular teacher, he added.

They said she went to the apartment each Saturday to give English lessons to 28-year-old Tatsuya Ichihachi....more...

[spyder]

She was a Nova teacher from Area 2 from what I have gathered.

[TFG]

She was a Nova teacher from Area 2 from what I have gathered.

So the bathtub sand burial was for being 5 mins late for work?

[TFG]

Local media reported that Miss Hawker, who worked at the Koiwa school in Tokyo, had been in Japan for only a few months and was a popular teacher, he added.

The apartment block where the body was found
The apartment block where the body was found has been sealed off

They said she had gone to the apartment for the first time on Saturday to give English lessons to 28-year-old Tatsuya Ichihachi.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Does Nova send teachers to people's houses now or was this something she did on her own?
If they do and they did in this case, they are up shit creak for sure.

[akatsuka]

Does Nova send teachers to people's houses now or was this something she did on her own?
If they do and they did in this case, they are up shit creak for sure.

if she did go to the man's apartment to teach him english one-on-one, thats always risky, no matter what country you are in or where you are from. If NOVA sent her there, then they should be penalised and an official enquiry should be done on the place. NOVA uses (overwork, underpaid etc) gaijins too much as it is. It would do no harm for them to go under the microscope.

[GuyJean]

"Uh-oh. The international media has picked this up.. Now we have to investigate it." says Japan reluctantly.

Woman Dead in Bath Full of Sand
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/27/japan.murder.reut/index.html

The body of a young British teacher has been found in a bathtub full of sand on an apartment balcony near Tokyo, Japanese police said on Tuesday.

Police in Ichikawa, east of Tokyo, identified the body as that of Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, who worked at a language school, a police spokesman said. Her body was found late on Monday.

"The bathtub was left out on the balcony and the (corpse) was left there in the bathtub," chief investigator Yoshihiro Sugita told reporters.

"Furthermore, the corpse was covered with dirt as if to hide it," he added.

A 28-year-old Japanese man who lived in the apartment fled when police arrived. Domestic media said the man was known to the victim.

A British woman who lived with Hawker was reported to have called the police on Monday afternoon to tell them the woman had not come home.

"We can confirm that a British national is missing -- an English teacher -- and as you know the Japanese police have discovered a body," a British Embassy spokesman said. "Beyond that we cannot comment."..

GJ

[spyder]

Does Nova send teachers to people's houses now or was this something she did on her own?
If they do and they did in this case, they are up shit creak for sure.

They never do this. She must have been conducting a private lesson, IF the "went there to teach English" part is true.

[Taro Toporific]

"Uh-oh. The international media has picked this up.. Now we have to investigate it." says Japan reluctantly. ]Woman Dead in Bath Full of Sand[/B]
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/27/japan.murder.reut/index.html

It was one of the top stories on NHK TV news this morning.


Briton's body buried in bath of sand
News-UK-Times Online, 27 March 2007
.....Miss Hawker's murder has raised fears for the safety of hundreds of other British women who move to Japan each year to teach English as a foreign language. Expatriates last night compared her murder with the death of Lucie Blackman, a 21-year-old former British Airways flight attendant who disappeared in Tokyo in 2000.
Miss Hawker, from Brandon near Coventry, arrived in Japan in October last year after graduating with a degree in biology from the University of Leeds.
She had been recruited by the Nova language school, which runs classes in English conversation at 800 locations across Japan. It is believed that she may have broken the school%u2019s strict rules against giving independent tuition and had taken on Mr Ichihashi as a lucrative private student.
Mr Ichihashi had lived in the apartment since the age of 4 with his parent, both doctors, until they moved back to their home in Gifu, central Japan, a few years ago.
Police said yesterday that they were investigating the relationship between Miss Hawker and her suspected killer, but information from her flatmates suggested that they did not know one another well and were only recent acquaintances. Miss Hawker was last seen on Saturday night and was reported missing on Monday afternoon by a flatmate after she failed to answer her telephone.
Police discovered Mr Ichihashi's name and contact details on a memo at her flat in the city of Funabashi which she shared with an Australian and Canadian girl...more...

[Hokuto-shinken]

Wanted: Tatsuya Ichihashi - picture from Kyodo News.



A spokeswoman for the Nova school said Miss Hawker began teaching in Japan last October after graduating from university.

"Lindsay took her job very seriously and put every effort into it," the spokeswoman said.

"She was trying very hard to get used to Japan. We are very sorry that this incident has taken place."

The case echoes that of Lucie Blackman, the 21-year-old British nightclub hostess who disappeared in Tokyo in 2000.

Japanese businessman Joji Obara, 54, has gone on trial accused of raping and fatally drugging her. A verdict is expected later this year.

[Hokuto-shinken]

[Catoneinutica]

Wanted: Tatsuya Ichihashi - picture from Kyodo News.



A spokeswoman for the Nova school said Miss Hawker began teaching in Japan last October after graduating from university.

"Lindsay took her job very seriously and put every effort into it," the spokeswoman said.

"She was trying very hard to get used to Japan. We are very sorry that this incident has taken place."

The case echoes that of Lucie Blackman, the 21-year-old British nightclub hostess who disappeared in Tokyo in 2000.

Japanese businessman Joji Obara, 54, has gone on trial accused of raping and fatally drugging her. A verdict is expected later this year.

Ichihashi looks like Evil personified. What's with the Vulcan eyebrows? Is that a "Yanki" thing?

And that pic of Joji Obara: it seems astonishing that what is apparently a 25- or 30-year-old shot is the best anyone's been able to come up with, given most J-folks' well-known proclivity for camera use.

[Behan]

Does Nova send teachers to people's houses now or was this something she did on her own?
If they do and they did in this case, they are up shit creak for sure.

Nova contracts forbid any intentional contact with students outside of Nova but I don't know if he is a Nova student or not.

I worked for Nova for a long time and they never sent instructors to students' homes.

But there were more than a few instructors that broke the rule and met students.

[Hokuto-shinken]

Yes, I think this guy is untouchable. I can`t believe the poor girls father accepted his bribe.



I know he was offered 105,000,000円 but most parents would say, my daughter is priceless and I won`t stop until I uncover the truth. That money is just small change to Joji Obara who is from a very rich family.



http://hss.fullerton.edu/comparative/lucy_blackman.htm

[Greji]

[Hokuto-shinken]

Yes, I can understand that, but he is an English man and to take the money is like being paid off.

Mabe he should use his new fortune to hire private detectives or something to get the man behind bars.

[TFG]

Maybe he should use part of it for a hit man for when Obara get's out & he will in Japan. Like that Japanese fucker that killed that girl in France and ate her slowly keeping her body parts in his fridge. He spent a couple of months in a mental institution arranged through his wealthy family that has ties to the LDP, came out,wrote a book about it all and is walking the streets right now.

[Catoneinutica]

Maybe he should use part of it for a hit man for when Obara get's out & he will in Japan. Like that Japanese fucker that killed that girl in France and ate her slowly keeping her body parts in his fridge. He spent a couple of months in a mental institution arranged through his wealthy family that has ties to the LDP, came out,wrote a book about it all and is walking the streets right now.

Funny you should mention that lovable cannibal Issei Sagawa. Here he is in an Australian TV story on Lucy Blackman and the earlier Australian victim of Joji Obara:

http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/sixtyminutes/stories/2005_02_27/story_1306.asp

"First part I ate is from her hips, yeah. I don't know why, but the hips of the girls really attract me."

[Catoneinutica]

Yes, I think this guy is untouchable. I can`t believe the poor girls father accepted his bribe.

How odd. The pic on the right looks even older (and creepier) than the one on the left. It's hard to believe that there aren't any more recent pics of Joji floating around.

What makes the Obara trial so interesting IMO is that it represents a kind of World Series of competing pressures: the pressure of the taboo in Japan against going after people like Obara, who allegedly had been paying of the Kanegawa Keystones, and the pressure of world, and particularly British, opinion.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Blackman's father sounds like a real scumbag. Unless, he uses the money to make sure that fucker pays for what he did there is no excuse for accepting it.

[Takechanpoo]

What makes the Obara trial so interesting IMO is that it represents a kind of World Series of competing pressures: the pressure of the taboo in Japan against going after people like Obara, who allegedly had been paying of the Kanegawa Keystones, and the pressure of world, and particularly British, opinion.

Unfortunately Japanese media and LDP and J-police is taken over by zainichi korean(souka gakkai, Unification Church, chosen souren).
In Japan Kimchi issue is exactly untouchable.
Zainichi Korean in Japan is like Jew in Anglo-Saxons.

[TFG]

Unfortunately Japanese media and LDP and J-police is taken over by zainichi korean(souka gakkai, Unification Church, chosen souren).
In Japan Kimchi issue is exactly untouchable.
Zainichi Korean in Japan is like Jew in Anglo-Saxons.

Fucking BAKA TARE!
Now, I see why GB warned me.

Why is it that right wingers anywhere on the planet are intellectually inferior to mosquitoes?

[kamome]

Unfortunately Japanese media and LDP and J-police is taken over by zainichi korean(souka gakkai, Unification Church, chosen souren).
In Japan Kimchi issue is exactly untouchable.
Zainichi Korean in Japan is like Jew in Anglo-Saxons.

Thank you for sharing with us how much of a mental midget you really are.

[Mulboyne]

I wonder what factors have turned this into a big story. Last summer, a white Russian dancer was stabbed to death in a Kobe cabaret. The killer was arrested immediately and I haven't seen the case mentioned again. Back in 2005, a 19 year-old Filippina was found strangled and dumped by the side of a road in Matsumoto. Her suspected killers are also under arrest but the case didn't provoke any follow-up.

Perhaps this case gets attention because she is white and English - Britain somehow ranking higher than Russia in the pecking order. Perhaps it is the connection with Nova which is a nationally known company. It could be that the killer is still on the run. It may be that the murder of a young English girl evokes the Lucie Blackman case which was big news.