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

[Mulboyne]

Sorry, not trying to annoy anyone over this. Just curious what happened.

I don't think you are annoying anyone. I'm also curious. It's not surprising that there is some confusion and contradiction. The early reports that came out in the Japanese press would have been drawn from briefings by the police. Only her friends and flatmates would have been able to tell the police anything about her movements and relationship with Ichihashi and their accounts probably differed in some respects as they tried to piece together what had happened.

The police themselves might have got confused by what they heard or even doubted it. They will have heard that the two had only just met but also that he had been in her apartment and she, willingly or unwillingly, had been in his. That kind of contact isn't standard operating procedure for your average Japanese citizen so it wouldn't be surprising if the police wondered whether the they had known each other for longer.

Her friends would also have been confused as well as upset. If she had planned to hold the lesson in a coffee shop and told them so then they wouldn't have been able to tell the police why she went to his apartment and probably would have been surprised to hear that she had. That could also have led the police to wonder whether there was something the flatmates didn't know about their friend. The flatmates may not even have known where he lived. It has been reported that there was a note in the apartment with his contact details but it isn't clear if it had his address. If the plan had been to hold the lesson in a coffee shop then it could just have been a name and telephone number.

The only man who knows what actually happened is on the run. Assuming he didn't have an accomplice and there's nothing we have been told so far which points to that possibility.

[Behan]

Thanks, Mulboyne.

I forget where I heard it(early Alzheimer's?) and maybe it was just someone's guess but someone said that he said he didn't have money to pay for the lesson and wanted to go get it, which was the reason they went off to his apartment when she was due to start teaching shortly.

I guess I am repeating myself but as an ex-Nova teacher from the Chiba area, I can't stop wondering about this case. I have been to Funabashi many times and know someone living in Ichikawa whose daughter went to a Nova, but maybe a different one.

The guy is kind of being portrayed as a loner(true or not) so it seems he wouldn't have a lot of people to hide him. People over on the Let's Japan forums suggested maybe he killed himself as a reason why he hasn't shown up yet. But, as you said, he could have an accomplice. Maybe he thought out a place to hide before hand.

I agree with the Guardian article you posted about it being unfair to stereotype an entire nation over this.

[TFG]

What's the deal with cutting her hair?

Was he a hairdresser or something or was it something else?

[Mulboyne]

Unless other customers in the coffee shop or the taxi driver who picked them up overheard their conversation, then it is just guesswork what they talked about. If Ms Hawker originally didn't have any plan to go to Ichihashi's then it is a conundrum what would make her agree to go there. The idea that he went to get money is plausible although it wouldn't necessarily require her to go inside his place. The suggestion he offered to cut her hair idea stems from the fact that some of her hair was found in the apartment but he could easily have cut it after she was dead. It might be that he claimed he wanted to show her some of the textbooks and materials he had so they could plan future lessons.

I haven't seen any indication of how good his English is. Presumably she didn't speak Japanese so whatever conversations they had would have to have been in English.

[Mulboyne]

[Greji]

"....And anyone who believes that this is a sexually repressed country should spend a Friday night in a district such as Roppongi, where young Japanese women feed on foreign men with equal enthusiasm and ferocity....."

Ahh, you wouldn't by chance have any of the addresses here he is talking about would you? Roppongi is a big place!

[D.]

One consistent thread that's often present in murder cases, is the inevitable commentary regarding the appearance of the suspect, that somehow the person in question "looks" like a murder or at least dangerous. In a lot of articles on this case, the fallacy is muddied by issues of culture, that somehow the inability to read, or unfamiliarity with, social mores, cues, etc., contributed to event. It certainly maybe true from time to time, but sadly, murdering SOBs look like anyone. I remember a quote from the Green River Killer (who plead guilty to 48 counts of murder) on how he would put his victims at ease. His victims were mostly prostitutes, who had been warned about a serial murder preying on prostitutes in the area. If they asked, kind of jokingly, if he was the Green River Killer (hard to believe, but then it is human nature not to think the worst of people). His rely was simple, "do I look like a killer?"

[Greji]

If they asked, kind of jokingly, if he was the Green River Killer (hard to believe, but then it is human nature not to think the worst of people). His rely was simple, "do I look like a killer?"

Good advice. I'll use it in Roppongi. "Hey, do I look like a pervert"!

[TFG]

They are saying on the news that the guy does not fit the profile of suicide.
This is because they found fresh underwear in the bag he dropped.
It is also being reported that he may be in either Hokkaido or the Kansai area.
Maybe any FG's around their could also keep their eyes open for this wanker.

[gomichild]

Good advice. I'll use it in Roppongi. "Hey, do I look like a pervert"!

YES!

oh wait was that the right answer?

[gomichild]

They are saying on the news that the guy does not fit the profile of suicide.
This is because they found fresh underwear in the bag he dropped.
It is also being reported that he may be in either Hokkaido or the Kansai area.
Maybe any FG's around their could also keep their eyes open for this wanker.

We should all get badges done with his face on them to wear while we are out and about.

[GomiGirl]

It is also being reported that he may be in either Hokkaido or the Kansai area.

That is a rather large search area. Have they asked his parents do you think?

I am thinking the whole country is looking for him at the moment.

[Hokgwai]

Hey....havent' they caught this SOB yet!?!?!?

....by the way I have heard some Japanese opinons on where he might be. All of them suspise that he has committed suicide.

Any opinons on this?

[tidbits]

Maybe this happenned so near to my place that I am so concern where is this man now. I imagine if he needs to get out for food, he will try to disguise himself with glasses, or he has grown moustache. I had wanted to hang out at the gaijin bar nearby very much (but somehow couldn't due to family commitment) and I have been looking for guitar lesson and didn't think about the danger of going to someone's house. I have think twice about this since this case has happenned.

I even hope the police approach the phychic fast if they have no clue where this man is.

[Captain Japan]

This story covers how the cops aren't offering an explanations as to how the suspect eluded them...
Police mum about escape of Hawker murder suspect
Japan Times

More than a week after Briton Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, was found slain, police have said little about how the prime suspect managed to give them the bare-footed slip when several officers went to quiz him about her disappearance, and retired detectives are questioning how this could happen.

Chiba police have received scores of tips, but so far nothing has panned out.

At around 6 p.m. on March 26, police went to Hawker's apartment, shortly after she was reported missing by the Nova language school where she worked. The school said she had failed to turn up for work the previous day.

Hawker's roommates gave police a piece of paper that had a sketch of Hawker, a phone number and the name Tatsuya Ichihashi written in Roman letters. Police traced the name and number to the condominium where the 28-year-old Ichihashi lived, until he bolted during questioning. Officers then found Hawker's corpse in a detached bathtub on his balcony, covered, except for a hand, in sand....more...

[Bucky]

Not that Police in the US are that much better but a couple of years ago my son (13-years-old a the time) was walking past an elementary school just as the police were investigating a burgler alarm at the school. They saw him, cuffed him and put him back seat of a police cruiser just in case.

It turned out to be false alarm, but the PD was not going to let a potential suspect slip through their fingers. I was pretty pissed at his treatment, but I guess it is pretty common and the ALCU said faggetaboutit, no civil rights were violated.

You would the the Omawari san could done something to detain the guy before he took off, but it is Japan after all. . .

[rooboy]

The woman's full of it - bullshit and spin that is.

Her article in the Daily Telegraph is one of the biggest pieces of window dressing you'd ever read but then again I wouldnt expect much perception from somebody who spent a lot of time dressing up and playing shamizans and mentioning how the Yakuza apparently were so near and yet so far.

The Telegraph didnt give any room for comment on her story which is a pity coz I would have knocked her assertions for a country mile.

According to Lesley the Japanese understand the difference between image and reality. Sometimes, yep, but if you live in Japan for a while and dont spend your time farting around learning 'how to be a geisha' you realise that many more Japanese confuse the image with the reality. Someone like Alex Kerr understands just how the society works so as to blur the line much more than is to the liking of people like Lesley Downer to acknowledge.

She goes on about her own chikan free existence over 12 years or whatever in Japan. Great for her but most foreign women I hang out with have had a no of experiences with them in less (sometimes far less) time in the country.

How about those inconvenient news items that Lesley makes sure she doesnt keep up with - Japanese women being raped on nearly empty trains (not usual but it has happened and will happen again), stalked but can't do diddly squat because of Japanese laws, the surge of violent murder-suicides within Japanese families over the past few years, the surge of stranger murders compared to the past, and the regular abuse, disappearance and murder of mizu shobai women from the 3rd World.

According to Lesley westerners esp women don't understand the difference between image and reality in Japan but the Japanese do - what a fricking load of bollocks.

There are some fucking creepy as well as plain dumb examples of how the Japanese get very confused to the point where they actually belive the codswallop they echo. One of these is their obsession with gaijin crime - even while Japanese people are engaging in some of the worst murders against each other since the feudal eras.

And as for the Yaks - well Lesley, I lived in a set of houses once where I and my neighbours were plagued by young,nasty men hammering at their doors so that they'd be intimidated into buying magazine subscriptions they didnt want. Courtesy of organised crime.

Yeah, the Yaks don't bother ordinary people at all. I just told them to fuck off or I'd make trouble for them with the police but they kept up the act with my neighbours til the local ward office got involved.

Oh and Lesley if you ever read this (I'm not allowed to rebut your bullshit in the Telegraph) all ward offices publish resident handbooks which advise people what to do about extortion attempts and other intimidatory Yakuza crimes. Maybe your geisha friends taught you fuck all Japanese.

[TFG]

I just had a chat with the police about this wanker.
No, I wasn't being busted.

They were saying they think he is not too far away and s a friend is hiding him. They don't think he killed himself but I suspect they wish he had.

[Behan]

When I first got to Japan back in 1990 it seemed most of the gaijin women I met out in the sticks of Chiba(OK, there weren't so many) told me that they had been molested or stalked. Two of them told me they had their breasts grabbed. One called me to have me come over because a guy wouldn't leave her apartment; apparently he wasn't going to go until he got what he wanted. Another woman who was French-Canadian and acted on one of those NHK language programs, told me that on the way home from the station she was picked up and carried into a rice field by a hooded man. He didn't do anything more but she must have had the sh*t scared out of her.
My wife had a man expose himself to her. Maybe that's lucky. Just joking. She said he was old and ugly.
I don't want to say that Japan is worse than say the US or anything. Maybe it's safer. I don't know. But there is and has been a problem with sexual perverts.
I can usually keep my hands to myself.

[GomiGirl]

I think the main issues of the perverts is that they behave differently to perverts back home - or from where I come from at least. Apart from flashers (what ARE they thinking??? - muppets!!), chikans here tend to be creepier as they are secretive and devious.

Back at home, we are taught to watch out for overtly loud and aggressive creeps and I for one, can handle unwanted advances from these guys in say bars or clubs with a swift "Fuck off loser".

But here it is sneaky and creepy.. following girls home, stealing undies from the line, staring, opportunistic gropings on a crowded train etc and we are just not used to this and don't know the best way to deal with it. I guess Japanese girls don't either. The creepy ones are just playing on the "benefit of the doubt" that we tend to give people - especially as a foreigner we tend to be a bit more accepting and not wanting to stand out even more than we do.

However, I have been known to stamp on feet, elbow in the ribs and I even faced off one guy who was obviously groping a Japanese girl on the train.

[Mulboyne]

This story covers how the cops aren't offering an explanations as to how the suspect eluded them...

Although this aspect drew a lot of criticism from foreigners, there didn't seem to be much hard information out there on what happened. If the bare bones are true then it does look like a pretty poor piece of work. It also looks like they didn't go into detail because they were hoping to have found him quickly which would turn discussion away from how they let him get away.

[rooboy]

about how reporting on the Brit woman's murder is equivalent to racism re the yellow peril. What a knob Alistair whatshisname is.

I'll give the link again because its back a few pages on this thread.

[url]commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/alastair_harper/2007/04/reinventing_yellow_peril.html[/url]

What a crock of shit. Good to see the last comment under his article from a woman just tears apart whatever argument he had. But if he can write on the guardian website any dickhead can.

[Mike Oxlong]

CRIME
Murder suspect Ichihashi living on 50,000 yen

Monday, April 9, 2007 at 15:46 EDT

ICHIKAWA — Two weeks after the murder of English teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, prime suspect Tatsuya Ichihashi is still on the run, most likely living on 50,000 yen in cash, police said Monday. Further investigations have revealed that Ichihashi, 28, ran off with 50,000 yen in cash he had withdrawn from a bank ATM after getting away from police who came to his apartment on March 26. Police said they are watching his account and said he had made no cash withdrawals since then.

Police also said that Ichihashi's bicycle had been left at nearest station to his home before the murder, refuting rumors that he had used it to make his getaway from the area.

via JT

Think the police are even slightly further ahead than when they went to question the suspect in his apartment?

[Hokgwai]

Has there been any statement from the murderer's family???

[Mulboyne]

Two stalker stories:

Japan Times

Daily Mail

[Hokuto-shinken]

I do not think it is too bad for him if he is caught, because if he is guilty he would be facing about 10 years. Does not see too bad.

Now, I bet he is always looking over his shoulder, but in the cell he can relax, learn a trade and be free in a few years.

[Behan]

I saw a 'Wanted' poster for him today in my hometown JR station.

[CrankyBastard]

If you are being stalked/intimidated in Japan, the best advice I can give is, to contact your local residents committee (jichikai) and explain the situation to them.
Just my honest opinion after 30+yrs of living in Japan.

[kurohinge1]

. . . Think the police are even slightly further ahead than when they went to question the suspect in his apartment?

Sure. They're now "watching his account" for cash withdrawals.

That means they can then make a pretty map and stick pins in it, showing where the POI (person of interest) has been withdrawing cash.

They could even colour-code the pins. Red for 10,000 yen, green for 20,000 yen, blue for checking account balance, etc.

It's not all Mister Donuts and coffee you know. Police business in Japan sometimes requires tough decisions - do I harrass the passing FG about his bike licence and alien registration, or do I go to the store for the coloured pins now.

[james]

Two stalker stories:

Daily Mail

crap, i came here to post that very article.. stumbled on it quite accidentally while reading about the 18ft python that got squashed in the road.

this latter story (the stalking, not the python ) happened not far from where i live in a town exactly the same size as mine.

i'm the only white guy here but thusfar the women seem to have shown what must be superhuman restraint from groping me, making lewd comments or other sexual advances.