Gaijin Gang-Attacked by Uyokus

[Takechanpoo]

[omae mona]

Holy crap. That guy was an idiot to open his mouth when surrounded by uyokus and yakuza. (the uyokus were correct that the point he was making was totally stupid). But still, what assholes the cops are. They totally left alone the guy who was physically provoking him, and arrested the foreigner (ok, "took him in for questioning") for walking away. Yes, it was probably for his own good to save him from the angry crowds, but I really doubt it would have turned into a mob scene if 20 cops hadn't shown up. What the guy said just wasn't very provoking or interesting at all. The uyokus would have lost interest in about 1 minute and let the guy walk away if the cops didn't turn it into a scene.

[Iraira]

I did enjoy the one Ice-T looking Yak at about 8:50 in the video. Don't know what Pierre was trying to accomplish by saying anything that could be taken in any way as an insult to a Yak.
Ultimately, it is the J-folks job to get rid of the Yaks & uyoku....a few set of balls need to be handed out to the populace in general.

[DrP]

I love how a 'gang of one' can invoke such nationalizm. [sic] nippon nippon uber alles....

[kino]

It seems to me the cops could have done more to prevent the crowd from harassing the guy all the way down the street. The short, stout fellow in the suit was particularly annoying. I'm also surprised they didn't tell the person with the camera to stop filming. That shit would never fly in America. American cops would have just tazed everyone in the immediate area, perpetrator and victim alike. They'd probably gotten the bystanders too, just for sport.

It is funny how fragile the ultra right wing nuts are that they feel compelled to react to even the mildest statements with bluster, shouting, and intimidation.

[Mulboyne]

I thought this was the same guy but his account is different and there's no video:

Striking up a Debate with The Right-Wing Activists Outside The Yasukuni Shrine on August 15th Might Not Be a Very Good Idea After All

[hu5h]

I'm also surprised they didn't tell the person with the camera to stop filming.

Agree.

Now this was very vivid. Up close and personal, and i can almost feel how the emotions would flow if i myself would have been placed in such a position.
I dont think i would allow myself to be so passive about it though, and take so much crap from that guy.

...Not sure i would say something like that in a place with so much tension in it anywho...

Ultimately, unless its something illegal, anyone should be able to say what they want without being driven away.

[Behan]

The Key Stone Cops harassed the FG when the uyoku and yaks were acting menacingly towards him. The cops need to get balls. Bunch of cowards they are.

[xenomorph42]

It seems to me the cops could have done more to prevent the crowd from harassing the guy all the way down the street. The short, stout fellow in the suit was particularly annoying. I'm also surprised they didn't tell the person with the camera to stop filming. That shit would never fly in America. American cops would have just tazed everyone in the immediate area, perpetrator and victim alike. They'd probably gotten the bystanders too, just for sport.

It is funny how fragile the ultra right wing nuts are that they feel compelled to react to even the mildest statements with bluster, shouting, and intimidation.

Japanese Cops are notoriously famous for huddling around an individual like it's Monday night Football and like the sharks they are waiting to assert their authoritative control to pounce on the guy to pile up over emphasized trump charges.
Amazing! Let's all gang up on one lonely decenter.

[Ketou]

If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.
- Oscar Wilde

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I can't help wondering what this Canadian guy was trying to achieve.
I don't think the guy he questioned at first had said anything particularly provocative (Aug. 15 is, I think, the day we should devote to the brave souls who gave their lives...is what I think he said).
Surely walking into the lion's mouth and using his nodo chinko (can't remember the correct English term) as a boxing bag is simply asking for trouble? He was lucky not to come out of the situation a lot worse for wear than he did end up.
This Canadian guy's deliberate (and needless) provocation makes it worse for all us foreigners here.

[Coligny]

At furst I was thinking those cops were overacting assholes... Just wishing to be there with my immense free time to harrass their hierarchy...

But after understanding a little more of the context (remember... I don't understand a word what they say, so anything more complicate than a lesbian porno flick will escape my understanding). For me... That canadian dude was a complete asshole... In France police would not even have the time to get to him before the nationnalist "security service" turned him into cat gourmet food.

Yeah... the cops were apparently assholes... but the canadian was apparently not here for anything else than pissing off the dominant crowd. The best -short term- way to defuse the situation in these case is to remove the troublemaker. It's as much necessary for bringing back the calm as it is necessary to protect him form his stupidity...

Sure it makes you feel good to go hand to hand with the nazi crowd... but unless you want to become a martyr... the more efficient methods are usually much more frustrating and structured...

[omae mona]

I can't help wondering what this Canadian guy was trying to achieve.
I don't think the guy he questioned at first had said anything particularly provocative (Aug. 15 is, I think, the day we should devote to the brave souls who gave their lives...is what I think he said).
Surely walking into the lion's mouth and using his nodo chinko (can't remember the correct English term) as a boxing bag is simply asking for trouble? He was lucky not to come out of the situation a lot worse for wear than he did end up.
This Canadian guy's deliberate (and needless) provocation makes it worse for all us foreigners here.

I agree 100%. But what bothers me about this video is what happened after that guy opened his stupid mouth. As the tension started to rise, and even as the police showed up, the Canadian guy did exactly what I have always thought is the right thing to do: walk away and be very careful not to physically touch anybody or do anything that could be used as an excuse to arrest you. Yet he got arrested anyway (apparently).

It really makes me wonder how I should respond if a Japanese person ever starts physically assaulting me. In the past my assumption was that I should get the hell away as fast as I can. But watching this video makes me think I am likely to get arrested anyway, so I may as well defend myself vigorously.

Yeah... the cops were apparently assholes... but the canadian was apparently not here for anything else than pissing off the dominant crowd. The best -short term- way to defuse the situation in these case is to remove the troublemaker. It's as much necessary for bringing back the calm as it is necessary to protect him form his stupidity...

Coligny - at first, I thought that is what the cops were doing. Just trying to defuse the situation. But according to the caption in the end, in the end he spent several hours in detention at the Kojimachi koban. If the cops were just trying to defuse the situation, they would have helped him get into a taxi and leave the area (which is what he was trying to do, if you watch the video). So I do not think the cops' motivation here was purely to restore peace and calm.

I was actually in the neighborhood during this event and was very up close as some uyoku groups were tussling with the police, trying to break into a left-wing demonstration. The police, in riot gear, were grinning ear to ear as they pushed back these guys, who smiled back, and I was close enough to hear the leader of the group say "gomen, ne!" to the cop he was pushing. The whole thing was a show for the photographers in the area. It was quite a surprise to me, but I got the sense that the cops are quite sympathetic to the uyoku cause and are doing the minimum enforcement to avoid getting accused of dereliction of duties. How else would the cops be smiling while getting physically assaulted and then let the attackers walk away afterwards?

[Midwinter]

At furst I was thinking those cops were overacting assholes... Just wishing to be there with my immense free time to harrass their hierarchy...

But after understanding a little more of the context (remember... I don't understand a word what they say, so anything more complicate than a lesbian porno flick will escape my understanding). For me... That canadian dude was a complete asshole... In France police would not even have the time to get to him before the nationnalist "security service" turned him into cat gourmet food.

Yeah... the cops were apparently assholes... but the canadian was apparently not here for anything else than pissing off the dominant crowd. The best -short term- way to defuse the situation in these case is to remove the troublemaker. It's as much necessary for bringing back the calm as it is necessary to protect him form his stupidity...

Sure it makes you feel good to go hand to hand with the nazi crowd... but unless you want to become a martyr... the more efficient methods are usually much more frustrating and structured...

Remove the troublemaker, sure. But you've also got to stop the the arseholes chasing said troublemaker after the fact. Not a single officer there had the turds put away the camera or held them back so the idiot Canadian could depart for "questioning". That's a fucking a-grade failure of their behalf.

[Mulboyne]

Pariseau has felt strongly about this issue for a while. here's a letter he wrote to the Japan Times in 2004:

To die for the father of the current Emperor and to be enshrined at Yasukuni was the ultimate goal of the Imperial Army's soldiers during World War II. The fascist leaders who sent these brainwashed men all over Asia to commit some of the most abominable crimes in the history of humanity should not be held up as war heroes for the rightwing fanatics roaming the roads of Japan.

Koizumi's repeated visits to the shrine would never occur if our Western diplomats in Tokyo would properly inform their respective governments of the real meaning of Yasukuni and the war-glorifying museum next to it.

Would Europe tolerate a German chancellor visiting a memorial honoring the Nazis, the very same allies of the war criminals Koizumi is hypocritically praising at Yasukuni? The souls of the more than 20 million victims (foreign and Japanese) are waiting for the shrine to be demolished. Shame on Koizumi. Shame on our diplomats sipping champagne as if Koizumi had merely gone to Disneyland.

This report of the incident says "He was released after writing a letter of apology to Yasukuni shrine, Channel Sakura and Gen. Toshio Tamogami"

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I agree 100%. But what bothers me about this video is what happened after that guy opened his stupid mouth. As the tension started to rise, and even as the police showed up, the Canadian guy did exactly what I have always thought is the right thing to do: walk away and be very careful not to physically touch anybody or do anything that could be used as an excuse to arrest you. Yet he got arrested anyway (apparently).

It really makes me wonder how I should respond if a Japanese person ever starts physically assaulting me. In the past my assumption was that I should get the hell away as fast as I can. But watching this video makes me think I am likely to get arrested anyway, so I may as well defend myself vigorously.

You're absolutely right. It's a bit scary. Pierre Pariseau was an idiot, but being arrested and forced to write apologies is a little heavy handed for having merely asked a question (which he sought permission to do so before he actually did it as well).
I wonder, though, how much of that heavy handedness was meted out for Mr. Pariseau's own good? It's quite possible that by arresting him, the cops kept the mob at bay, while the apologies placated their anger toward him. Whether this is a "good" alternative is extremely debatable, of course, but he could take solace that at least his stupidity didn't have the gruesome end result I'm sure at least some in the mob would have liked to have inflict on him.
But what happened to him reinforces my belief that you should maintain your policy of getting away as quickly as you can because if you do fight back and give decent grounds for your arrest, they'll really throw the book at you.

[Ketou]

A letter of apology...you have to fucking kidding me....he should have let them charge him and given the story even more power.

[Coligny]

Remove the troublemaker, sure. But you've also got to stop the the arseholes chasing said troublemaker after the fact. Not a single officer there had the turds put away the camera or held them back so the idiot Canadian could depart for "questioning". That's a fucking a-grade failure of their behalf.

Stopping said assholes would have angered them even more. Those people are rabid "If you'r not with them you'r against them"... That would be counter productive for a simple defusing.

Now if they actually kept the guy for "questionning" there might be a problem.

Also for the nationnalist smiling back and forth to the cops... I would not see this as a real complicity... More like 'fuck you' with a smile. Lack of verbal agressivity make strong intervention or arrest by the cops usually hard to justify/perform.

[Midwinter]

Stopping said assholes would have angered them even more.

There's something to be said for the American way of doing things...

[Mike Oxlong]

Remove the troublemaker, sure. But you've also got to stop the the arseholes chasing said troublemaker after the fact. Not a single officer there had the turds put away the camera or held them back so the idiot Canadian could depart for "questioning". That's a fucking a-grade failure of their behalf.

I've heard that it helps one's chances of becoming police officer greatly if one holds strong right wing beliefs. Perhaps there's something to that...

[Midwinter]

I've heard that it helps one's chances of becoming police officer greatly if one holds strong right wing beliefs. Perhaps there's something to that...

Sadly that makes sense. You wouldn't want some flowery, faggot loving liberal dishing out the street justice. Seems those right wingers have their uses after all

[BO-SENSEI]

Sadly that makes sense. You wouldn't want some flowery, faggot loving liberal dishing out the street justice. Seems those right wingers have their uses after all

If the J-cops made a habit out of "dishing out street justice" I would support your claim, but all accounts prove that J-cops are as incompetent, useless, and ignorant as...humm, let's say...the uyokus.

[wuchan]

Let me get this straight, Canadian goes to THE shrine during a festival while the entire political class is jockeying for position and starts saying how the speeches could be illegal in another country that he is not even a citizen of.


not the greatest plan.

[Behan]

I think it's great he challenged the right-wingers and yakuza but writing a letter of apology kind of cancels what he did. But if I were in a Japanese police cell I'd probably do the same thing.
The yaks, uyoku, and police, what a bunch of violent mental midgets.

[Level3]

Who is claiming that this Canadian had to "write a letter of apology"?
The u-yokus?
If so, should we believe them?

I'd like to see this "letter of apology" if it exists.
Any links?

If I were forced to write such a letter, it would be so thick with sarcasm and unittelligible (to non-native English speakers) cultural references, that it couldn't possibly be seen as a true apology.

But yes, the cooperation and chumminess betweent he cops and uyokus is legend. But doesn't really affect the 99.99999999% of us who aren't dumb enough to go looking for trouble; right in front of the cops, no less.

But I DO wonder like many here (and from hearing countless anecdotes) about the whole innocent gaijin victim VS. Japanese assailant, and how the J cops tend to handle such cases. [Arrest the foreigner and let the attacker walk away, at least until a helpful Japanese explain to the racist cop that the GAIJIN was the VICTIM!]

Plus we all know by now that if a gaijin even raises his voice or merely brushes against a cop or uyoku or Japanese, it's an instant arrest.

Knowing this, some uyokus and the "volunteer police auxililary" types (retied cops, wannabe cops, usually all 50-ish racist old farts) will take a dive like an Italian soccer player if the gaijin does make physical contact. And often, if the gaijin isn't "helpful" in being aggressive, the Japanese asshole will throw himself at the gaijin, grab him, initiate contact, or just hug him like a desperate boxer in the ring, and hope to somehow generate even the slightest of "get the fuck off me" reflexes, and use that to drop to the pavement (very slowly and controlled so as not to ACTUALLY get hurt) and then scream to the cops about "assault" and the "terrible pain" of his "injury".

Look up the documentary films "A" and sequel "A2" partly about the J cops/citizens groups that (rightfully in that case) harassed and tailed the remaining memebrs of the Aum Shinrikyo cult after their terror attacks. Scary tactics, because you know the cops could do the same thing to YOU.

Best advice. If there are no cops, get away.
If there are cops, start filming, recording, taking photos, whatever.
Last resort - take a dive like an Italian soccer player, or better yet, do the ice hockey favorite, take a dive, writhe in pain on the ground and cover your face with your hands, while picking your nose until it bleeds, a small bit of pain gives big "I AM THE VICTIM" payoff. Plus racist uyokus and cops will stay away because they assume you have AIDS.
Make racism work FOR you.

[Coligny]

Let me get this straight, Canadian goes to THE shrine during a festival while the entire political class is jockeying for position and starts saying how the speeches could be illegal in another country that he is not even a citizen of.


not the greatest plan.

Kinda... sorta... win the thread...

But on a side note I wuz quite impressed by how easily he can speak in japanese... last time I went in a shop to ask for stuff I was juggling between 2 dictionnaries and my white board... (and making a clown of myself in the process)

[Behan]

The following are linked in a post by Mulboyne. (Just blame Mulboyne for everything ) I'm not sure who wrote the entry on the web page and if they really spoke with the Canadian person or not.

http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/nipponnews/gallery/Canadian-citizen-challenged-Gen-Toshio-Tamogami/G0000BNx_vS_cT_w/

Canadian Pierre Pariseau questions former Gen. Toshio Tamogami during commerations for the 64th anniversy of end of World War Two at Yausukuni shrine in Tokyo, Japan on Aug 15th 2009. Gen. Toshio Tamogami was dismissed after publishing an essay asserting that Japan was not the aggressor in World War Two. Long term Japan resident Pierre Pariseau was attempting to leave the shrine after being grabbed and shoved by supporters of the General as he attempted to get a taxi he was prevented from doing so by police. He was taken to a police box near Ichigaya station for 2 hours. He was released after writing a letter of apology to Yasukuni shrine,Channel Sakura and Gen. Toshio Tamogami. Mr Pariseau asked the General if he knew "That he would be arrested in Germany for doing what he was doing?" Established in 1869 by the Meiji Emperor to commerate those who died in the Boshin War. The shrine now houses the souls or 'kami' of Japan's war dead including 14 A-class war criminals who were interned among the 2.5 million war dead in 1978. Visits to the shrine by Japanese Prime Ministers create tensions with Japan's Asian neighbors.

[Coligny]

Look up the documentary films "A" and sequel "A2" partly about the J cops/citizens groups that (rightfully in that case) harassed and tailed the remaining memebrs of the Aum Shinrikyo cult after their terror attacks. Scary tactics, because you know the cops could do the same thing to YOU.

Side note again, in me hood, I see more and more strange police cars, read, exactly the panda color scheme of police -not the secom-like inverted- the only 3 major difference are front hood ornament is the car maker badge (honda, totoya) instead of the gold chrysanthenum, the roof light is blue. and the guy behind the wheel is nothing like a cop...

Technically, what are those clowns ? what is their power ? Because in furst world country, impersonation of police authority... is... kinda... sorta... bad... (like criminally bad, straight to jail, don't hope the judge will have any mercy...)

[Takechanpoo]

By the way, boyne posted 3 new threads to push down this thread because boyne really got jealous of the popularity of it.
"Why is Takechan's thread always so popular!? Damn!!!"

[Coligny]

The following are linked in a post by Mulboyne. (Just blame Mulboyne for everything ) I'm not sure who wrote the entry on the web page and if they really spoke with the Canadian person or not.

http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/nipponnews/gallery/Canadian-citizen-challenged-Gen-Toshio-Tamogami/G0000BNx_vS_cT_w/

On a triple side note for today... maybe the guy would be arrested if he was in germany... But he was still canned from the army... for opening his mouth too loudly... so it's not like he had it easy on that mess (like 300Y salary reduction or no christmas bonus as it is usually the case)