Right-wing punks in Shinjuku

[Captain Japan]

Shinjuku's Center Building (Taisei HQ)
Right-wing student nabbed for firing gun in construction firm's office

A student barged into the office of a major construction company, blasted a gunshot at a wall and barricaded himself inside the building until police convinced him to surrender, law enforcers said.

The protestor, identifying himself as 21-year-old university student Satoshi Kikawa, was immediately arrested for violating the Swords and Firearms Control Law.

Police said Kikawa entered the 17th floor office of major construction firm Taisei Corp. in Tokyo's Shinjuku-ku at about 8 a.m. on Monday.

[Taro Toporific]

Shinjuku's Center Building
Right-wing student nabbed for firing gun in construction firm's office.

[
Sounds like somebody forgot pay their concrete construction kickbacks last month.

[Charles]

BTW, just what IS the Swords and Firearms Control Law? Every time I hear it mentioned, I have this mental image of a fat cop with a dinky little .38 pistol trying to disarm some guy with two swords and full samurai regalia.

[Bongo]

BTW, just what IS the Swords and Firearms Control Law? Every time I hear it mentioned, I have this mental image of a fat cop with a dinky little .38 pistol trying to disarm some guy with two swords and full samurai regalia.

.38 should be plenty for that purpose.

But seriously, the Swords and firearms control law is self explanatory in as much that I think knives over 10cm in length are considered to be a sword or weapon. As many people get murdered here with 20-30cm kitchen knives they simply grouped knives along with firearms into that law.
It may even date back further to the days when swords were deemed illigal to carry around.

[Taro Toporific]

...just what IS the Swords and Firearms Control Law? Every time I hear it mentioned, I have this mental image of a fat cop with a dinky little .38 pistol trying to disarm some guy with two swords and full samurai regalia.

Hey everytime I hear the term "samurai bonds" mentioned, get this mental image of a B-&-D banker in full samurai regalia.

NSWTC Registered Samurai Bond Shelf At Japan MOF Last Wk
Yahoo News - Nov 1...at Japan's Ministry of Finance last week to issue up to Y300 billion samurai bonds, documents filed at the MOF showed Monday. ...

[Charles]

BTW, just what IS the Swords and Firearms Control Law? Every time I hear it mentioned, I have this mental image of a fat cop with a dinky little .38 pistol trying to disarm some guy with two swords and full samurai regalia.

.38 should be plenty for that purpose.

But seriously, the Swords and firearms control law is self explanatory in as much that I think knives over 10cm in length are considered to be a sword or weapon. As many people get murdered here with 20-30cm kitchen knives they simply grouped knives along with firearms into that law.
It may even date back further to the days when swords were deemed illigal to carry around.

Gee, I dunno, my mental image concludes with a slightly-wounded samurai and a cop cut in half.

I did manage to look up the law, at least an English translation, and it is so vague as to be useless. I presume this was the intention, so as to make illegal anything they want to be illegal. It seems to prohibit ALL blade-weapons and guns, with exceptions made for kitchen knives and hunting shotguns, as well as for theatrical props and collectible weapons. But it seems to me, I've seen sushi chefs wielding knives that were larger than a traditional short katana. Perhaps this is a professional affectation, they have an exemption, so they make the most of it.

[Captain Japan]

Ultrarightist busted for staging smear campaign against lawyer
Mainichi

A senior member of an ultrarightist organization was arrested on Monday for staging a smear campaign against a lawyer after reading a magazine article reporting that she was reprimanded by a bar association, investigators said.

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) accuses Kazumi Wakashima, 55, a senior member of the Seikijuku organization, of forcible obstruction of business and defamation. The MPD is set to arrest two other members of the body.

The incident for which the ultrarightst was arrested occurred in June last year in front of the lawyer's office in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Through a loudspeaker, Wakashima read aloud a magazine article reporting that the lawyer was reprimanded by the bar association of which she is a member on disciplinary grounds.

Wakashima had been jailed after being convicted of attempted murder for shooting then Nagasaki Mayor Hitoshi Motoshima in 1990 over the victim's remarks that Emperor Showa bore partial responsibility for Japan's involvement in World War II.

Reading this sort of stuff over a loudspeaker is the bread-and-butter for these right-wing cats, why single out this guy for arrest?

[Captain Japan]

EDITORIAL: Loudspeaker nonsense
Asahi

It's time to muffle the rightists' street campaigns.

Members of a right-wing group have been arrested for allegedly driving around a female lawyer's office in Tokyo and slandering her from a sound truck.

Vans with loudspeakers are a common sight in Japan, harassing and annoying everyone with ear-splitting music and strident diatribe. Such actions can hardly be called a legitimate political activity.

One of the arrested right-winger claims to be a senior member of a political organization. In 1990, he shot and seriously injured then-Nagasaki Mayor Hitoshi Motoshima, who had stated he could not deny Emperor Showa's war responsibility.

The lawyer harassed by the right-winger had been disciplined by the bar association over the way she had conducted a case. She was challenging the bar association's call. But the right-winger kept shouting from his sound truck that he would continue slandering the lawyer until she disbars herself.