A biker gang in Japan
An article about a 47-year old man who broke the knee of a biker with an iron bar in Nara Prefecture has struck a chord with Japanese netizens.
The man, who was arrested for assault a few days ago, apparently hit the 18-year old biker because he was no longer able to stand the noise made by convoys of bikers roaring through the streets of Tenri City.
Netizens are overwhelmingly in support of the man’s actions, suggesting that biker gangs are not particularly popular on the streets of Japan. This contrasts with the response to photographs released last month, of Chiba’s own motorcycle-mounted Batman, “Chiba-tman”…
From Yahoo! Japan:
Man “Can’t Bear!” Noise Of Motorbike Gang, Hits Rider With Iron Bar
On October 8, the Tenri division of Nara Prefectural Police arrested a man (47) who runs a business hotel in Tabecho, Tenri City, Nara Prefecture on suspicion of assault for having hit the left knee of a man riding a motorbike with an iron bar and breaking his knee in the process.
At around 10:10pm on June 11, the suspect hit a man (18, upholsterer, Tenri City) on his left knee with an iron bar of approximately 1 meter in length, breaking the man’s knee. The man had been riding a motorbike outside the hotel. The serious injuries sustained are said to have taken a total of two months to heal completely.
According to police, on the day in question a lot of complaints had been received from city residents due to the racket caused by motorbikes riding in a group. The victim had been riding with three of his friends. The suspect stated that “The engines were extremely noisy, and that pissed me off”.
Comments from Yahoo! Japan:
gog*****:
There are loads of this in Tokyo these days too!
There should be police bike patrols in the evenings, not only during the day.
男山*****:
I wish the police would crack down on these people more strictly.
tak*****:
I really really know how this guy feels. Legally, obviously what he did was wrong, but I don’t think anyone in his neighborhood would blame him for it. I wish the police would at least do something about this.
bok*****:
What he did was wrong, but I know how he feels!
saz*****:
What’s the problem?
b地区:
Personally, “Good job mate!”
djc*****:
Yup, I understand how he feels, and I think they should absolve him of wrongdoing, but seeing as we’re in a law-abiding country, we can’t just take the law into our own hands.
However, does the fact that general citizens are behaving like this mean that police activities aren’t sufficient?
I understand that it is pretty difficult to crack down on people who are actually moving, but it’s still pretty frustrating.
hng*****:
Even if he was legally in the wrong, I don’t think that there was anything wrong with his feelings on the matter.
Comments from Facebook:
小畑 貴路:
My head hurts from the hell’s angels that ride along the Nishi-Meihan Expressway. Frankly, I can’t sleep at night.
I’ve reported it to the police, too, but nothing comes of it.
This is what I want to say to these people.
“Do it outside your own homes”
I also ask that the police do something to stop this kind of incident happening.
鈴木 英敏:
I ride a motorbike, but because of these noisy bike gangs, even decent riders get stigmatized. I wish that as these people were found the police would chase them and make sure they arrest them. And, I think that those who know people like that who have bikes could contact the police immediately after they take the bikes out. Then the police could be lying in wait when they get back. Of course, they need to report this by agreement with everyone in the neighborhood so that there are no retaliations. If we don’t do anything about it, then these guys will get to confident. We need to thoroughly stamp this out!
川原 宏揮:
Sankei Shimbun, come on, you need to amend the term “victim” in this article! You’re saying that the man who was the “victim” did nothing wrong?? The one in the wrong is the idiot who was on the bike!! And aren’t the police in the wrong for not cracking down on this properly?? What’s the point of the police even existing!! Even though there were loads of complaints from city residents, the fact that the police did nothing about it means that they are pointless! Isn’t it better that we just have vigilante groups??
仲田 敦広:
Recently, when I’ve been going to Nara for work, there were these bikes going past like “vrrroooom, vrrrooom!”, and they shocked the hell out of me. So I guess they’re still at it, huh…..It’s a bit late for regret now that these guys are in their 30s and 40s, but the fact that they’re still going on like this after a quarter of a century means that they’ll probably carry on doing it.
西野 直之:
So this guy is going to have a record over this?
Isn’t that crazy?
門田 伸一:
He got what was coming to him if he was riding around making a racket and causing a nuisance.
If he was completely unrelated to all that and just passing through, then I feel sorry for him though.
青木 しげる:
This couldn’t be helped.
It’s worse to make such a racket.
If possible, he should have left him so that he could never ride again, and so that he’d regret it his whole life.
Kazuya Asizawa:
The police always say that you should report something to them before getting involved, but if you just report something then the police don’t do anything, do they?
And that’s why things like this happen, isn’t it?
