they'd better hope the cops find them first

[chronovore]

It's pretty common to hear tales on the news about how Japanese society is eroding, and how the youth of today are morally bankrupt compared to ten or twenty years ago. There was a story about a high school couple who got into a cab, forced the cab driver at knifepoint to drive to a secluded location, then killed him and took 5000 yen. Just a couple days ago an asshat with a knife decided he wanted "to kill 7 or 8 people" and went on a rampage in a train station and shopping mall. Despite this, it's been easy to convince myself that the problem is not as widespread as sensationalistic media would have us believe.

Yesterday my nephew was playing in a nearby park, only two blocks away from home. It's a wide field with a clear view from one side to the other; it sits directly behind the central police station for the city. He was playing with two friends who are our neighbors; just three boys, six- to seven-years-old, playing unattended by adults in a busy park filled with lots of locals.

At 3 p.m. my nephew went to get his bike, to leave early and get to a dentist appointment at our neighborhood doctor. His bike was next to a bunch of bushes. As he approached his bike, several people leapt out of the bush and grabbed him, put a towel in his mouth so he couldn't scream, and then proceeded to beat him. The kicked his stomach, and hit him with a baseball bat. When they were done, they told him that if he told anyone about the beating, they'd kill him.

He went home. He didn't say anything to his mom immediately, but ended up crying during his visit to the dentist. He told his mom what happened. His mom took him to the ER for x-rays and examination (nothing broken, no sexual violation, bruises should clear up in 5 days), and then to the police to report what had happened. My nephew was able to give a pretty good accounting of their appearance: 4 or 5 junior high school aged boys, with dyed blonde hair, and yellow and red piercings in their ears.

Apparently it takes 4 or 5 jr. high school boys to beat up one 7 year old. They'd better pray to god the police find them before anyone in my family does.

Comments

[rick-day.livejournal.com]

I'll have Uncle Guido send a coupla da boyz over to take care if dis issue.

[hedr-goblin.livejournal.com]

Oh my god!
I'm trying to find the light in your situation, but it's hard.

I am so thankful that he will be ok, physically. He is lucky to be a part of such a wonderful family. You are lucky that you all have each other to lean on with such a terrible thing to happen.

But I know how safe you have all felt in your world, and this is going to take something away from all of you.

I just don't understand how anyone could do that to another human being. How could they do that? I don't understand people. My heart goes to your family. I have no words, but I am so sorry.

[weezie13.livejournal.com]

Man, that is fucking pathetic. I'm pretty much speechless.

[aalfonso.livejournal.com]

I'm in for some manhunting! Let's do this!

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

Boo ya. LET'S FIGHT CRIME.

[josienutter.livejournal.com]

:(

That sucks. That really sucks.

Makes me wish I was high school aged there so I could round my buddies up to go show them how it feels...

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

As someone else points out, they probably know how it feels. They're likely the product of child-beatings, and are acting out their own powerless rage on a younger kid. Even so, I'm not feeling forgiving; this is their choice of action, and they're doing it in a group. They are still responsible for their actions, even as they may be victims.

[ferricide.livejournal.com]

why in the fuck would you beat up a 7 year old? i cannot comprehend this at all.

[indrigirl.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry to hear it. And angry. I hope your nephew heals up quick and isn't permanently traumatized by this senseless, ugly act.

[erinlin.livejournal.com]

My God, that's horrible. I hope he'll be ok.

[funranium.livejournal.com]

I stand by my assertion that 7th grade boys are the lowest form of human life.

Glad that your nephew you is no worse for wear physically. Nothing that won't take too long to heal. Learning to trust other older kids again might take a while...

[ferricide.livejournal.com]

i agree, but i don't see why you should stop at boys. the girls were awful too. everyone just acts like a total freak at that age.

WTF!

[tim-x.livejournal.com]

That's just frightening and reprehensible.

I hope your family catches up with those punks before the cops do.

[jonnyram.livejournal.com]

News like this makes me ultra-depressed. I hope nothing like this ever happens to any of my offspring. It must be totally traumatizing for all concerned.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

I was pretty much unable to get it out of my head yesterday. All day. Really distracted. Having all kinds of sick, sad revenge fantasies. Sometimes I worry about my brain.

WTF

[(Anonymous)]

That shit is FUCKED.

[quartzrelic.livejournal.com]

God, they better get what they deserve. Hope he recuperates internally as well soon. Horrible...I'm so sorry.

I thought if I came across the thieves who got me they'd be fucked, but this?
There's no questioning what would come next.

[professormass.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd pretty much hunt them down and beat them within an inch of their lives.

I certainly hope your family is as large, nasty and brutish as mine. It's no more than those kids deserve.

[spasmsproject.livejournal.com]

Jesus christ!

I hope your family finds them before the cops do.

*hugs*

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

I hope the cops find them first. I don't want to go to jail or be deported, and if I find them, I worry that I'll do something that will result in that.

[nattotastic.livejournal.com]

Dude. I'm so sorry. I hope the cops let your family have a few minutes in a sealed room with them once they catch them. It takes a special breed of low to beat up a seven year old. :(

Actually, this kind of spontaneous violence in Japan does concern me. I hear about it on the news also.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

I honestly think it has to do with the "no record until after age 20" rule. That ease with which that policy can be abused has become increasingly apparent in recent years.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Oh my god. Poor little boy. I hope he doesn't carry the weight and fear from this around with him for too long. I wish I pet his hair and kiss the top of his head and reassure him, somehow.

*heartbreak*

[slinka.livejournal.com]

Beating up a little boy. The self-loathing that must inspire that is just awful to think about.

I'm glad your nephew is okay, though sorry he had to endure that. Your family sounds loving and as if everyone has a place and knows they belong and are loved. The children in your family will grow up to be wonderful adults. These other children sound like they've been neglected and are products of families who haven't done their job.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the kind thoughts.

We've also been discussing the likelihood that these kids are being beat up at home, and feel helpless and angry. However, I think if I find them, I'm not going to be thinking about that. I plan to try to get them to the police, but if things get rough in trying to walk them over there, I'll be hard-pressed to regret throwing down.

A group of human jackals attacking a 7-year-old with a baseball bat is enough of a reason to say "you don't get to play with other humans anymore."

[sdemory.livejournal.com]

Don't know if it's Japanese culture that's eroding, as that sort of thing happens here as well. It does take a certain sort of broken kid to think that rolling a child half his age is somehow cool.

Glad that your nephew's got you guys for support. That'd be horribly scary stuff at any age.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the insight. I had no idea this kind of stuff happened in the USA; then again, in the USA, I'd not let my kids play alone in a nearby park to begin with. Until now, that's been a safe thing to do in Japan.

[sdemory.livejournal.com]

That's one of the things with which I'm growing more familiar. I grew up on military bases (and, more to the point, officers' quarters on military bases,) so I was insulated in a way that's quaint to those people I know who lived civilian childhoods. To me, the thought of not being able to play alone in a nearby park is ridiculous. My friends and I would walk three blocks from quarters to play and our folks thought nothing of it. If there were fights, there'd either be someone's parent who would start the chain of spankings until the kids got home or, if things got really dicey, the MPs would swoop down, break them up, pull the kids in and call their fathers to pick them up.

But, then, base life in the 1970s and 1980s was really, really small-townish in its way.

[ancawonka.livejournal.com]

OMG that's horrible. I hope these kids get caught and punished.

What happens to parents of kids like this in Japan? What happens to the kids? Do people blame the media, or video games, or comics, like they do here?

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

I don't know.

Kids under 20 (Japanese age of adulthood), even if convicted, do not get a mark on their permanent record, as it is considered an insurmountable mark which would prevent them from integrating to society later in life. This assumes the reform methods will work on them.

Instead what has recently occurred to many "troubled youths" is that they are completely unaccountable for anything they do until they reach age 20. They can rob, beat, and even kill people, without fear of serious repercussion.

A wave of bad behavior has been washing over Japan in the past years, and now lawmakers are seriously considering whether or not the existing policy is reasonable. It's currently a big topic of debate.

Because the child's identity is protected, the parents' identity is also obscured by extension.

Starting a couple years ago, a jackass prefectural governor decided that games like GTA were a bad influence on people in general, and forced "Z" rated games (equivalent to either "M" or "AO" under the US's ESRB ratings) to be handled like adult entertainment: carried in a separate, monitored section of the store which minors may not peruse. Unlike the Walmart/Blockbuster/Target policies of not carrying "AO" rated games because they're "like and X-rating" the Japanese stores carry the "Z" rated games, and are now even promoting it. It has turned "Z" rated games into something like a record having a "Parental Advisory" sticker on it: it increases interest to some degree.

[greatsword.livejournal.com]

That's pretty sickening to think of, and I hope your nephew recovers. I expect (from experience) that he will recover mentally, in time. He's also a very brave young boy to have said anything, even afterwards.

I have no words.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

That's what I told my girl. She said, "he lost." I said, "No, he didn't. He's still alive. He still is playing. Despite their warning, he told his parents, and then told the police. He won. Boys that big, and it took 4 or 5 of them to beat up a 7 year old? They're the losers. They lost."

[super-nyanko.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, I am so so sorry. I hope they are found... And I hope your nephew is ok.