Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.
Japanese society is extremely peaceful, and being considerate to others is widely considered an admirable virtue. However, sometimes being accommodating of others’ requests can, ironically, clash with being non-confrontational.
Shortly before noon last Sunday, police officers in Osaka’s Higashi Nodamachi neighborhood stopped a pair of pedestrians for questioning on a street corner near the Kyobashi train station. One man, 25-year-old Chotai Ideo, responded by pulling out a butterfly knife, threatening the officers with “You’re going to get hurt if you don’t get out of my way” and the more direct “I’ll kill you!”
The officers ordered Ideo to drop his weapon multiple times, but he ignored their instructions, continuing to advance on the officers as they backed up with their pistols drawn. “If you’re going to shoot me, then do it already,” Ideo told them, and one of the officers, no longer seeing any option but to do just that, complied, putting a bullet in Ideo’s right thigh.
As he dropped to the ground, officers swarmed on Ideo, ending the altercation that a nearby witness said had gone on for 10 minutes. After being rushed to a hospital, Ideo received treatment for the injury, which doctors say is not life-threatening. Police are currently looking for his companion, who made his escape when Ideo pulled out his knife.
Now under arrest for his actions, Ideo explained his motive with “I was in a hurry, and told them I would not comply with their questioning.” Without getting into the finer points of when individuals are allowed to refuse police questioning under the Japanese legal system, brandishing a weapon and shouting death threats at officers is pretty much always going to land you in trouble with the authorities, and Ideo’s ensuing detour to the hospital, with the courthouse now also on his itinerary and likely prison as well, mean he’s going to be especially late in arriving at his original intended destination.
Source: Asahi Shimbun Digital via Hachima Kiko, NHK News Web via Jin
Top image: Pakutaso