mytest

Hi Blog. Probably by now most of you have heard about the shooting in Sasebo, Kyushu, where an unknown assailant walked in and shot several people, killing two.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20071215a1.html (only one death mentioned).

Then came the speculation whodunit. The perpetrator was described as wearing camouflage pants and a white jacket, with his face covered. His height (170 to 190 cms, quite a variation). The Japan Times article above (and a Sankei article below) insinuated that there might have been organized crime involved. NHK left nationality out completely as a factor. Most other press was very good about not spreading rumors about the perp being a foreigner due to his height (and also because Sasebo has a US military base). It turned out that the perp was probably, after all, a Japanese.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/15/content_7253555.htm
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUST17483720071215

But not all media was so responsible about keeping their rumors to themself. NTV, Sankei and Mainichi reports follow:

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Here are some screen captures, courtesy Alex Miller. News Zero (NTV) Dec 14, 2007, quoting a bystander witness at the sports club, but feeling the need not only to air the speculation, but even subtitle it (click on image to expand in your browser):
“Many people said, “He was wearing camouflage, dark colored, he’s a black person.'”

“A person said, ‘I think the shooter was a black person.'”

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Sankei articles reproduced in total, with select translations within (love the one with the fatheaded Sophia U professor speculating on why it’s a foreigner):

Sankei Shinbun:
Headline: “Witnesses also say, ‘[The Shooter] looked like a foreigner'”
佐世保銃乱射　「外国人のようだった」との目撃情報も
産經新聞　2007.12.14 23:39
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/affairs/crime/071214/crm0712142339045-n1.htm

長崎県佐世保市のスポーツクラブ「ルネサンス佐世保」で１４日夜、男が銃を乱射、２人が死亡、５人が負傷した事件で、銃を乱射した男について「外国人のようだった」との目撃情報もあることが分かった。長崎県警佐世保署は殺人事件として緊急配備を敷き、男の行方を追っている。男は犯行に使った銃を持ったまま逃げたとみられる。
県警によると、犯人の男は身長約１７０から１９０センチ、迷彩服を着た上にシルバーグレーのダウンジャケット姿、白いフルフェースのヘルメットをかぶっており、太めの体形だった。外国人のようだったという目撃情報もある。
事件では、水泳インストラクターの倉本舞衣さん（２６）と、会員とみられる漁業、藤本勇司さん（３０）が死亡、子供を含む５人がけがをした。
撃たれた倉本さんは、救急車で病院に運ばれたが、午後７時２５分に死亡したという。藤本さんんの体には４カ所の銃創があり、腹部には２０－３０発の散弾が残っていたという。
他にけがをした５人は９歳と１０歳の女児、４８歳と４６歳、３９歳の男性の計５人とみられ、全員が病院へ搬送された。男性３人はいずれも脚などに撃たれた跡があるが、意識はあるという。女児らは脚などに弾がかすった傷がみられ、ショック症状を起こしている子供もいるという。
調べなどによると、男は、ビル２階のスポーツクラブの正面玄関から、散弾銃のような銃を乱射しながら侵入。当時は、子供向けのスイミングクラブがちょうど終わる時間で、会員５０人、従業員２０人の約７０人がいた。男はロビーや事務所のほか、子供向けの水泳教室が開かれていたプールでも銃を乱射。スタッフは事務所で撃たれたとみられる。室内のガラスなども多数割れているもようだ。
スポーツクラブの１階はスーパーマーケットになっており、男は犯行後、スーパーの裏口から逃走したとみられる。スーパーでは店内にいた客十数人が店外に避難した。
現場はＪＲ佐世保駅の北約２キロ。スポーツクラブは全国９０カ所でスポーツクラブを展開する「ルネサンス」（東京都墨田区）が運営しており、プールやテニスコートなどを備えている。
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Sankei Shinbun: “Sasebo Shooting: Perp profile? Quite possibly a foreigner”
佐世保乱射事件　犯人像は？　外国人の可能性も
産經新聞　2007.12.15 00:32
このニュースのトピックス：水泳
今回のような銃の乱射は、国内では極めて珍しいタイプの事件だ。犯人の男は迷彩服を着て、最初から銃を撃ちながら侵入。子供たちの水泳教室が開かれているプールでも無差別に発砲を繰り返した。犯行の目的、そして犯人像は－。
　福島章・上智大名誉教授（犯罪心理学）は「何か大きなストレスを抱えた犯人像が思い浮かぶ。金も仕事もなく、周囲との人間関係も希薄。そういう人間が何か大きなことをやろうと英雄的な気持ちになって犯行に至ったのでは」と推測。「米国で相次いでいる銃乱射事件の影響を受けた外国人の可能性も十分にある」とみる。

Fukushima Akira, Professor Emeritus at Jouchi/Sophia University (Criminal Psychologist) conjectures, “I can envision that the perp had some kind of great stress. A guy with no money, no job, no friends. That kind of a person commits a crime like this to become heroic. There’s plenty of possibility that the perp was a foreigner who was influenced by all the shootings going on in the USA.”

小田晋・帝塚山学院大教授（犯罪精神医学）は「犯人にとって銃は男性の象徴。犯行には男らしさを誇示する意図が感じられる。迷彩服を着ているところから戦争マニアと思われ、一種の戦争ゲーム感覚でやっているのだろう。まさに『ゲーム型犯罪』といえるのではないか」と話す。
元警視庁捜査１課長の田宮栄一さんは「暴力団絡みの犯罪の可能性もあるが、組関係者が公衆の面前でターゲットを狙うかどうか疑問だ」と話した。
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Sankei Shinbun headline: “The ever-smiling [killed gym staff member] Ms. Kuramoto, ‘She was being stalked by a foreigner'”
佐世保乱射事件　笑顔絶やさぬ倉本さん　「外国人につきまとわれていた」との情報も
産經新聞　2007.12.15 00:49
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/affairs/crime/071215/crm0712150049003-n1.htm

銃乱射事件で死亡した倉本舞衣さん（２６）は笑顔を絶やさない、会員からの評判もいい女性だった。
ルネサンス佐世保を運営するルネサンス（東京都墨田区）によると、倉本さんは佐世保市で１人暮らし。平成１４年５月、アルバイトとして入社した。
事件を目撃した女性従業員（４５）は倉本さんを「真面目でスタイルのいい子。なぜこんなことに…」としのび、ため息をついた。
近所の主婦（７１）も倉本さんについて「いつも笑顔で、真面目に仕事をしているおとなしくて感じのいいお嬢さんだった」と言って絶句した。プールで主に子供たちに水泳を教え、「コーチ」と呼ばれ慕われていた。
ルネサンスの斎藤敏一社長も「子供を教えることに情熱を傾けていた。仕事中に亡くなったことを大変残念に思う」と述べ、若い従業員の死を悼んだ。
会社によると、倉本さんは水着姿のまま事務室で亡くなっており、犯人の姿に気付いて逃げ、追い詰められた可能性もある。
　スポーツクラブの関係者によると、倉本さんは最近、外国人につきまとわれていたという情報もある。

[Note how there’s lots of information in the article, but only the last line, which contains any information about the alleged gaijin stalking, is the one which makes the headline.]
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Now let’s switch into English, with two Mainichi articles courtesy Mark Mino-Thompson:

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Fatal shooting hits Nagasaki sports club
Mainichi Shinbun Dec 14, 2007
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20071214p2a00m0na030000c.html

SASEBO, Nagasaki — Two people died and several others were injured after a gunman opened fire at a sports club here Friday, police and other sources said.

An emergency phone call was received from the Renaissance Sasebo sports club in the city at 7:13 p.m. Friday, reporting a noise like an explosion. A subsequent report said it appeared that a rifle had been fired.

When officials arrived, they found a woman collapsed at the scene. She was taken to a hospital but was confirmed dead. The woman was subsequently identified as Mai Kuramoto, 26, a worker at the club. Reports said she had died almost instantly after being shot.

Officials said a man in his 30s was also shot in the stomach and died.

At least five other people, including a 48-year-old man, a 39-year-old man and two girls aged 10 and 9, were reported injured.

Sasebo Police Station officials said the shooter was between 170 and 180 centimeters tall, and was wearing a full-faced helmet and a silver-gray jacket. Reports said that he fled the scene on foot.

Sources at the sports club said that recently Kuramoto had been stalked by a foreigner.

The sports club, which has a training gym and pool, occupies the second, third and fourth floors of a four-story building. It is located in a central but quiet area of the city next to a park.

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And the update (minus any apology) later…..

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Suspected gunman in Sasebo shooting rampage commits suicide with shotgun
Mainichi Shinbun Dec 15, 2007
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20071215p2a00m0na002000c.html

SASEBO, Nagasaki — A man believed responsible for a deadly shooting rampage that left two people dead and six injured at a sports club here was found dead in the grounds of a church early Saturday, apparently after he committed suicide, police said.

Investigators singled out a 37-year-old man with a registered shotgun as the suspect in the deadly shooting, which occurred at the Renaissance sports club in Sasebo on Friday evening.

Police launched a search for the man, and found him dead in the grounds of a church about 5 kilometers southwest of the shooting scene at about 7:35 a.m. on Saturday. He was identified as Masayoshi Magome, a resident of the Funakoshi district of Sasebo.

A single gunshot was heard in the area at about two hours earlier. Police said the man was clutching a shotgun, leading them to suspect that he committed suicide.

In the predawn hours of Saturday, a white van that Magome was believed to have abandoned was found on a road in front of the church. Two shotguns, an air rifle and camouflage gear were recovered from the vehicle.

The gunman entered the sports club shortly after 7 p.m. on Friday, and fired a shot from the entrance on the second floor towards a hall in the building as he walked forward. He then moved into an office behind a counter and fatally shot 26-year-old part-time employee Mai Kuramoto, who was with a group of children. He then turned the gun on Yuji Fujimoto, a 36-year-old fishing industry worker at the club, killing him.

Kuramoto died almost instantly in the shooting, while Fujimoto died of shock from multiple pellet wounds shortly after.

On Friday evening, Magome had invited Fujimoto and several other people to the sports club, and statements from his friends led police to single him out as the suspect. Magome was reportedly a classmate of Fujimoto during junior high school.

Also injured in the shooting were the 48-year-old club manager, a 39-year-old Sasebo Municipal Government worker, a 46-year-old man, a 22-year-old female instructor at the club, and two girls, aged 9 and 10.

The gunman temporarily holed himself up in the office, but then he fired other shots from the side of the pool at the club. He apparently fired at least six shots before fleeing on foot, carrying the shotgun. He was wearing camouflage gear and a full-face helmet.

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COMMENT: It seems they were all wrong. I would just love for these media organizations (and that Sophia prof emeritus Fukushima Akira) to take responsibility and retract their conjectures. But I guess that’s errant speculation on my part.

Meanwhile, let’s hope the next shootist in Japan isn’t so tall, or hairy, or broad-shouldered, or cruel, or nearby–or else we’re going to have people kicking into default (and encouraged thusly by the media) that a gaijin musta dunnit. Arudou Debito in Sapporo