Attack of the Crazy Korean
Trip Start
Sep 25, 2002
1
30
40
Trip End
May 15, 2004
Osaka,
Japan
Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Last night (Monday, June 9), I was in my room typing in this journal about how uneventful this week has been when I hear the man in room 26 hitting his walls, which is nothing to be surprised about because he is always loud. I hear him slam his door shut and then a second later I hear two very loud knocks (bangs actually) on my door. When I open the door, the man is halfway down the hall and after seeing me he runs. I walk to the end of the hall and he is standing there, seemingly waiting for me. I ask him what he wants and he asks me in English if I speak Japanese
01t
. I reply in Japanese (why? I have no idea!) that I do not and he starts coming toward me. I tell him to stop but he keeps coming. I back up as far as I can and again tell him to stop. He keeps approaching (Michael Berkenwald from room 22 came out into the hallway at this point) and eventually touches his chest to my hands at which point he screams, "Don't touch me - I will fuck you" (the smell of alcohol on his breath was obvious) and says "You want to fight me" and "You want to fight Japanese style?" If the situation hadn't been so threatening I absolutely would have broken down in laughter! Then he tries to punch me with his right fist. I moved to avoid the hit and then he kicks my left outside thigh with his right foot, total K1 style, and attempts to kick me in the groin, but misses. At this point I loudly tell him if he continues that I will have to "take him down to the ground". He again tried to punch me with his right fist, so I grab him and force him onto the ground. I have the man pinned down and tell Mike to call the police. (Mike's Japanese neighbor comes out of her room now) As I have the man pinned, I'm telling him he needs to stop, but he continues to struggle and tries to kick me in the head, which really pissed me off, so I hit him with my right fist three times in the face. The hits must have caused a cut in his mouth because he is now bleeding. Again I tell him to stop and he spits blood into my face. (fist thought in my head - now, any blood diseases he has I may now be infected with) He continues to try to attack me so I hit him once in the groin and then smash my right elbow twice against his left cheekbone, causing a huge gash to be opened...blood is all over
02t
. As other Japanese occupants enter the hallway I decide to let him up thinking that he will calm down. Yeah, big mistake as he doesn't calm down and after getting up he tries to attack me again. Mike comes from behind him to try to get him to stop. The man turns around and after seeing Mike says "Oh, you're my friend". Mike says "yes, friend" and then the crazy guy tries to attack Mike! So I yell to get his attention and he comes after me again. At this point I grab him and take him to the ground again and put him in a choke hold, hoping to to cut off his oxygen and make him unconscious so that he can't continue to attack myself or Mike. He manages to get out of the hold by scratching and tearing at my upper right arm, so I let him up and this time he grabs his motorbike helmet and tries to hit me twice in the head with the helmet! I move so he can't hit me and immediately take the helmet away and throw it down the hall. He continues to alternately try to attack Mike and myself for the next 10 minutes. After several more Japanese men arrive he still won't listen to them and continues to come after us. At this point he screams that he will kill both Mike and myself. A few minutes later when Mike isn't looking, he hits Mike twice in the face with his right fist. I come close to him to distract him and he spits blood in Mikes face. The gi\uy just won't stop and continues to came after us, so I pick up a fire extinguisher and brandish it as a weapon in an attempt to make the man stop attacking us. Thankfully, because I was really close to cracking him in the head with it, he does but only for a minute and then he begins again. I got away from him and called the apartment manager for help, but he was away. Several foreign occupants arrive and he tells them that he will kill them and that they should speak Japanese if they live in Japan. He then called everyone "fucking Americans" and continued to keep coming after us. The police finally arrived after 10 or 15 minutes.
After arriving, it took the police several minutes to enter the building even though they could hear him screaming at us. When the police arrived upstairs they wouldn't stop him from coming after us even after we asked for their help. He told us again he would kill us in front of the police officers. The police wouldn't take statements from any of the foreign witnesses. The police eventually took him to a local hospital for stitches and myself and Mike to the Ikeda police station for our statements.
At the police station, I was told the man was Korean, which I had no idea. Apparently, the crazy guy had told the police that was the reason that WE attacked HIM!! The police acted as if him being Korean was an acceptable excuse for his behavior. Eventually we got an interpreter, but he was unable to clearly ask questions and when I gave answers, he changed my answers that were to be written in the report. I know this because when the report was read back to me, the statement read that I told the police that I attacked the Korean man! All this even though Mika and I both had the saem story and there were several witnesses who could corroborate. I ended up being questioned by five different officers and held at the station for four-and-a-half hours. The officers only took part of my statement and refused to let me finish giving my full statement. (they took my statement only up to the part where I said I hit him - in self-defense) The interpreter read back my partial statement and I said that it was false and incorrect. The police said I could not leave until I signed the statement. The police admitted to me that they knew the man was drunk, but they were letting him go back to his apartment. I asked if they gave him a Breathalyzer or blood alcohol test and they said no they didn't need to because they knew the man was drunk. They also told me that in Japan I have no right to defend myself and that I had broken Japanese law. They said the Korean guy could prosecute me, but that I could not prosecute him. The police told me that I had to go to the hospital and get a medical report and also that I should lie to the doctors about my leg (the one that was kicked) being hurt. I told them my leg wasn't hurt and they said, "We know your leg doesn't hurt, but you should tell the doctor that it does hurt". I told them of my worries that the guy would attack again and they said that I shouldn't worry because they told him not to! I was never offered legal counsel or allowed to call the American embassy. Before I left, one officer said that if the man attacked me again and I fought back that I would be arrested, fined Y300,000, and deported back to the United States! Which is of course total bullshit as they don't have the authority to do so. So, basically I was told that if he comes at me again, the only recourse I have is to run and hide! haha A few days later I called the embassy to report the incident in case of some future situation and was told to write the story and send it in an email. I did so and was totally ignored by my own embassy..whose job is to supposedly help protect American citizens living and traveling abroad! What a crock! So, all the above is a casual version of what I wrote to the embassy...in retrospect, it's a damn good story, but was frustrating as hell at the time!
Comments
The other point of view (No, not the Korean)
You mentioned that he punched me twice. I actually ducked and punched him twice.
You also failed to mention that you were wearing a 'Don't Mess With Texas' t-shirt. I imagine this had some sort of effect on the policeman.
Yes, I agree, with you that the highlight of this story was clearly the solution. 'Shake each other's hands and promise to not do it again. Or you will be fined y300,000'.
Thanks for the story, I have often repeated in my own version.