Japan - Miyazawa family of 4 murdered, Setagaya, Tokyo, 30 Dec 2000 #3

[FlowersInBloom]

The TMPD not investigating YAFB over this 23 year old case at all says more to me than if they had…
If as stated above they are able to easily get access or permission to do so, why would they not even just on the off chance they could find something? Nic has said that this angle and the base have not been investigated or ruled out, so my question here is: are the TMPD deliberately not doing so? Are they avoiding it?

It seems more likely to me there is a reason they are not investigating YAFB, and that reason isn’t because it’s been ruled out and there’s nothing to see there… I agree with others that there is possibly something else behind it. JMO.

 

[Charlot123]

Actually there's currently a huge news story in Japan about the police covering up or refusing to pursue crimes committed by American servicemen, and there were protests in the 90s for the same thing, which is depressing because nothing changes.

The idea that "it doesn’t seem that Japan has any issue regarding American citizens committing crimes inside Japan, then fleeing Japan, and bringing them back into Japan to charge them" is true in some cases. It's absolutely not in others. The type of crime and implications matter. Which is not the same as saying cases against American servicemen are never pursued criminally; they are. There are just other factors that also play a role.

The current (2024) eruption of conflict is primarily connected to cases involving sexual assault and kidnapping perpetrated by American servicemen--crimes that are much different than the one cited above. Someone who murdered 4 people and is facing a potential death sentence, who may have been under 18, and that's without even getting into the killer's potential ethnicity being one historically fraught with a lot of implications--this is all an extremely tense issue. Like, this could be "damage international relations longterm" territory. A Green Beret smuggling a guy out is not.

I have no idea who killed them. Just no clue. Honestly, I expect it to be someone local and not even on the radar, but after 23 years, any idea goes. Virtually, any.

So let’s assume that it was someone from the base who later returned back. The Miyazawas deserve justice, but don’t we, living in the US, deserve safety? I don’t believe that this guy just did it once. He either is on high doses of medications and shouldn’t ever stop, or he still does something very cruel, but quietly.

So the amount of anger from the US citizens if it is found out that 1) he is American and 2) that he did it here, too, I can’t even fathom. People of Japan are more placid, maybe it is Buddhism or Shinto that helps. But can you imagine the reaction here? Especially if he killed someone before or after that stay. I can’t even imagine.

So - I don’t care how they handle the political angle, but our respected bodies dealing with the allegations should rule out the possibility of the perpetrator living in the US. For us. It is not that difficult.

 

[FlowersInBloom]

I have no idea who killed them. Just no clue. Honestly, I expect it to be someone local and not even on the radar, but after 23 years, any idea goes. Virtually, any.

So let’s assume that it was someone from the base who later returned back. The Miyazawas deserve justice, but don’t we, living in the US, deserve safety? I don’t believe that this guy just did it once. He either is on high doses of medications and shouldn’t ever stop, or he still does something very cruel, but quietly.

So the amount of anger from the US citizens if it is found out that 1) he is American and 2) that he did it here, too, I can’t even fathom. People of Japan are more placid, maybe it is Buddhism or Shinto that helps. But can you imagine the reaction here? Especially if he killed someone before or after that stay. I can’t even imagine.

So - I don’t care how they handle the political angle, but our respected bodies dealing with the allegations should rule out the possibility of the perpetrator living in the US. For us. It is not that difficult.

Don’t the people of Japan deserve safety? These vile acts by American servicemen are still happening even today, let alone 23 years ago if this turned out to be someone from a base again.
It is one thing saying US citizens would be outraged over this, but it is another that there could be diplomatic fall out between the United States and Japan if true.
I don’t think you would see any form of placidity from Japanese citizens over this.