Continuing along the thread of problems with Japan’s judiciary…

I reported some last December about NJ TV tarento Peter Barakan being assaulted before one of his speeches–where he and some of his hosts were sprayed with mace in a premeditated assault: the assailant even had a harder-to-trace rental car readied for a quick getaway.

Details on that case archived here:
http://www.debito.org/index.php/?p=830

Well, guess what. The police found the car. They found the mace. They even found someone in the car. But they let him go, after one of the people assaulted couldn’t identify him with “100% certainty”. It didn’t even become a case of detaining him for one of those 23-day interrogations until he confessed.

I guess that means the cops feel that the crime against Peter Barakan is solved, or at least feel justified in dropping the case. Because according to Peter yesterday, there has been no movement or contact since from the police.

“The police have done absolutely zilch,” he said. He tries to be open-minded about it by saying it’s his fault for not filing a complaint. But he shouldn’t have to. The police should be further investigating this as an assault like any other.

But why bother? Famous or not, high-profile or not, it’s only a foreigner.

You might think I’m exaggerating, but this is just another case to add to the collection of assault against NJ that doesn’t get followed up, while if a NJ were to commit a crime against a Japanese, I bet the investigation of the suspect would have been much more thorough. Leniency towards Japanese suspects in crimes against NJ does seem to happen.

I’m trying to accept the caveat that nationality doesn’t matter in these cases. But it really is getting more and more difficult the more cases I see. Arudou Debito in Sapporo

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FURTHER READING: If it’s a foreigner allegedly committing a crime against Japanese (as in the Idubor Case), the police go after it even if there is no evidence. If a Japanese commits a crime against a foreigner, it’s either not pursued (see the Valentine Case, for the time being) or handled with different standards (see the Lucie Blackman Case).
ENDS