Tokyo police arrest a Frenchman on charges of pushing and killing senior citizens in a bar district

The suspect says he has “absolutely no recollection” of the incident after the victim died in hospital.

The Kabukicho Neighborhood of Shinjuku district in downtown Tokyo is the city's largest bar district, with many bars staying open all night until the trains leave the next morning. However, according to Tokyo Metropolitan Police and eyewitnesses, a late night of drinking last weekend took a deadly turn.

On Sunday around 1:20 a.m., a 33 year old Frenchman was on the sidewalk in the Icchome area of ​​Kabukicho. According to witnesses, the man, who was visibly drunk, approached a woman he did not know and began following her, which led to a verbal altercation between the two. That was it then Akihiko Nogamia 67-year-old Japanese man, intervened and tried to get the Frenchman to leave the woman alone. The Frenchman, who appeared to object to the attempted intervention, responded by pushing Nogami with both hands, causing him to fall and hit his head violently on the ground.

Nogami was taken to a hospital where he was diagnosed with acute subdural hematoma, a type of internal bleeding in which blood collects between the brain and skull. Passers-by overpowered the Frenchman and called the police, who arrested him for assault. After Nogami's later death in the hospital, that charge was now changed to manslaughter.

The Frenchman is reportedly a company employee living in Tokyo's Nakano district, suggesting he is a resident of Japan and not an overseas tourist. That's what he claims “Absolutely no memory of the incident” and denies the allegations.

Although Kabukicho is considered one of Tokyo's seedier districts, street violence and deaths are rare. Although there have been a number of high-profile incidents of inappropriate behavior by foreigners in Japan in recent months, cases of foreigners attacking Japanese citizens are rare, and incidents resulting in death are particularly rare, prosecutors said. It is unlikely that they are lenient.

Source: Tele Asa, TBS News Dig, Yomiuri Shimbun Online, Asahi Shimbun Digital
Picture above: Pakutaso
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