A man almost completely severed his left hand with a machete in front of the National Diet Building on Tuesday, apparently to protest policies toward North Korea, police said.
The 54-year-old man approached the front gates of the building by car, stepped out, silently placed his left hand against the hood of his car and swung the 40 centimeter blade down across his left wrist, according to Tokyo police official Hideyuki Yoshioka.
The man, who identified himself as a member of a right-wing organization, then mumbled a few words about Japan’s handling of the abduction of its citizens by North Korea in the 1970s and 80s. Police snatched the machete and rushed him to a hospital, Yoshioka said.
The man “appeared to be in a lot of pain and his hand was hanging by a piece of skin,” according to Yoshioka.
[…]
Last October, another man linked to Japan’s extreme right tried to commit suicide outside the prime minister’s office by downing pesticide. Police said he was carrying a letter demanding that the prime minister pay his respects at a Tokyo shrine that honors Japan’s war dead, including convicted war criminals.In the past year, a woman has also tried to kill herself by ritual disembowelment in front of Koizumi’s office, demanding the leader resign.
Curzon, if this keeps up, it looks like you may not be able to make fun of Korean as easily. What’s a few psychos over there cutting off fingers compared to entire hands in Japan?
Ohhh…that’s no fun. I guess it is an affective way to call attention to oneself. >_>
Hmm right wing italian activists could learn from these guys, holocaust denial isn’t the headline catcher it once was, maybe if Alessandra Mussolini severed random members people may care about what she has to say, at least enough to stop them watching the dancing girls on tv…
and if you’re wondering, I’m Luke from Japan (well not literally)
I hope you weren’t holding your breathe.
All of these are solitary protests of one dude cutting off his hand or whatever when they’re angry about something (but more likely suffering from some sort of mental disorder).
The finger chopping was a product of familial encouragement (son and mother, combined with self-immolation in other instances) and was part of a mob-style anti-Japan protest.
I’m glad to say that in all cases the police rushed to intervene before it was too late, and have often been successful.
And for the record, the author of “finger-chopping wacky” is Matt at Occidentalism, not me.
Are you sure that the hand-chopping guy is a Japanese? Many members of right-wing organizations in Japan are Koreans. For example, Hideo Murai of AUM Shinrikyo cult was killed by a Korean, 徐裕行, who had been a member of a right-wing organization 神洲士衛館. In 2004, a large vehicle belonging to a right-wing group, 皇民党, rammed the gate of the Chinese Consulate General in Osaka. The driver of the vehicle was a Korean 高鐘守.
During cold-war period, pro-ROK zainichi Koreans made many right wing organizations in Japan for anti-communism. They seem to be frustrated by the deteriorated relationship between Korea and Japan caused by the abduction.
Also, the woman who tried to kill herself in front of Koizumi’s office is not a Japanese citizen, although her nationality has not been reported.
I agree with Aki. This guy couldn’t have been Japanese. A real Japanese person would have at least used a proper daito.
Well, there isn’t any information to indicate his nationality directly, but since he was protesting the handling of North Korea’s abduction of Japanese citizens, I think it’s rather likely that he is a Japanese citizen. Not to say that he isn’t mentally ill as well!
mutantfrog:
It is natural that you judged the guy to be a Japanese. But rational thinking is sometimes useless to understand the so-called Japanese right-wingers.
Right-wing organizations in Japan have names that look as if they were established by Japanese right-wing extremists. For example, the names of the right-wing organizations that I mentioned in the previous comment, “神洲士衛館” and “皇民党”, mean “House of Guardian Samurais Defending the Land of Gods” and “Imperial People’s Party”, respectively. Anyone would think that members of such organizations must be Japanese. However, members of these organizations are Koreans. Not only the names look like the organizations of Japanese right-wingers, but also their members act as if they are Japanese right-wing extremists. If you stayed in Japan for a long period, you have probably seen black vehicles of right-wingers shouting slogans and militaristic songs with loudspeakers. Many of them are Koreans, as mentioned by a zainichi Korean activist, Shin Sugok (辛淑玉), in the following article.
I was uncertain whether the hand-chopping guy is Japanese or not when I wrote the previous comment. But I am now almost confident that he is Korean. It has been a week since the incident occurred. But his name and the organization he belongs have not been reported on the media. Usually when a weird incident occurred in Japan, Japanese media start reporting details of the incident such as the name of the person involved and the name of the organization he/she belongs. However, when the person was once revealed to be Korean, reporters quickly stop reporting about the incident, because they believe that reporting weird incidents related to Koreans can lead to discrimination of ethnic Koreans in Japanese society. This hand-chopping incident is exactly the case.
About two years ago, after sumo champion Asashoryu had called a Korean journalist “kimchi bastard“, he was attacked by several groups of so-called Japanese right wingers with shouts from loudspeakers on their black vehicles saying “Asashoryu is so rude that he is not appropriate for the title of Yokozuna!”. That is to say, a Mongolian, getting angry by being forced by a Korean to say that the Mongolian was discriminated in Japan, called the Korean “Kimchi bastard”, and the Mongolian was attacked by Korean groups who were so-called Japanese right wings. It was sooo funny.