A normal, peaceful day at Japan’s Chigasaki Station in Kanagawa Prefecture, Tokyo, took a dark turn when a man was pushed off the station platform, onto the train tracks, by another commuter. The commuter was angry due to the loud music that was audible from the man’s earbuds.
The incident happened on June 7 around 9:49 pm. The victim was a 30-year-old man and the suspect was a 40-year-old man. The victim attempted to pull himself back into the platform after he was pushed. The suspect, however, kept stepping on his face, pushing him back into the tracks. The victim was safe but had suffered bruises on his face due to being stepped on by the suspect numerous times. The suspect was arrested on June 8th and an investigation related to the incident is underway.
Japanese netizens took to social media to vent their thoughts on the issue and here are the things that they have to say about the crime:
“I wonder if this could be considered attempted murder?”
“Is this the state our society has fallen to?”
“I get annoyed when people’s headphones are too loud but I wouldn’t push them off a platform for it.”
“Attempted murder for listening to music on your headphones? Scary.”
“He’s so lucky a train wasn’t approaching.”
News reports stated that the reason the suspect perpetrated the attack was because he wanted to teach the victim a lesson for disturbing others. In Japan, it’s considered rude if you play loud music or make unnecessary noise, like talking loudly on your phone in the train or setting your earphones or headphones so loud that other people can hear what you’re listening to. There have been numerous campaigns made to remind citizens and tourists of such things — seems like some tend to forget even this simplest courtesy.
Train stations in Tokyo are some the busiest areas as they are one of the country’s primary means of transport. This is not the first disturbance that has happened in a Tokyo train station. In fact, a woman was reported to be running around naked in Shibuya station. Police then let her go after finding out that she was not causing harm to anybody or under the influence of drugs.
Source: Livedoor News, Hachima Kikou, SoraNews24
