pter-exe-blog

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The Key Factors

To narrow the huge variety of motives of homicide to a single factor, I would conclude that it is nearly impossible. That is to say that the reason people kill is based on many different reasons to which I find the most frequent: economical situations, development during adolescent, gender, and relationship(family, romantic, etc) problems. These factors are just some of several inference that I was able to deduct from my research, but the interesting feature is the connection they play with one another. 

Going back to my main question of “What plays a role in the declining homicidal rate of Japan?”, the thriving economy of Japan has played a drastic role in lowering the number of crimes committed, but it isn’t the only reason why. With prosperity, Japan also introduces a large and harsh labor force, which in turn, not only keep people busy and gives them money, but is also creating more stress and reasons that keep people occupied. In addition, the introduction of such economy also ties in with the relationship factor but doesn’t directly cause it. One situation is when a partner decides to commit homicide against their significant other not for their money(although it isn’t uncommon for this to happen), but rather because of their faith in each other, whether one has betrayed the other and found a new partner or simply loses interest. Because of the numerous possible motivation for murder that are connected to one another, it is wrong to say that homicide can be categorized by a single term or cause.

Sources: 

http://www.encyclopedia.com/law/legal-and-political-magazines/crime-causation-sociological-theories

http://criminology.wikia.com/wiki/General_Theory_of_Crime

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=17&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiYgo27i5_XAhUC4WMKHRrVAdwQFgh6MBA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springer.com%2Fcda%2Fcontent%2Fdocument%2Fcda_downloaddocument%2F9783319215891-c2.pdf%3FSGWID%3D0-0-45-1544687-p177565407&usg=AOvVaw2kV9Eb9OC3j09bDNgW_Xkm

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The Sayama Incident

Kazuo Ishikawa, the supposed kidnapper and killer of Yoshie Nakata, a 16 year old high school student, was arrested May 23, 1963. On May 1, 1963, Yoshie Nakata was kidnapped and a ransom note was given to her father demanding 200,000 yen. The note said to bring the money to a small store called Sanoya. With the help of the Sayama police they arranged 200,000 fake yen and had Tomie Nakata, Yoshie’s older sister, meet and talk with him. Having ~45 policemen and 70 fireman hiding, the man/suspect got of how things were and somehow managed to flee. A few days since her disappearance, on May 4, 1963, Yoshie’s body was found in the alley of a nearby farm with her belongings. After an autopsy, it was determined that she was raped and then strangled to death. It was pretty brutal that a few days after Tomie saw her corpse, she committed suicide.  Discovering a shovel not far from Tomie’s grave, police traced it to the one Ishikawa had at the nearby pig farm. A few days later, saitama prefecture police arrested Ishikawa supposedly for theft and fighting. This is where things start getting fuzzy and controversial.  According to Ishikawa, the police had forced him into admitting that he committed the crime. The method he claimed to have killed the victim would have inflicted bruises on her but none were found. Furthermore, from the autopsy report, the blood-type of the semen discovered was related to another possible suspect named Okutomi Genji(who’s handwriting was similar to the note) who committed suicide not long from Yoshie’s death. Many supporters of Ishikawa say that police discriminated against him because he was a Burakumin, a group of people who were once part of the lower caste system that has been abolished.They are discriminated today because the Yakuza fall under their name as well as how some of their people have been connected to crimes.The Burakumin are a social minority that are disliked because of their jobs in the butchery and as executioner, making them seem “spritually impure” to Buddhist and other religious groups.  On the other hand, there are some information of Ishikawa that does connect with the incident itself. He claims that he couldn’t read or write but his former employer(who’s also a Burakumin) states that he’s been seen reading newspaper and magazines. During the meet-up with the kidnapper, one of the police and Tomie claim that the voice they heard was Ishikawa’s. There was also a farmer who claims he saw Ishikawa ask a driver where the Nakata family’s house was. From this I learned that discrimination played a key role in the possible misapprehension of the real killer, including how controversial this case is, that there are theories going around that say a movie was based on this case.... find out more in my presentation... :) What I thought was significant about this event, is the fact that they had so many people ready to catch the possible killer and he still got away?!?!? But how and why?!?! Which showed at the time how bad the police was.... explaining some parts of why the homicidal was higher around this time.

Sources:

http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/UP-022-2007

http://www.yoshabunko.com/minorities/Sayama_case_timeline.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayama_Incident

http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.ignacio.usfca.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/124F96DD155B1A20?p=WORLDNEWS

http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.ignacio.usfca.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/111D0EAA88B194E2?p=WORLDNEWS

http://0-eds.b.ebscohost.com.ignacio.usfca.edu/eds/results?vid=2&sid=d9b65fbb-3a39-4d49-a1aa-13965bc22806%40sessionmgr102&bquery=The+Sayama+Incident&bdata=JmNsaTA9RlQxJmNsdjA9WSZ0eXBlPTAmc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl

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Decline of Homicide in Japan (Qualitative Data)

What factors play into the decline? How can time tell a story of violence?  I look to questions like these to explore the motive and drive of homicides more deeply. A specific point in time that I would like to point out in Japan’s history, is the postwar period. According to my previously post with the graph, we can see a huge valley in the count of homicides. Explained by the lack of men due to drafting processes for the war, I wonder what happens after the period as the rate temporarily shoots back up. How did Japan manage to gradually make their nation safer?  According to the article “Homicide in Contemporary Japan” by Andrew Finch, there are multiple times of homicides that occur in Japan that it is better to look at them from a closer perspective. There were actually 19 different possible categories of homicide, most prominent was probably Hatred for someone, Sexual Jealousy, and financial reasons. While men were a huge of chunk of both the killer and victim sections, women were also a part of the data. Most of them were usually there for infanticide and relationship problems. A theory proposed by Andrew is that “criminal behavior for people in their twenties have declined which led to the decline in the rate”. The economic success of Japan can also be a factor in the decline as well as an increase in the police force which increase the risk of getting caught committing a crime.  I believe this source is reliable because it takes statistical data from the police in Japan. It reveals that there are many factor that contribute to the decline of homicide in Japan and that there’s isn’t a specific set motive for it. I find this data interesting because I haven’t really considered before the wide scope of homicidal categories that could’ve occurred. 

Sources: 

http://0-eds.b.ebscohost.com.ignacio.usfca.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=cf0e8488-31e5-446c-bee2-1e4636b83bdb%40sessionmgr4008

https://watermark.silverchair.com/api/watermark?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAe8wggHrBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggHcMIIB2AIBADCCAdEGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMjochbtWbORwIgF-lAgEQgIIBovt7xLBFyXPajGRzup3xujuq-QFHMD9qt1a_Of6Yfduge_OPA7Hx9vcqgHibTp7gw6tJx4s6ma77hmGhFMbClKg35eGb1o5byXU5ey4odTk3Hc1tIqdzbsqP8r_pQTsNjL-7e1oCNCcYaljgliveEUpGiooogAt_9fHTEshUsFm0LhpiV7_0WwRT7SBJA8p6hPbagBzYHGgJC6VtT2QSa5UJB1UgjzdG650_hlwONA37hJeDTgcbIl-PXVAus0aCTmDE5lO4-7mamdR2vRHkEmDqkcRPUnGpy-sFcPHZjs5ioZL5dtH2iYq-x9dle-F_jhxbb5wqlBleIE80c81Xs_Jfmxxx-V1dWqbhDUHuXp8bNBfVtYgvab4vjaW8ObrkvzFFNS6OUb-Tt3bbdXhD3M1VrFQDn_Chgze_pLGiAowhzSZZPioeD3KRgL9W1ZEpmqB26ffjYXnEpDvC5V_etW2MKgAvxSznC8yUZjPM1_iSSSaMOQMUzWsYneSZPrwQN6GqaIjjYInX8fQDqW2r9P_LCQr7xJDcjjH3-GjJi9UCkq0

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Decline of Japan’s Homicidal rate (Quantitative Data)

In the article “The Vanishing Killer”, by David T. Johnson, I was able to draw information on part of the possible reasoning behind why Japan has had a drop in the number of people killing each other in addition to some statistical data that is rather stunning.  Japan has seen a “large and rapid” drop in homicides committed by “young men” after the war according to Professor Hasegawa Mariko of Waseda University(1). You may ask, “why do I bother to mention the young men part?” but in reality, most of the homicides before the war were committed by young men themselves. 

We can see from the graph of homicide rate in Japan between 1888 - 2003 that around 1945 when the Japanese surrendered in the war, the rate dropped by about approximately 2.5. This can be explained by the absence of men of murder age for the cause of the war, leading to the “vanishing” killers. As the graph goes on, there’s a gradual decline of the homicidal rate. The article describes this as a possible result from “the risk associated with murdering” and “the increase in the number of people attending college from 13-40%).  The reason that I find this source and data reliable is because the statistical data published is official police data from Hasegawa in different times and this article is written by a sociologist so there is hopefully less bias and instantaneous conclusions. The interesting part of the data is that there is a shift in the age of typical murderers from younger 20′s to more 40′s and late 50′s postwar. I think it’s important because it’s redefining a new homicidal age group which could possibly mean that the previous conflicts that caused young people to murder was mostly fixed to shift the age range. Source: 

http://0-eds.a.ebscohost.com.ignacio.usfca.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=d78f9fb9-16d4-4d77-a709-e6bc337e748b%40sessionmgr4010

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Decline in Homicide rates

Hullo. :3 I will be doing my Tumblr project on how Homicide rates have been declining in Japan(hopefully, if not then I’ll prob have to spend hrs looking for another topic).  Before I am attacked for this, let me clarify my intentions. I have noticed that here in the US, homicide is relatively mediocre to high depending on geography, gender, and each individual situation. When we turn our head to Japan, I can’t personally say that I’ve experienced a lower rate of people killing each other since I haven’t been there, but rather I read in an article found through Fusion that it is comparably smaller than other countries. I hope to obtain information from this research on how we could reduce the number of people being slaughtered everywhere around the world by taking examples and samples from Japan. 

On my Journey to find some answers, I’m considering some of the following variables that might or might not contribute to the rate: - Gender / Age / both(?) - Stress (from work or family or something unpredictable(?)) - Alcohol / Hatred / Individual cases - Love / Relationships - Social Status (poverty) - Geography(?) (P.S: how do you put #homicide without making it sound bad?)

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First test post(Introductions)

Hullo other ppl in my class :^) 

I’m Peter Chuong and a comp sci major(freshman).  I was born here in SF and my hobbies include(but are not limited to) Dragon boating, playing video games, and sometimes coding just for fun.  Hope to meet you all and get thru this semester with you guys. :3  P.s: Not a good idea to ask me for places in SF cause I’ve been inside my house for most of my time here. :D