Slaughter in Saitama adds to list of foreigners murdered in Japan, shines light on social issue

23 comments

1. Does anyone have the non-paywalled version of this article?

2. Yea this was talked about for a while around December in foreigner communities and here. Horrible.

   Not sure what social issue they are talking about. Hate against foreigners is common anywhere you go, it’s not a bigger social issue in Japan than anywhere else…

3. Yes. Was well-covered at the time. He was a well-known executive. I had met him several times at American Chamber of Commerce events over the years. Incredibly sad course of events.

4. Why are they trying to make what was a personal disagreement between a neighbor and a crazy person about some social issue regarding foreigners?

5. Looks like someone wants to foment discord in Japan. Who would want to do such a thing.

6. ***TOKYO — Tokyo was stunned in late December by the news of the brutal killing of longtime Japan resident William Bishop, a 69-year-old U.S. national, his 68-year-old wife Izumi Morita, and their daughter Sophianna Megumi Morita, 32. All three were found dead outside their residence in Hanno, Saitama, with multiple wounds early Christmas morning.***

   ***Later that day, prefectural police arrested the Bishops’ neighbor, a 40-year-old Japanese man named Jun Saito, at his residence around the corner believing he had bludgeoned the Bishop family to death with what was believed to be a hammer. Saito had barricaded himself in an upstairs room, and the police had to force their way in to apprehend him.***

   ***The authorities said they had received reports of a man in black clothing carrying what appeared to be a hammer as he left the Bishop home on foot shortly after the murders. They checked video cameras in the area and around the Bishop residence and discovered footage of a man in black clothing attacking a person.***

   ***Traces of blood on black clothing was confiscated at the Saito residence. Police also seized multiple potential weapons, including an ax, at the suspect’s residence, according to reports.***

   ***Although the three members of the Bishop family were found dead outside the property, blood discovered inside the residence suggested they were initially attacked indoors.***

   ***Police believe the victims were struck repeatedly due to multiple injuries found on their bodies which indicated a struggle. William Bishop’s cervical area was severely damaged.***

   ***There was a history of conflict involving Saito and the Bishop family, who had reported repeated damage to their car and property on half a dozen occasions, resulting in Saito’s arrest three different times, although Saito was ultimately not prosecuted in any of the cases. According to the Shukan Bunshun of Dec. 30, repair damage to the Bishop family automobile cost ¥1 million, forcing the family to keep their auto under protective cover in a garage behind a locked iron door. There were no reports of trouble with other individuals in the neighborhood.***

   ***When police first arrested Saito in January 2022 for damaging the Bishop’s vehicle,  they said that the Bishops told them they did not personally know who Saito was.***

   ***The house Saito was living in belonged to his parents, who reportedly moved out because of his violent behavior.***

   ***Prosecutors charged him with murder. Saito, in detention, denied the charges.***

   ***Although all the facts are not yet in, the suspect appears to be part of a troubled generation suffering from mental disorders, who dropped out of school and work in droves in the ’80s and ’90s, when Japan’s economic bubble burst, Japanese firms retrenched and downsized, and jobs were not readily available. The Japanese government has identified over half a million of these, so-called*** [***hikikomori***](https://www.debito.org/?s=hikikomori)***, social recluses, who live at home, passing their time on the Internet — the rise of which has contributed to their continuing isolation, remaining economically dependent on their parents, who, in turn, do not know what they can do to help their offspring find their footing outside of the household and try to hide what they view as an embarrassing situation. Hikikomori have failed to develop necessary social skills and are unable to adjust in a society that is very structured and sensitive to social stigma, one which fails to provide for social resources and professional treatment for mental illness, primarily because parents are too ashamed to seek it for their offspring.***

   ***This has become known as the “80-50” problem in recent years as hikikomori children from the post-bubble era are entering their 50’s and their parents are in their 80’s, becoming less and less able to care for them.***

7. Hey Saitama police, you had already arrested the guy three times. Get your shit together

8. What social issue? Crazy people? Compare murders per Capita here with other countries I’m not saying crazy people should be ignored but you’re blowing this out of proportion 

9. Did he receive the death penalty?

10. Japan has a fifth the land mass but only half the population of the US. With the populated areas also having huge population densities. The “social issue” isn’t really unique to Japan. I would say it is less likely for a foreigner living in Japan to have a crime committed against them than a foreigner living in most other countries in the world.

    In other words… Your title implies that murder of foreigners in Japan is becoming endemic and a huge problem, but it hasn’t become more common or more violent recently, nor is it worst than comparable or incomparable nations.

    Point being, whats your point? This issue doesn’t exist, there is no hidden movement to murder foreigners. It happened and it was sad. Why bring it up here and now with that particular title? Karma farming? Hate mongering?

11. Happened on Xmas near my house. Scary as hell and since then everyone in the general area actually regularly locks their doors. Doesn’t even matter that it was a foreigner, it was just a terrible day.

12. I went to school with their daughters- this news hit us all so hard on Christmas morning. The younger daughter had just gotten married a month prior and was supposed to go off on their honey moon after spending Christmas with her family.

13. This is a stupid article. The probability of a foreigner being murdered in Japan is very small.

14. Such a shame. You can’t deny that Japan lets cases like these happen, regardless of whether the victim was a foreigner or not

15. Fucking pussy did that to an elderly man and two women. Psychos like this never seem to have the smoke for guys in their 20’s and 30’s. Funny how that works

16. What’s with the seemingly outsized number of Chinese commentators in the comments

17. This happened in 2022, I literally started my exchange programme a couple months prior and there was little to no coverage on this

18. Nothing will happen to the guy, the police will cover it up and he will continue to live free. In Japan you have no rights as a foreigner.

19. You can’t have a gun but you can have some baseball bats or other things in your house to defend you and your family. Hope you never have to but every man has to be prepared to defend himself, foreigner or no foreigner. Self defense a hobby everybody should dabble in just in the case. 

20. Ah man. I was literally just in Hanno before reading this and thinking about how it might be a really great place to live once I decide to move a bit further out. Obviously one crime isn’t a reason to write off a whole area but it’s kinda scary knowing this happened in a place I was just in and such good vibes about.

21. You know Japanese police never side with the foreigners right? You see he wasn’t arrested despite the numerous times he committed crimes against the family? if it was a foreigner, they wouldn’t have doubted to arrest him before it became a murder.
    You know the story of Issei Sagawa and how he never paid for his crime because he killed a foreigner and not a Japanese right?
    Also, the article states the hikikomori never bothered anyone else but these foreigners.
    I’m pretty sure this was a hate crime.

22. I knew about this as soon as it happened. was shocked to read Sophianna’s name in the news- I used to work with her at the advertising agency. We worked on a couple of the same accounts. Smart girl, she was really well liked and had just promoted into our planning department… so so sad.

23. > Checks headline

    > See’s Saitama

    Oh right, probably some fucked up shit.