“Freeze!!!!”

In October of 1992, a 16 year old Japanese exchange student named Yoshihiro Hattori was shot and killed in Baton Rouge Louisiana. Why? Apparently because he didn’t know what “freeze” meant.

Hattori and his friend were supposed to go to a Halloween party on October 16, 1992. Instead, they got lost and went to the wrong house. They ended up knocking on the door of the Peairis residence. It turned out that the Peairis’ were a bunch of all-American gun-totting hicks, who didn’t take very kindly to strangers a-trespassin’ on their property. Upon seeing a couple of strange people walking towards her door, Bonnie Peairis called for her husband to “git the gun.”

When the door was opened, Yoshihiro said something in broken English to the Peairis’, and upon realizing that he had arrived at the wrong house, started to walk away. Mr. Peairis shouted “FREEZE” at Hattori. Sadly, Hattori didn’t understand the meaning of “freeze”, so he turned around. He ended up getting shot to death with a 44 magnum.

The incident caused an uproar in Japan, especially when Mr. Peairis was cleared of any wrongdoing in the killing. To the Japanese it appeared that Hattori had been brutally murdered. It reinforced the Japanese impression that America is an extremely dangerous country.

Hattori’s death taught the Japanese the meaning of “FREEZE”. Most Japanese adults are aware of the meaning of this English word, and if they hear it they know they should remain absolutely still and do nothing. Otherwise they will get brutally murdered by an American.

Thanks to my ALT friend who was warned not to use the word “freeze” in her English lessons. You allowed me to discover this strange story.