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U.S. Sailor May Have Admitted Murdering Japanese Taxi Driver

The Yomiuri Shinbun is reporting some new details in the case of the Japanese taxi driver found stabbed to death after driving a U.S. sailor from Tokyo to Yokosuka:

According to the police, the sailor, a U.S. citizen of Nigerian origin, told U.S. Navy investigators that he called a Nigerian friend and told him that he did it, apparently referring to the killing. He also told navy investigators that he told the acquaintance that he stabbed someone.

The credit card of the 22-year-old seaman apprentice stationed at the Yokosuka Naval Base was discovered inside the taxi of Masaaki Takahashi, 61, from Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, who was found fatally stabbed in his taxi in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, on March 19.

10 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - March 31, 2008 at 11:27 am

Categories: Foreigners in Japan Tags: america, crime, japan, japanese, navy, Nigeria

http://neilduckett.com Neil Duckett

I’m interested in hearing what his reasoning for stabbing this guy was ….. doesn’t make sense to me.
David

*sigh* how hard can it be for the americans to keep their soldiers under control? Make them behave or move all the bases to some uninhabited island where they can’t harm anyone.

http://www.hormel.com VonSkippy

*sigh* how hard is it to verify what the Japanese police speculate is actually the truth. If only there was some way to tape or video the police interrogation’s with the SUSPECT then people would know what the police ACTUALLY heard instead of what they think they heard, or what they heard ONLY after hours/days of continual nagging.

http://deleted parkmount

Why do they have to describe this sailor like a U.S. citizen of “Nigerian origin”?

When they report rape/murder cases, they won’t say like a Japanese of “Korean origin” or “Zainichi” Korean at all.

tomas

Well, they usually do if it’s obvious (ie. Non-Japanese name). In fact, there was even a thread here a while ago about a Japanese born Chinese dude who was caught by the police, and quite a few people played the racist card for mentioned the Chinese connection.
hi

It’s a deflection implying non-American cultural influences, ie Nigerian “thinking”, as a possible humus for the perpetration of the crime.

Seriously, U.S. government, only send higher ranking soldiers to Japan for officer training; they’re the only ones capable of dealing with the genteel boredom of a rural Japan. The aggro-rabble at the bottom just freak out with all the vacuous silence of the region and direct their aggression towards the locals with their passive manner(aka: “target behaviour”). It’s just like how bullies prey on the “weak”. More on-base bars and high fences that keep soldiers IN…. like a zoo. It’s actually fitting. Bring in some of those kidnapped Russian prostitutes for the boys and everything will stay fine and dandy.

Mark

Maybe it’s true that the Japanese police coerced a confession out of the sailor. Or maybe the sailor actually IS responsible for the murder. The fact of the matter is that, despite American personnel being fallible people, this is getting ridiculous. Whatever actions American personnel do overseas reflects on ALL of us as a nation-state and a people. This sort of stupidity had its roots in the Girard Incident of 1957. Honorable servicemen and women are being disgraced by idiots who pull stuff like this in other countries.
kutz

The whole thing just doesn’t make sense to me. There is absolutely no motive. Nothing was stolen or anything just straight up murder for no reason. This kind of stuff you just can’t get over, I hope they get to the bottom of this and find out what really happened. Don’t know if he did it or not but personally I think he was framed.(Please don’t slam me too hard for that last comment, just my opinion.)

hi

Correct, no motive was stated by the reporter. Weak reporting.

http://deleted parkmount

Wueeeee, wrong! The same things have happened in Canada, too. Those people would be called proud Americans or Canadians if what they did is good and positive. Otherwise, they would be identified with hyphenated-nationality or worse.

For example, a Canadian athlete, Ben Johnson, had been a pride of Canada till he became just a Jamaican immigrant after that drug scandal.

U.S. Sailor May Have Admitted Murdering Japanese Taxi Driver

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