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Japanese Man “Punched” Filipina Lawyer

Last month while checking headlines on Google News, I came across a story in the Filipino press that described how a Japanese man had “punched” the daughter of Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and been found guilty of being an undesirable alien:

In her one-page complaint affidavit, Codilla narrated that while waiting for her luggage at the carousel area at the Manila Domestic Airport, a person behind her approached and told her that she should not have placed her pushcart in front of the carousel.

“Suddenly, (Tanaka) punched me, hitting hard my back. I was shocked about it and immediately asked him why he punched me. Then he replied: “Then you can punch me back,” said Codilla.

She said she immediately sought the help of airport police, who arrested Tanaka.

Codilla attached to her complaint a copy of Tanaka’s passport and the result of the medico-legal examination showing she got hematoma* on her back.

[Note: Hematoma is a fancy word lawyers use for bruises when filing lawsuits.]

Tanaka apologized for his actions, but he refused to agree that he had punched her in the way she described. He claimed he was only nudging her in a traditional Japanese way to get her attention. She turned down his apology and went to the press:

Maria Esperanza Christina Garcia-Codilla, a lawyer, said in a statement that the apology issued by Isao Tanaka was “empty because he even added insult to injury by denying he ever punched me.” She said that if Tanaka was truly remorseful, he should have admitted his offense.

Codilla said it was “preposterous” for the Japanese to claim that his “gesture” was tradition in his native land.

“I can’t believe he is saying that it’s tradition in Japan for men to punch women. Likewise, it is I, not he, who is suffering. I still have pain in my back where he punched me. Also, I have yet to get over the emotional distress he… inflicted on me,” Codilla said.

She said she will pursue her case against Tanaka as a matter of principle – that an assault on a woman is unacceptable in civilized society and that no one should be allowed to get away with it.

Politicians bounced the on the story, with one calling the incident “total disrespect and brutality not only against the victim but against Filipino women in general,” and demanding that Tanaka serve a jail sentence before getting deported.

Yesterday evening, the following report about the story aired on Japanese TV. It contains statements in English from both the Japanese man and the lawyer who claims to have been punched:

Watching the news report, two versions of what happened emerge:

1. The lawyer’s story: An angry Japanese man “crept” up behind her and told her to move her luggage. Then, without provocation, he delivered a strong punch to her back. When she asked him why he punched her, he was unapologetic.
2. The Japanese man’s story: A inconsiderate woman was blocking people from getting their luggage, and so he asked her to move. She didn’t respond to him, so he nudged her to get her attention. She then accused him of punching her and had him arrested.

After the report, the news anchors comment on how the action Tanaka described doesn’t sound like a punch, and that it isn’t hard to imagine that Tanaka’s arrest and detainment could be the result of a cultural misunderstanding.

Whose story do you think is closer to what actually happened?

26 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - April 25, 2008 at 4:19 pm

Categories: General Japan Tags: assault, cebu, crime, filipina, japan, japanese, manila

the overthinker

“I still have pain in my back where he punched me”

Will she show up to court in a wheelchair perhaps? Or claim she can no longer waterski or play golf or climb My Everest? More than anything else, that typical “I still feel pain” sob story makes her story stink to me.

Zaciroth

Yup unless you have a bruise pain isn’t something you can really put weight of a court case on.

shazzb0t

I believe both of them. Pushing your fists into someone’s back as a way of getting them to move is kind of old style Japanese behavior. If you go to Tsukiji and stay around in people’s way they will do that to you.

I think its rude that people do that, but in Japan people still do that.

Oh, he did say that is the old way of doing things. So yeah.
Kevin

I found a video of the incident on youtube.

Airport nudge
Lei

first of all I am based in the philippines so I pretty much know how things go around here. The woman is in fact a daughter of a politician + lawyer. Politicians here tend to have lots of pride and they’ll practice they’re power at even the tiniest of problems. Moreover she’s a freakin lawyer , lawyers here have an immensly big pride since it is painstakingly hard to be one.

I think this was just a big misunderstanding between the two. However the two are full of pride that they escalated things up to something like this.

Just a normal cultural difference
http://www.keepingpaceinjapan.com Turner Wright

The next big headlines for this week…

“He gave me cooties!”
Violence erupted today in Yamamoto-san’s 5th grade classroom as young Masahiro did violently and without provocation administer the cooties to innocent little Ayako…

“Losing track of time”
32-year-old Yuhei Matsumoto lives a quiet life in the northern city of Matsue. A day at the office, spending time with his kids, frequenting the neighborhood sento…

That is, of course, until the unthinkable happened.

“I couldn’t find my watch this morning, so I was two minutes late for work,” Matsumoto-san told reporters, anxious to hear his side of the story.

Further investigation revealed a faulty clasp on the leather band of the watch had caused its subsequent failure. The watchmakers will be fined 10,000,000 yen.
jonske

love the cartoon illustrations
marvin

I bet the woman being the daugther of a governor just wanted to give back some shame she had to take after being talked down and shoved like that. This is how typical children of politicians act in the Philippines. I bet she had one of those oversized pushcarts blocking everybody from the baggage carousel. She would probably need it because she had a lot of baggages after shopping with her parents’ ill-gotten wealth.
Then again Philippine baggage counters are often very unorganized, with people squeezing thru each other in a frantic pace to get their luggage. Like the baggage won’t come back if not taken hastily, not thinking for a second that the carousel goes around in a circle. A very big contrast with what one would see in Japan. Take it from someone who has been to both airports. Fact is I made a petition to adopt the Japan baggage claim system to the Philippine Airport authority a few months ago. ^^;
for those who have never been to Japan, carts aren’t allowed about a meter towards the carousel. There’s a yellow line there to remind you of that. This helps since it gives more space for people to pull out their baggages without mauling another person, having to parry with a push cart or bumping into another person’s cart.
http://deleted parkmount

I have no comment on what happened other than just saying it’s silly.
I have never been to the Philippines, but it looks like they have two tier social and justice systems; one for the poor and ordinary, and the other for the filthy rich.
Dana Lou

Whether she is a lawyer, Philippine and full of pride doesn’t give anyone any right to invade another humans personal space. Thats why situations like this happen people don’t know how to keep there hands to themselves. It looked to me that everyone in the video had there carts near and next to the luggage return. She looked to be very small and luggage can get very heavy. If this man wanted to respect her he should have helped her handle her luggage. If any stranger came up to me and nudged me I would probably turn around and smack them in the jaw without hesitation.

Reader

Exactly. People should keep their hands to themselves! So the Japanese guy is at fault even if it was just a small nudge like he claims it to be.
Karisu

Well, arent’ you a terrific and peaceful human being. Yes, resolve all your disputes through physical force.

Dana Lou

I don’t think he should get prison time. Two wrongs never make a right. Strangers touching me would always be crossing the line. Thats one thing were I put my foot down. When people think its ok to nudge that leads to groping hitting and outright violence. I don’t see how the man just couldn’t have offered to help her instead. I have done this many times. The guilt usually arises on there faces and the person becomes much more polite.

http://pontasmemorandum.blogspot.com/ ponta

I agree

canadaguy

I just find it shocking and most disturbing that they don’t have video cameras everywhere in the airport. Safety breech, anyone?
erikah

i believe the important issue is the punching. yes, cultural differences is the problem and pride on both parties made it worst. but i wonder, hasn’t the man been to other countries? a lot of countries also wouldn’t take it lightly that he punches to make people move out of the way. i mean in the US (the land of no-touch) if a man bumps into a little girl accidentally, the mother of the child goes hysterical and thinks it’s sexual harassment.. <– and that is something i did really experience seeing in New York!
Da Kappa

It appears that both parties are at fault from what I gather. Unfortunately for the old man is that he did what he did in “her” home turf (double whammy is that her immediate family is a government official; triple whammy is that she’s a lawyer: so it’s safe to say that she’ll be representing herself in court). Add to that his “reasoning” is that it’s common to do what he did in Japan. From the perspective of Filipinoes that would cast a bad view of Japanese people as a whole. I wouldn’t want an American assault a Japanese person in Japan and then in a TV interview have that American say that it’s culturally common for Americans to assault people to “get their attention”. Touch, slap, punch, are all variations of physical interaction. The person who administers that and the one who recieves it. The recipient is free to interpret it in any way they wish. Bottom line, it’s something that shouldn’t have been done.
onceuponatime

i saw his interview on tv. he did say that it was “japanese tradition” to punch somebody to get their attention. i have lived in japan for a very long time. i have never seen anyone PUNCH someone just to get their attention. i have seen people pushed and shoved but never punched, which by the way, he admitted doing (he spoke in english). the man definitely punched the wrong person. maybe now he will keep his hands to himself where they belong
mk1311

How shameful! I am from Cebu myself and if I could I would apologize to the old man. She claims she has never been punched in her life, so how the hell would she know what a punch feels like? She’s just embarrassed that she was nudged in public. She can’t get it over her thick, conceited skull that someone told her off. That’s the way politicians are here in the Philippines. They are all conceited and hate being told what to do because they believe they are right even when they know they are wrong.

mechashinsen

Not only that…she’s a lawyer!! She knows the system and knows exactly what to say to have people sobbing over her story. Cry me a river!! Are there photos of this bruise that was caused by this “punch”? Yeah when an old lady shoved me in the market because there was a sale, I definitely suffered mental anguish and emotional distress. I should have requested that she go to jail for shoving me like that. I’ll have to skip out on work because of the shove. Gimmie a break!

John Holmes

There’s only one reason and one reason alone that he should serve jail time and has no fault. He’s a senile old man. SENILE. Crazy old people do that stuff all the time.
http://aki-akiaki.blogspot.com Aki

The poll should include the choice for the Marmot’s Hole’s version of the story.

Japanese Man Gropes the Wrong Woman’s Bottom
philip1111

That man shouldn’t have done this!!He is really an old man and matured too!!
He should apologize for this!!This is really sad!!
——————————
philip
http://www.japanprobe.com biteofreality

in japan if u punch somebody u will pay money or be in jail ..
i wish he should die and rot in jail there in philippine
yamauchi satoshi

i better put my hand , always in my pocket!
the overthinker

They must be different ones indeed. I don’t recall having any issues. I haven’t used that many – about six or seven, including the big three international ones, some smaller international ones, and a couple of domestic (including Haneda) which doesn’t really count as so few people check bags on domestic flights.

Or maybe you arrived at the same time as a load of Philippinos….

Japanese Man “Punched” Filipina Lawyer

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