5khours

Mens rea is probably more strongly entrenched in Japan than the U.S. I haven't looked at the gun laws, but I suspect there is no strict liability especially given the severity of the penalties.

ROCAT

The fact that she recognized she did something illegal then tried to cover it up instead of going to the police will severely hurt her when the penalty is decided. Japanese courts tend to go hard on people who do not turn themselves in nor show guilt which she did neither of. At this point her best bet is to plead guilty and beg for forgiveness as a dumb foreigner. If she had just gone to the police she likely would have lots of questions asked, a very long lecture on Japanese gun laws, then deported but no criminal penalties.

AlwaysAisle

When reading Japanese news articles about court cases this is often mentioned, as a judge read out verdict often mention “accuser not showing any guilt” as part of reasoning for the verdict and sentencing. From reading Japanese newspapers I got an impression that “not showing any guilt” seems to weigh in stronger than “did not have intention to commit a crime.”

The impression I got is a case defendant plead not guilty and insisted during entire trial of innocent, but there were very strong circumstantial evidences leading to the defendant. During the sentencing phase a judge say “accuser not showing any guilt” as reason for harsher sentencing. Can remember reading cases like this on Japanese newspaper more than few times.

Steve M

Let's try to quantify that a bit, with death rate statistics per 100,000 population per year:

US, guns: 10.54
US, drugs: 6.96
Japan, guns: 0.06
Japan, drugs: 0.43

That doesn't look all that "moronic" to me.

gnaget

Ok, throw it into the toilet tank, which I guess are not generally accessible in public toilets. Although if you slowly throw the tiny 22s down a toilet (or go stall to stall) then you probably won't clog it.

It's very much police state to throw something in the trash and get busted for it! One thing about Japan is the difficulty in finding a trash can.....

gnaget

It is if you value liberty.

If you made me dictator of USSA I could beat the Japanese numbers quite easily. It includes quite unsavory things regarding non-whites and civil liberties.

I value liberties and something very basic like habeas corpus.

The vast majority of US gun deaths are suicides, but Japan has a much higher suicide rate. Maybe getting rid of railways is imperative in saving lives?

mkjr

I must have missed where this person was forced to fly through Japan. We all have choices in life. Those that pretend we don't are the most vocal when things don't go their way.

jib71

It seems normal to me. In which country do the police turn a blind eye to people who attempt to throw away items immediately prior to a check-point or search?

trooper

Huh? I didn't even MENTION Japan and their laws.....I was commenting on the strange leap folks made from one thing... ammo...to another very separate thing...guns.

Related? Yes...usually. Not always however and certainly NOT in the case in question....

And if you won't discuss guns with people who use them...then presumably you are not open to any view other than your own... so perhaps it's best to leave it at that....

armagebedar

As this is veering quickly into OMNI territory and the thread has run its course, I'm closing it.

Regards,
armagebedar
Japan forum moderator