More Japanese middle-aged men with ‘hurt pride’ lose their cool in public
In the past week alone, three men were arrested after allegedly being involved in separate incidents of slapping and using an ice pick
A spate of incidents involving middle-aged Japanese men losing their cool and being violent in public in a society known globally for its politeness reflects their inability to handle stress before retirement, according to analysts.
Last week, 58-year-old Katsuhiko Fukuda was arrested at Tokyo’s Haneda airport after he reportedly shouted at an airline ground employee and slapped her. Fukuda, a doctor from Shimane prefecture, has denied the allegations, which arose after he missed his flight.
On Saturday, a man was arrested in a restaurant in the town of Chikushino, in Fukuoka prefecture, on suspicion of assault after he purportedly slapped a woman who brought his bar bill to him. Yoshihide Fukamachi, 61, told police there was “no way” he would hit a woman.
The following day, Masahisa Onomura, 59, was arrested on suspicion of threatening a 19-year-old passenger on a train in Yokohama for coughing. A Kyodo News report said Onomura allegedly pointed what appeared to be an ice pick at the man and said: “If you cough any more, I’m going to kill you.”
There have also been other incidents of violence involving middle-aged men earlier this month, including an arson attack in an employment bureau in Sapporo carried out by a man in his 50s while a 49-year-old man was arrested after threatening to kill his daughter at their home in Muroran, Hokkaido.
Izumi Tsuji, a professor of the sociology of culture at Tokyo’s Chuo University, explained one reason more men in this age group were resorting to violence was that their work was becoming “very stressful” and they had limited free time.
