I hate hearing about stuff like this, because it could have been prevented. As you may be aware, a young Nova employee has been found murdered in the home of a Japanese man, who managed to elude police when they arrived at his home. My sympathies go out to the family of Lindsay Ann Hawker and I do hope that they catch this sicko soon. Nova has given a statement that they don't believe that the suspect is one of their students and that she may have been giving private lessons to the guy. I'm afraid that Nova execs will use this as an excuse to further their "non-fraternization" policy between teachers and students. (For a change, I'm not blaming Nova, it could have been any company that she had worked for.)
My advice to any of you out there who might be coming to Japan (or who are already here) is, if you plan to give private lessons to anyone, do so in a public forum, such as a Coffee shop or rent space at a library. Most of the time, these lessons are not permitted by your boss but you definitely should let someone know where you are going. Japan IS a relatively safe country but I have heard of some cases of assaults taking place, let alone murders. Please use common sense! (Just so you don't think that I shouldn't advise on this, remember that I spent 20 years in Social Work, including working with molesters and rapists, abusers and abusees, psychos and sickos, liars and cheaters, etc. In my Welfare days, we often had to go to the homes of individuals of questionable character and we always had a back-up plan. And to be frank, I don't really trust anyone anymore, let alone a weirdo who invites one back to his place.)
For a UK perspective on this case go here and for a Japanese perspective go here. If you'd like to follow this story and see a few videos of the news coverage, go here. (Warning: the first video is "Foxworthy" in its sensationalism. The second one will make you deeply feel for the family. And the third one shouldn't even be there.)
There are way too many unanswered questions wrt this incident. I hope some are answered, I hope the guy gets what's coming to him and I hope it doesn't happen again.
1 comment:
This is a sad story and as a fellow educator in Japan my thoughts go out to her family and friends. However, I do believe there is more to come out about this story. I have talked about it in my blog article and made comments on a couple of details that have been mentioned by the media, but not questioned or investigated by reporters as of yet.
The BBC has already put a story online entitled "Is Japan safe for foregners?". You don't have to read the article as I can give you an answer here. Yes it is! It's most likely safer than your home country (unless you live in Iceland or Scandinavia somewhere). Sure there is crime, but there is crime everywhere. I have never once felt threatened walking around in Japan, unlike numerous times back in England.
Post a Comment