Getting up on My Soapbox (Nicki)

Today is a day that I am so enraged that I just can't stand it. So, I'm using this time I have away from Joshua to "Get up on my soapbox" and state my opinion about something that I heard/read the other day in our local Navy newspaper. A person wrote in to the editors complaining about having a midnight curfew for Navy personnel for the week following the murder of Yoshie Sato. Sato-san was brutally murdered at the hands of a U.S. sailor stationed at Yokosuka. The complaint writer, who happened to be another sailor, complained that the curfew is making everyone suffer because of the actions of the one murderous sailor. After hearing/reading this, I was fuming. Instead of this person blaming the criminal, he blamed Yokosuka base authorities. It just made me angry.

How about thinking about this criminal's lack of consideration of the ramifications of his actions and how his actions affected not only our small Yokosuka community, but more importantly Sato-san's family & friends, the Japanese people, and both the Japanese Government and US Government. The fact that the sailor who beat this woman to death didn't even need the money that he took, which was his excuse for confronting her in the first place. According to reports, he was just completely smashed. He had been out drinking all night and apparently the afternoon/evening before.

My Japanese neighbors, who usually have been very nice and have gone out of their way to try and speak to me & Josh in English, have not talked to me or looked at me for days. During the duration of this ordeal, even on a packed train, no one will sit beside my husband during his rush hour commute. Hopefully these small actions/behaviors will subside. It does show how saddened, angry and hurt many Japanese must feel. I can say, if the tables were turned, I would be behaving in the same manner. Many Americans reading this may think how unrational this behavior must sound. However, many of these behaviors are done in our country as well... sometimes not even consciously.

No, this alleged murderer did not take any of this into account. The curfew wasn't a punishment, it was a period of mourning and reflection for the victim, her family, and our Yokosuka-shi community. We are all part of the Yokosuka community and suffered a terrible, unfortunate, and unnecessary loss. The curfew was a tangible way for the base, as part of the community, to show that it's not just "business as usual" and that we are all affected by the murder. In my opinion, the service member who wrote in with that complaint has a serious problem if he can't handle not being able to go out and party for a few days. This blog isn't meant to "teach anyone a lesson". It's just a day when I needed to vent.