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Last Modified 21/09/04
Affairs in Kotobuki
A murder case that the homeless were killed in Yokohama.
There was a case that boys attacked the homeless from the
end of 1982 to February in 1983. Three were killed and many others
were injured. The murderers were boys between 14-16 years old and
most of them were junior high school students. Victims were day
labourers in Kotobuki, who had to sleep in the open because of
unemployment or illness, even during freezing winter nights.
"It was fun," "I cleaned up the town," "I can't
understand why we were arrested," said boys on investigation. "I just
disposed of rubbish," and actually they killed the homeless and dumped
the bodies into a dustbin.
This case became widely noticed by public. The press
mostly reported that this incident was caused by juvenile delinquency
or the problems of their family background. However we disagree with
the point of view. It is necessary to think why the victims had to
sleep in the open and why the homeless became targets of the assaults.
At that time, a 16-year-old student in a high school
wrote to a newspaper. Her letter was as follows: The boys
are judged and criticized as they murdered the weak persons. First of
all, it is a matter of course. However I have always seen station
staffs pouring water over the homeless in the station and the police
violently putting them out of the park. Isn't it right that adults
should consider themselves before they just regard the boys as
villains? We think such a viewpoint is
important. This murder case was caused by a discriminative manner of
looking at day labourers and the homeless.
The
change after the case.
Our society has been dramatically changed after the case,
there were the "bubble economy" and the collapse, an ageing society,
internationalization, inflation. As for the circumstance of the
homeless, the exclusion has become stronger. For instance, the number
of parks has decreased, the homeless is violently shut out from parks,
subways, shopping streets and stations. Development of Minato Mirai
21 is also one reason of the exclusion. Partitions have been put on
benches in the town in order to prevent the homeless from lying down
there.
Children are still annoying the homeless with
firecrackers and fireworks. The homeless probably think, "If we fight
back against the children, we will be the villains," because they
understand how the society has looked at them. While they hesitate to
act, children continue assault. Discrimination against the homeless
becomes ingrained. Mr.Nobuta's case and the situation in Kawasaki are
thought as symbolic matters. Nothing has been changed. How can we
change the conditions that someone has to sleep in the open? At
least, how can we construct environment in which one can safely sleep
in the open.
We think that such a murder case has to be prevented. After the
case, people began to say "We never allow another assault against the
homeless from now on" and then many activities were started. "Kotobuki
Supporters' Club" started patrol all year round. The activity has been
expanded to Kawasaki, Totsuka, Sagamihara and Fujisawa. We cannot
solve all problems at once, so we are going to set our hand to them
gradually.
In Kawasaki, the place where bread coupons are provided
has had to be moved 4 times because residents have been against it. In
past Etto activity, residents in Kotobuki opposed to construct a
prefab in the park and hired guards. Their consciousness that the
homeless must go out of their sights causes violence and
exclusion. The homeless have lost their place through this
campaign. Assaults on the homeless in other cities, murders in Osaka
and San'ya have been occurred in the line with the situation of
Kotobuki.
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