A “technical trainee” (技能実習生) from Vietnam has been arrested on suspicion of robbery and attempted murder in Asagiri-cho (a small community near Hitoyoshi). According to the report, a women was attacked with a knife and severely injured but, thankfully, is expected to survive. The accused technical trainee may indeed be guilty but I was appalled by TKU’s coverage of the arrest. They didn’t even bother to use words like “is accused of” or “is suspected of” or “according to so-and-so he . . .” when describing the crime. They just said “He did this, and then this,” etc. and then finished the report with a sentence about how the police are looking into the motive (for the crime that TKU has already rendered their verdict on). According to this and other reports, the accused person has not admitted anything.
“Innocent until proven guilty” (suitei muzai; 推定無罪) is supposed to be a key principal in Japan’s judiciary system but it seems as though TKU doesn’t think the principal applies to journalism. Or, perhaps they see it as something that can be dispensed with if the accused is foreign.
If you understand Japanese, you can check out TKU’s video yourself at the following address.
https://www.tku.co.jp/news/あさぎり町強盗殺人未遂事件%E3%80%80ベトナム国籍の男/
By the way, here’s a link to the government’s page of the trainee system:
http://www.jitco.or.jp/english/overview/itp/index.html
– Kirk
