Kirk here trying to find an appropriate balance between providing information that may be of interest to Kumamoto’s international community while, at the same time, being sensitive to the rights and interests of members of that community that have been accused of criminal activity.
For the past few days, RKK has been reporting on the arrest of a non-Japanese resident of Kumamoto on suspicion of inappropriate sexual behavior at a local onsen. Until today, I decided against posting about it because I couldn’t see much value in doing so. Today, however, RKK reported that their video about the arrest has gotten far more traffic on the web than other news items. One reason may be the salacious nature of the news itself. I’m afraid, though, that another reason may be that anti-foreign denizens of the internet have taken an interest is spreading the news as confirmation of their xenophobic stance. So, in that sense, I felt that non-Japanese residents of Kumamoto should at least be aware that this sort of news is going around. According to the last report I heard, by the way, the accused person is denying the charges.