jarkolicious

Sasebo Sailor Found Guilty of Attempted Murder

• japan

Navy MA3 Richard Hahn, who was stationed at Sasebo Naval Base, was sentenced to five years and six months imprisonment with hard labor on Wednesday, after being found guilty of attempted murder for stabbing a 25 year old Japanese woman in October 2006. The Nagasaki District Court accused Hahn of becoming enraged due to low self-esteem after the victim refused to have with him.

On Wednesday, Judge Heinai Komatsu admonished Hahn for hurting the woman after she refused to have sex with him, according to a local newspaper. The judge accused Hahn of becoming violent after “his self-esteem was damaged,” the Nagasaki Shimbun reported.

I apparently missed this story the first time that it was published. It is, as with the countless others, another shining example of how many of today’s younger generation of sailors are incapable of respecting the well being of others.

The more I read stories like this, the more convinced I am that the Navy is in dire need of implementing a cultural awareness training program for those sailors that have been assigned overseas. When I first arrived in Japan back in 1990, via meeting the USS Blue Ridge in Bahrain, I was not required to attend cultural training of any type. Though I ultimately did not end up in any trouble, I wonder if the lack of education about the local culture contributes to a misunderstanding of the Japanese, leading the young sailors to engage in activities that they otherwise would not.

No matter what happens, the scandalous activities that these sailors seemingly find themselves in each month are becoming far too commonplace, and need to cease immediately. The destructive attitudes that are on continuous display will only serve to hinder Japanese-American relations more than anything, and may ultimately lead to a more pronounced distrust of gaijin than already present in local society.