Centuries-old records of crimes, often blamed on alcohol, exhibited in Japan's Chiba Pref.
SODEGAURA, Chiba -- Records of crop thefts and crimes blamed on alcohol are among Edo-period (1603-1867) documents on display at a museum in this eastern Japan city, hinting that society is not much different centuries later.
The exhibition, whose title roughly translates to "Village life and serious incidents: Exploring case records from the Edo period," is underway at the Sodegaura City Local Museum in Chiba Prefecture and will run until July 21, shedding light on village life during the Edo period through old documents related to criminal cases. Admission is free.
The Mainichi Shimbun spoke to Kumiko Kirimura, 58, a curator at the museum who planned the exhibition and deciphered the old documents, for insights on the event. Below are excerpts from the interview.
Mainichi Shimbun: Why was the exhibition organized?
Kumiko Kirimura: Our museum has about 90,000 old documents entrusted or donated by families in the city, and we wanted to create an exhibition that would engage visitors. We chose incidents as the theme, which would likely interest many people, displaying around 80 documents related to the cases.
MS: How were incidents resolved back then?
KK: In farming villages of that era, much reliance was placed on discussions. When a crime occurred, village officials acted as mediators between the perpetrator and the victim to seek reconciliation. If unresolved, the matter was brought to the feudal lord's office.
MS: What types of crimes occurred?
KK: The documents on display mainly date from the late Edo period. Repeated famines and disasters left people exhausted, leading to burglaries, robberies and the like even in the seemingly peaceful farming villages of Sodegaura. Theft of crops was an issue back then, just as it is today.
One document (from 1796) is titled "ginmi negai." In it a village head in Kisarazu (today a city neighboring Sodegaura) appeals to government authorities to punish a bamboo shoot thief. It describes a case in which a farmer was caught on the spot after breaking into the village head's bamboo grove and stealing 40 to 50 shoots. But the thief escaped while being transported, and the village head became the victim of theft again.
What surprised me was the large number of incidents claimed to have been caused by "the influence of alcohol." There was a case where a man committed "outrageous acts" against a maid on an errand. A letter dating back to 1756 from the man and his relatives to the maid's master states, "We humbly accept your early settlement of the matter, agreeing that it was due to alcohol." And the case was closed.
For victims, having terrible incidents dismissed on the grounds that they were "due to alcohol" would be infuriating.
MS: What did you learn about society back then?
KK: I felt that the continuity of families and the village's peace were considered paramount. In a case involving the mysterious death of a village official, the head of the village prioritized the succession to the deceased official's family headship, and sought withdrawal of the complaint, stating in an 1840 document, "He had a habit of climbing trees when drunk, so I think he fell and froze to death." Perhaps the village head wanted to settle the family matter quickly rather than prolonging the investigation.
There is also a document dating to 1810 suggesting that the village bore the compensation costs for a farmer who filed a suit over damaged property, likely to resolve the issue swiftly.
MS: What are your impressions from reading many old documents?
KK: The ways people confronted incidents and turmoil felt very real. Though old documents appear as mere old paper, they are incredible sources filled with the thoughts of people from those times. I'd like to shed light on the many individuals who laid the foundations of the region by introducing these old documents.
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The Mainichi
a day ago
- The Mainichi
Centuries-old records of crimes, often blamed on alcohol, exhibited in Japan's Chiba Pref.
SODEGAURA, Chiba -- Records of crop thefts and crimes blamed on alcohol are among Edo-period (1603-1867) documents on display at a museum in this eastern Japan city, hinting that society is not much different centuries later. The exhibition, whose title roughly translates to "Village life and serious incidents: Exploring case records from the Edo period," is underway at the Sodegaura City Local Museum in Chiba Prefecture and will run until July 21, shedding light on village life during the Edo period through old documents related to criminal cases. Admission is free. The Mainichi Shimbun spoke to Kumiko Kirimura, 58, a curator at the museum who planned the exhibition and deciphered the old documents, for insights on the event. Below are excerpts from the interview. Mainichi Shimbun: Why was the exhibition organized? Kumiko Kirimura: Our museum has about 90,000 old documents entrusted or donated by families in the city, and we wanted to create an exhibition that would engage visitors. We chose incidents as the theme, which would likely interest many people, displaying around 80 documents related to the cases. MS: How were incidents resolved back then? KK: In farming villages of that era, much reliance was placed on discussions. When a crime occurred, village officials acted as mediators between the perpetrator and the victim to seek reconciliation. If unresolved, the matter was brought to the feudal lord's office. MS: What types of crimes occurred? KK: The documents on display mainly date from the late Edo period. Repeated famines and disasters left people exhausted, leading to burglaries, robberies and the like even in the seemingly peaceful farming villages of Sodegaura. Theft of crops was an issue back then, just as it is today. One document (from 1796) is titled "ginmi negai." In it a village head in Kisarazu (today a city neighboring Sodegaura) appeals to government authorities to punish a bamboo shoot thief. It describes a case in which a farmer was caught on the spot after breaking into the village head's bamboo grove and stealing 40 to 50 shoots. But the thief escaped while being transported, and the village head became the victim of theft again. What surprised me was the large number of incidents claimed to have been caused by "the influence of alcohol." There was a case where a man committed "outrageous acts" against a maid on an errand. A letter dating back to 1756 from the man and his relatives to the maid's master states, "We humbly accept your early settlement of the matter, agreeing that it was due to alcohol." And the case was closed. For victims, having terrible incidents dismissed on the grounds that they were "due to alcohol" would be infuriating. MS: What did you learn about society back then? KK: I felt that the continuity of families and the village's peace were considered paramount. In a case involving the mysterious death of a village official, the head of the village prioritized the succession to the deceased official's family headship, and sought withdrawal of the complaint, stating in an 1840 document, "He had a habit of climbing trees when drunk, so I think he fell and froze to death." Perhaps the village head wanted to settle the family matter quickly rather than prolonging the investigation. There is also a document dating to 1810 suggesting that the village bore the compensation costs for a farmer who filed a suit over damaged property, likely to resolve the issue swiftly. MS: What are your impressions from reading many old documents? KK: The ways people confronted incidents and turmoil felt very real. Though old documents appear as mere old paper, they are incredible sources filled with the thoughts of people from those times. I'd like to shed light on the many individuals who laid the foundations of the region by introducing these old documents.
Japan Today
3 days ago
- Japan Today
Kilmar Abrego Garcia returned to U.S., charged with transporting people in the country illegally
By ERIC TUCKER, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, LINDSAY WHITEHURST and BEN FINLEY Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation to El Salvador became a political flashpoint in the Trump administration's stepped-up immigration enforcement, was returned to the United States on Friday to face criminal charges related to what the Trump administration said was a massive human smuggling operation that brought immigrants into the country illegally. His abrupt release from El Salvador closes one chapter and opens another in a saga that yielded a remarkable, months-long standoff between Trump officials and the courts over a deportation that officials initially acknowledged was done in error but then continued to stand behind in apparent defiance of orders by judges to facilitate his return to the U.S. The development occurred after U.S. officials presented El Salvador President Nayib Bukele with an arrest warrant for federal charges in Tennessee accusing Abrego Garcia of playing a key role in smuggling immigrants into the country for money. He is expected to be prosecuted in the U.S. and, if convicted, will be returned to his home country of El Salvador at the conclusion of the case, officials said Friday. 'This is what American justice looks like,' Attorney General Pam Bondi said in announcing Abrego Garcia's return and the unsealing of a grand jury indictment. A court appearance in Nashville was set for Friday. Abrego Garcia's attorneys called the case 'baseless." 'There's no way a jury is going to see the evidence and agree that this sheet metal worker is the leader of an international MS-13 smuggling conspiracy,' attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said. Democrats and immigrant rights group had pressed for Abrego Garcia's release, with several lawmakers — including Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, where Abrego Garcia had lived for years — even traveling to El Salvador to visit him. A federal judge had ordered him to be returned in April and the Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal by directing the government to work to bring him back. But the news that Abrego Garcia, who had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs, was being brought back for the purpose of prosecution was greeted with dismay by his lawyers. 'This administration ... instead of simply admitting their mistake, they'll stop at nothing at all, including some of the most preposterous charges imageable," Sandoval-Moshenberg said. Ama Frimpong, legal director with the group CASA, said Abrego Garcia's family has mixed emotions about his return to the U.S. 'Let him talk to his wife. Let him talk to his children. This family has suffered enough,' she said. Sandoval-Moshenberg said Abrego Garcia is one of the first, if not the first, person released from a notorious prison in El Salvador, though he was later imprisoned at another facility. 'So it's going to be very interesting to hear what he has to say about the way in which he was treated,' the attorney said. The indictment, filed last month and unsealed Friday, lays out a string of allegations that date back to 2016 but are only being disclosed now, nearly three months after Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported and following the Trump administration's repeated claims that he is a criminal. It accuses him of smuggling throughout the U.S. thousands of people living in the country illegally, including members of the violent MS-13 gang, from Central America and abusing women he was transporting. A co-conspirator also alleged that he participated in the killing of a gang member's mother in El Salvador, prosecutors wrote in papers urging the judge to keep him behind bars while he awaits trial. The indictment does not charge him in connection with that allegation. 'Later, as part of his immigration proceedings in the United States, the defendant claimed he could not return to El Salvador because he was in fear of retribution from the 18th Street gang,' the detention memo states. 'While partially true — the defendant, according to the information received by the Government, was in fear of retaliation by the 18th Street gang — the underlying reason for the retaliation was the defendant's own actions in participating in the murder of a rival 18th Street gang member's mother," prosecutors wrote. The charges stem from a 2022 vehicle stop in which the Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected him of human trafficking. A report released by the Department of Homeland Security in April states that none of the people in the vehicle had luggage, while they listed the same address as Abrego Garcia. Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime, while the officers allowed him to drive on with only a warning about an expired driver's license, according to the DHS report. The report said he was traveling from Texas to Maryland, via Missouri, to bring in people to perform construction work. In response to the report's release in April, Abrego Garcia's wife said in a statement that he sometimes transported groups of workers between job sites, 'so it's entirely plausible he would have been pulled over while driving with others in the vehicle. He was not charged with any crime or cited for any wrongdoing.' Abrego Garcia's background and personal life have been a source of dispute and contested facts. Immigrant rights advocates have cast his arrest as emblematic of an administration whose deportation policy is haphazard and error-prone, while Trump officials have pointed to prior interactions with police and described him as a gang member who fits the mold they are determined to expel from the country. Abrego Garcia lived in the U.S. for roughly 14 years, during which he worked construction, got married and was raising three children with disabilities, according to court records. Trump administration officials said he was deported based on a 2019 accusation from Maryland police that he was an MS-13 gang member. Abrego Garcia denied the allegation and was never charged with a crime, his attorneys said. A U.S. immigration judge subsequently shielded Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador because he likely faced persecution there by local gangs. The Trump administration deported him there in March, later describing the mistake as 'an administrative error' but insisting he was in MS-13. Even if Abrego Garcia is convicted of the charges announced Friday, the Trump administration would still have to return to a U.S. immigration court if it wanted to deport him to El Salvador, Sandoval-Moshenberg said. He also expects the case in Maryland to continue as the federal judge there considers whether the administration obeyed her orders to return him. Abrego Garcia's return comes days after the Trump administration complied with a court order to return a Guatemalan man deported to Mexico despite his fears of being harmed there. The man, identified in court papers as O.C.G, was the first person known to have been returned to U.S. custody after deportation since the start of President Donald Trump's second term. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The Mainichi
5 days ago
- The Mainichi
Teacher contributed to bullying by mocking student at east Japan junior high: report
OKEGAWA, Saitama -- A teacher making fun of a student with stutter was part of the reason why classmates started bulling the student, a recently disclosed report on a serious bullying case at a junior high school here pointed out. The report, released by the Okegawa Municipal Board of Education in Saitama Prefecture, was compiled by a third-party investigative panel on bullying targeting a student at a municipal junior high school. It said the former student was subjected to at least five incidents of bullying by multiple classmates while he was enrolled there from the 2019 to 2021 school years. Specific acts included making fun of how his shouts sounded during physical education class, harassing him over how he sang "wrong" during singing practice, and stabbing him in the leg with mechanical pencils multiple times. The student ultimately stopped going to school due to the bullying. The report singled out the teacher who taught Japanese to the former student when he was in his first and second years, recognizing that the teacher "mocked and laughed (at him)." It specifically mentioned the teacher's actions of "mimicking the former student's stutter and associated behaviors, persistently picking him in class and touching his body in front of classmates," as contributing to the bullying. The report also pointed to a lack of coordination within the city education board. The former student's mother consulted the board's school affairs division in November 2020 regarding the bullying and the teacher's inappropriate behavior. However, this information was not sufficiently shared, and as a result "the recognition of the bullying was delayed (across the education board)." The lack of cooperation was attributed to a vertical division of responsibilities -- the school affairs division handles personnel and staff guidance, while the school support division is responsible for student guidance and bullying issues -- contributing to a "lack of a shared perspective of working together to solve the problem." The school support division did not start investigating the bullying before the spring of 2021, and it was not until August 2023 that the education board officially recognized the case as a "serious incident" under the Act for the Promotion of Measures to Prevent Bullying. The report concluded, "From the outset of learning of the bullying case, the education board should have responded while going beyond the boundaries of the divisions." In response to an inquiry from the Mainichi Shimbun, the education board said it takes "the report's stance (that the teacher's actions contributed to the bullying) very seriously" and has instructed principals at municipal elementary and junior high schools to thoroughly share information about the case and take measures to prevent recurrences. Reflecting on the failure caused by the divided organizational structure, the board established a new position, "school education supervisor," starting in the 2024 academic year to strengthen cooperation between the two divisions. The former student and his family have filed a lawsuit against the city of Okegawa and the teacher with the Saitama District Court, seeking approximately 44 million yen (around $307,700) in damages for emotional distress caused by the teacher's inappropriate conduct.
