"Throwing Fireworks at a Sleeping Homeless Man for Fun"... Japan Shaken by 'Homeless Hunting'

87-Year-Old Homeless Man Seriously Injured in Firework Attack
22-Year-Old and 17-Year-Old Arrested on Assault Charges

In Japan, a series of so-called "homeless hunting" attacks, in which teens in their teens and twenties assault homeless people for amusement, has been ongoing. Recently, an incident occurred in Nagoya where fireworks were thrown at a homeless man, leaving him seriously injured.

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According to the Mainichi Shimbun on July 11, an 87-year-old man was attacked with fireworks at around 3 a.m. on June 19 while sleeping on a sheet of vinyl in downtown Nagoya. The attack caused severe burns to his left arm. The Aichi Prefectural Police have arrested a 22-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy on charges of causing injury.

The harassment by the perpetrators began six days before the incident. Late at night, a car stopped next to an overpass, and several young people approached, making noise. Pretending to be police officers, they said, "We're police, you are under arrest," playfully lifted the sheet, then shot BB pellets with a toy gun and threw empty cans. As the man tried to escape, one of them grabbed his arm, pointed the toy gun to the man's face, and pulled the trigger. This harassment lasted nearly an hour.

The elderly man was physically impaired and had nearly lost his eyesight, making it difficult for him to resist. He asked a police officer on patrol for help at the time, but the youths left the scene after a brief investigation, without any significant consequences.

Three days later, the perpetrators threw fireworks at the man as he slept inside his vinyl sheeting. The man cried out "It's hot" and hurriedly ran out. The Mainichi reported, "The perpetrators were laughing as the man desperately tore off his burning shirt and threw it aside."

Even while a fellow homeless person was reporting the incident to the police, the young men continued to throw burning paper onto the man's sleeping area, then fled in their car before the police arrived. It is reported that the man still has a burn scar over 10 centimeters long on his left arm.

The man could not afford ongoing medical care and stopped treatment after a single visit to the hospital. Currently, volunteers visit every day to change his bandages and apply ointment. He is also unable to continue collecting discarded cans, which was his main source of income, and now needs to find a new means of livelihood.

The perpetrators proposed a settlement, but the man has so far refused. He said, "If it's just their parents handling things for them, those kids will surely repeat the same thing again."

Recurring Crimes Against the Homeless... "A Society That Tolerates Discrimination Is at Fault"

Crimes targeting the homeless have been repeated in Japan. In 2012, near Osaka Station, five homeless people were attacked by young people, resulting in one man dead and two injured. In 2020, an 81-year-old man was beaten to death by five boys in Gifu City.

Tomoshi Okuda, director of the NPO "National Homeless Support Network," pointed out, "If someone threw fireworks at a person with a disability or a child, it would have become a major issue. But when it comes to homeless people, there is a societal atmosphere that no one sees as a problem, and that is the root cause." He added, "Such incidents stem from a society that tolerates discrimination."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.