One thing that really struck me about the recent murder of a young woman in Kawaguchi City, Saitama, is how her neighbors seemed happy to go on TV and talk about it. One man said he heard a loud banging, and a woman screaming for help, which begs the question: What did he do?
Given that the woman's body wasn't found until a worried coworker came to check two days later, his answer would have to be that he did nothing. He didn't go investigate, he didn't even call the police, he did nothing. And now she's dead.
This isn't the only example of its kind. Last year in Osaka, a woman was approached by a man on a train, aggressively groped, then dragged away to the toilet in tears and raped, while all the passengers looked on and did nothing.
Is it too "troublesome" or "inconvenient" for people to help each other? In a society that places all emphasis on the group, and next to none on individual life, it seems so. If I find myself in danger, I'll fight back tooth, fist and claw, because I know I'm on my own, and can't rely on anyone here to help.
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