Japanese DJ Kills Rowdy American Patron in Tokyo Club.

During most of my time spent living in Tokyo I worked at a nightclub in Azabu. Azabu is a fairly chic upscale community that is home to a few equally upscale restaurants, bars and nightclubs. One of the more famous Azabu clubs, Yellow, I blog about frequently. Due to Azabu’s close proximity to Roppongi, it is not uncommon to find foreigners sampling Azabu’s nightlife offerings, especially at places like Yellow, Super Deluxe, Warehouse, Heartland or any number of their many neighbors. I’m not taking any cheap shots at Roppongi, because the Roppongi today is not the Roppongi of yore, but let’s face it, there are more gaijins there than any other part of Tokyo, or Japan for that matter and it’s still can be a fairly rough part of town.

Despite the close proximity to somewhat troublesome Roppongi, rarely does anything ever happen to break the tranquility of Azabu. That is until last Wednesday night. Today I found a report in Japan Today about a 29 year old DJ killing a rowdyAmericanpatron while allegedly attempting to subdue the man after finding him shoving his way through the crowd at approximately 10:40PM.

Japanese people are notorious for minding their own business. Incidents of chikans, perverted men, molesting women on crowded subway cars are proof of that. I remember while living there, I was in a bar in Ikebukuro with some of my Japanese friends when a man began to smack his girlfriend around. As quickly as I stood up to stick my big American nose in my friends pulled me back down and said “that’s a private affair”. Considering those things, it’s easy for me to envision people standing around in mute witness while this tragic event took place without intervention.

The report says the DJ, Atsushi Watanabe, 29, choked and hit Tuker Richard Scott, 47 (probably Richard Scott Tucker, the Japanese always put last names first), from behind and the victim died an hour later at a local hospital. I don’t know. It would take some heavy duty beating to kill a man, especially if it was only with your bare hands. Is seeing someone shoving people out of their way reason for homicide?

As a former nightlife employee, DJ and impresario I can say that I’ve always looked out for my patrons and I can relate with Mr. Watanabe’s claim that he was just trying to protect the clubgoers. In nightlife, your patrons are your bread and butter and without them you have no livelihood. Furthermore, your regular patrons are something comparable to family members. I can’t say for certain what was the case here, obviously, not being there or knowing anything about the victim or his killer but, one would have to suspect there may possibly have been other sociological factors involved besides a guy wanting to play hero.

There have been recent crimes committed by American servicemen in Okinawa and other parts of Japan that have Japanese people, rightfully, up-in-arms. The Interracial dating that often occurs between foreign men and Japanese women, in a largely homogeneous society may tick some people off. My girlfriend and I have received a few less than friendly looks on the rare occasion in japan and here in the U.S. as well. Anti-American sentiment? Social Darwinism? Protecting people close to you? One psychologically f’ed up individual who happened to be a DJ?

The world may never know for certain but, such issues may have played even a subtle role. The DJ said is was accidental. Still something like this grabs my attention and makes me wonder how such an event could play out in the most unlikely place, in a night club on a week night in beautiful, quiet, fashionable Azabu, Tokyo. It’s a very unfortunate event that brings to mind that old nightlife truism, a DJ’s place is behind the decks.

Source: Japan Today.