CHIBA — Tatsuya Ichihashi was sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday over the death of British teacher Lindsey Ann Hawker in March 2007. Ichihashi, 32, had admitted raping and killing Hawker, a 22-year-old English teacher, but said he took her life accidentally.
Ichihashi, who spent more than two and a half years on the run and had plastic surgery to evade capture—had been charged with the rape and murder of Hawker, whose battered body was found in a sand-filled bathtub.
“Six male citizen jurors and three judges gave their verdict shortly after 2:30 p.m.”
Hawker’s father Bill urged the Chiba district court to show “no mercy†and called for the death penalty—a punishment usually reserved in Japan for cases of multiple homicide.
Hawker’s parents took part in the trial of Ichihashi that took place between July 4 and 12 at the Chiba court, including taking the witness stand.
The autopsy showed that Lindsey died of suffocation, and prosecutors believe Ichihashi strangled her after the rape.
Ichihashi testified that after raping her, he bound her and spoke to her for hours, seeking forgiveness. He says she choked to death when he covered her mouth to stop her from screaming for help but he did not mean to kill her.
“I had no intention of murder, but I’m responsible for the death of Ms Lindsay,†Ichihashi said on his first day in court. “I’m the one who scared her and left her dead. I’m really, really sorry.â€
He wrote a book titled “Until the Arrest†about his life on the run and has offered the proceeds to the Hawker family, an offer they have declined.
(Anthony 36y.o. male): I personally think he should have received a harsher sentence than the one that he got. I have been living in Japan for over 8 years and feel that the justice system in Japan is more severe in punishing drug offenders, DUI (driving under the influence) than other countries. However, when it comes to punishing murderers, I think the Japanese court systems are too lenient.
Q. If a foreigner commited the crime, would the outcome be the same?
(Claire 26y.o. female): I am not really sure but it would have, of course, had more media coverage. When the media catches a story which they feel will get ratings, they can run with thereby creating a frenzy and most likely fuel interest in the case. It would then become politically motivated to procure a more drastic sentence for the defendant.
Steve Rogers volunteers to participate in an experimental program that turns him into the Super Soldier known as Captain America. As Captain America, Rogers joins forces with Bucky Barnes and Peggy Carter to wage war on the evil HYDRA organization, led by the villainous Red Skull.
Dylan and Jamie think it’s going to be easy to add the simple act of sex to their friendship, despite what Hollywood romantic comedies would have them believe. They soon discover however that getting physical really does always lead to complications.
-Learn expressions such as idioms and slang that is unique to culture, age, and business!
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–In a meeting with a new customer, XDell, Carl and Hiroshi confirm a big business deal with the purchasing manager, Susan Collins–
Susan:
Everyone is buzzing with excitement regarding the launch of our new laptop pc lines which will carry the new Intel I3 chips.
Hiroshi:
Carl and his team are going all out in making that a fast reality. We appreciate such a large order from your company.
Carl:
Since this is your first order with us, can we nail down some important details today’s meeting regarding the ordering process and timing in ?
Susan:
Well, honestly, our ordering process is a bit complicated. I would first need approval from the one more time before bringing it to top management for the green light. Then, the purchase order will be sent, provided that there are no remaining technical issues.
Carl:
So, how likely is that to cause a hitch in our deal today?
–This section will cover a broad range of different grammar rules and explanations to help you understand sentence structure and improve awareness of English grammar.
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What is the difference between “so” and “such”?
Read some of the sentences below and try to understand in which situations they are used correctly or incorrectly.
Examples of how “so” and “such” are used:
Ex:â‘
It was a great vacation. We had such a good time.
It was a great vacation. We had so good time.
Ex:â‘¡
We bought the car right way because it was so cheap.
We bought the car right way because it was such cheap.
Ex:â‘¢
I was so sleepy I could barely keep my eyes open during the meeting.
I was such sleepy I could barely keep my eyes open during the meeting.
Note: “so” is used before an adjective with no noun after the adjective
Note: “such” is used before an adjective with a noun following the adjective
What is the difference between “enough” and “too”?
Ex:â‘
Could you turn down the lights? I do not like it too bright.
Could you turn down the lights? I do not like it bright enough.
Ex:â‘¡
Do not put the vegetables in the pot yet. The water is not hot enough.
Do not put the vegetables in the pot yet. The water is not too hot.
Ex:â‘¢
They can’t get married. They are not old enough.
They can’t get married. They are not too old.
Note: “enough” is usually used before a noun: Example: enough money, enough time
Note: “enough” is usually used after an adjective: Example: old enough, experienced enough
Note: “too” is usually used before an adjective: Example: too old, or too experienced
Nuance: “enough” usually has a positive meaning while “too” has a negative meaning.
Let’s learn how to use the above words!　＜練習å•é¡Œï¼ž
Read each sentence and select which of the following choices is appropriate: so, such, such (a/an)
1. The hotel we stayed at during our vacation was _______ nice!
2. I was surprised by the size of our hotel room. It was _______ a spacious room.
3. I didn’t realize you lived _______ far from the station.
4. Had I known that you had to walk _______ long way, I would have picked you up.
5. I can’t decide what to do. It’s _______ problem.
6. The weather is ______ beautiful isn’t it. I didn’t expect it to be _______ nice day.
7. I couldn’t believe the news. It was _______ shock.
Read each sentence and write the appropriate form of the word in parenthesis with “enough” or “too”.
8. Do you have _______________ (money) to take a vacation right now?
9. He wasn’t _______________ (qualified) for the job so they didn’t hire him.
10. We should turn on the air conditioner. It is just _______________ (hot) in here.
11. The students could not understand the professor because he spoke _____________ (quickly).
12. The wallet was ________________ (big) it did not fit in my back pocket.
13. Steve did not feel _______________ (well) to go to work this morning.
14. There weren’t ______________ (cups) for everyone to drink coffee.
Answers to above sentences:
Check back next month for the answers to the above questions. （回ç”ã¯æ¬¡æœˆå·ã§æŽ²è¼‰ã—ã¾ã™ï¼‰
Last Month’s Answers: 1. think of/ think about 2. think of 3. think much of 4. think about 5. thinking about 6. think about 7. think of
TOEIC STUDY – èªè§£å•é¡ŒPart 5 &　リスニングå•é¡Œ(Part 2)
The above question may or may not be interesting for most people if they never have to speak English. However, lets take a deeper look at the importance of English or any other language for that matter when a situation arises where you may have to express your ideas and feelings accurately. Moreover, you want your ideas to be understood by others so that there is nothing lost in translation.
Imagine for a second the following situation that happened in the murder case of Lindsay Hawker where her mother took the witness stand to express her feelings in hopes that the court would punish the accused to the maximum penalty　the law would allow. When she was asked about the impact of Lindsay’s death on the family, the mother said :
she blamed herself for allowing her daughter to come to Japan. “I couldn’t take a bath for two years,” she said, apparently because of how her daughter was found.
But the court interpreter translated the phrase into Japanese as “I cannot take back the two years.”
A few moments later another misinterpretation was observed. When a prosecutor asked Julia Hawker how the heavy coverage of the case influenced the British people’s perception of Japan, she testified that it had a negative impact and many now feel “Japan was a less safe place to come.”
But the nuance of her testimony was changed when it was interpreted into Japanese: “Japan was the most unsafe place to come.”
Ichihashi’s trial is regarded as one of the first cases where a court-appointed interpreter was present for the benefit of the victim’s family, who took an active part in the trial.
Being that the prosecutors’ goal in calling Lindsay’s morther to the stand was to establish how grave a crime was and to get the jury to severely punish Ichihashi for raping and taking Lindsay’s life, the exact idea of what she wanted to expressed seemed to have been in vain.
Because no one was officially monitoring the interpretation, the mistakes were not fixed, except for one later in the day when Naoki Motoyama, a professor emeritus of Chiba University who taught Ichihashi at the university and testified for the defense, corrected an error by the court interpreter himself.
Courts should realize that the accuracy of interpretation is important for victims’ families who participate in trials to learn what happened to their loved ones. For example, the emotional words of apology and regret by defendants are a very challenging part of court interpretation, but “depending on how it is interpreted, it could be misunderstood and increase the anger among the families,” she said.
It can me noted that the criminal justice system in Japan is going through dramatic changes from the introduction of “lay judges” to including translators for the “benefit” of non Japanese speakers. However, it makes you wonder if you ever need to be part of a legal proceeding in another country if this “high level” of interpreting would be sufficient for you.. Makes you wonder?
