At a little after 5:00 AM on December 30th a man walking in the Roppongi district of Tokyo was hit by a man on a bicycle and died shortly thereafter.
According to police, the pedestrian, a man in his 40s, was walking along a Roppongi sidewalk when he was hit by Yu Kariwa, a 32-year old restaurant worker and actor, as he was riding home from work on a mountain bike. The impact caused the pedestrian to fall over and hit the back of his head. The pedestrian was taken to a hospital where he was confirmed to be dead. Kariwa said to police “I was distracted by the sidewalk and when I looked back up there was a pedestrian.” Police are considering this a possible case of fatal gross negligence.
Kariwa appeared in Nihon Terebi’s drama serial, “THE LAST COP,” which aired from October to December of this year.
How fast Kariwa was going is not known but even if he was moving at a fairly high speed this is still a rather frightening story and it’s a reminder that it’s definitely not a bad thing to be aware of your surroundings when you’re walking around outside. This is especially true in Japan where it is extremely common to see bicyclists sharing the sidewalk with pedestrians.
Source: Yahoo News Japan
