An
Aikido instructor was arrested in Tokyo for rubbing his saliva on a random
woman’s face and hair.
According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, the suspect,
Masaya Tokuda, a 28-year old Aikido instructor, was riding his bicycle on the
early morning of November 22nd in Tokyo’s Suginami Ward when he crossed paths
with a woman in her 20s who was walking home from work. As he approached the
woman Tokuda spit into his hand and then rubbed his saliva into her face and
hair as he rode past her. Tokuda fled the scene without saying anything.
Police
were able to identify Tokuda thanks to footage obtained from a nearby security
camera. Tokuda is being charged with assault, which he has admitted to saying “Various
things (in my life) have been stressing me out (lately) and that caused me to
do it.”
Police
are also looking into a similar incident that occurred in the same area in October.
According to the Aikikai Foundation (the Aikido organization
Tokuda works for), Tokuda became an employee at the Aikido World Headquarters (Honbu
dojo), which is located in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward, 10 years ago. He possesses a
4th degree black belt and has taught Aikido to children and university students
in various different locations.
Techniques in Aikido generally focus on redirecting the
energy from your opponent’s attacks and using it against them. Given that this
guy is a 4th degree black belt it’s safe to assume that he both knows this and
is also quite good at actually doing it. In fact, it seems that he is so good
at it that he was applying the teachings of Aikido to his daily life. What
police don’t understand is that Tokuda was simply redirecting his stress into
his spit filled hand and then redirecting that stress all over random women’s
faces. In all seriousness though, although in a sense that may actually be what
he was doing, that doesn’t excuse his behavior. Obviously, he needs to find
some better way to deal with his stress. Like for example, taking up a martial
art. Perhaps Aikido?
Here is a recreation of this story brought to you by TomoNews Japan.
