Beginning with Tadanobu Bando’s provocative metaphor that the difference between a Chinese criminal and a Chinese government official is whether he wears a necktie, this article records a dialogue examining serious crimes committed in Japan, attitudes toward law and authority, and the political culture of the Chinese Communist Party.

2020-07-06
“What is the difference between a Chinese criminal and an official of the Chinese government?
After thinking about it in my own way, I reached a conclusion.
In a word, the difference is whether he is wearing a necktie.”
These were the words of Tadanobu Bando, a former detective and interpreter-investigator with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.
Naturally, this does not mean that criminals and government officials are literally identical.
It is an intentionally provocative metaphor.
Bando’s point was that the words and conduct he encountered among criminal suspects during his police career appeared, in his view, to share certain features with the conduct of Chinese Communist Party officials observed by Masayuki Takayama.
Those features included deception, arrogance, and a lack of respect for law and for other people.
An individual’s character or likelihood of committing a crime cannot be determined merely by nationality or ethnicity.
Just as a Japanese criminal does not represent all Japanese people, a Chinese criminal does not represent all Chinese people.
At the same time, discussion must remain possible regarding the effects that political institutions, education, the application of law, and structures of authority can have upon social conduct and values.
The responsibility of the individuals who committed the serious crimes discussed below must therefore be distinguished clearly from the question of their nationality.
The following continues from the preceding chapter.
The judgments expressed in the dialogue are presented as the respective views of Masayuki Takayama and Tadanobu Bando.
The remarks concerning alleged instruction by the People’s Liberation Army were information that Bando said he had heard from Wen-Hsiung Huang.
They are not presented here as independently verified facts.
Detailed descriptions of methods used to mutilate a victim’s body have also been omitted.
【Whether He Is Wearing a Necktie】
Bando
I once considered, in my own way, what the difference was between a Chinese criminal and an official of the Chinese government.
I reached a conclusion.
In a word, the difference is whether he is wearing a necktie. [General laughter]
The things they say and the ideas underlying those statements do not appear to me to be fundamentally different.
Takayama
I see.
Li Peng was wearing a necktie. [Laughs]
Alongside a lack of courtesy and an arrogant attitude, I believe that cruelty must also be considered when examining certain patterns of conduct.
One case that remains in my memory is the 2003 murder of a family of four in Fukuoka.
Three Chinese students entered the family’s home for the purpose of stealing money.
Bando
All four members of the family were killed.
One of them was reportedly subjected to an exceptionally brutal and prolonged form of killing.
Takayama
All three offenders were arrested.
Two were sentenced to death, and the sentences were subsequently carried out.
In 2009, another case occurred in Kanie, Aichi Prefecture, in which three members of a family were attacked, two of them fatally.
The perpetrator was a Chinese student who was then enrolled at Mie University.
He attempted to escape by pretending to be one of the victims, which complicated the investigation.
Another example was the 2002 attack on a married couple in Oita.
Five Chinese students and associates were involved.
The man who was killed had previously studied at a school in China.
Partly from a desire to repay the kindness he had received there, he had taken care of Chinese students in Japan.
They affectionately called him their “Japanese father.”
Nevertheless, he was killed for money.
There have been many cases that are extremely difficult to comprehend.
Bando
In 2010, a fatal stabbing involving a Chinese shipbuilding trainee also occurred in Saijo, Ehime Prefecture.
The offender was reported to have mutilated the victim’s body and removed part of it.
Professor Wen-Hsiung Huang told me that, in certain Chinese cultural and historical contexts, mutilating an opponent’s body may be interpreted as an especially forceful demonstration of hatred or revenge.
However, I should emphasize that this was an explanation I heard from Professor Huang.
To be continued.