Mama's Back at Jail; Komukai Free as a Bird
My little project of extending well wishes to Dan Oniroku on behalf of his non-Japanese admirers may finally be coming to fruition.
A long time ago I put out a call for well wishes for Dan sensei on sites such as Forum Bondage and FetLife. He was already on dialysis and then came the awful news of throat cancer. I wanted to put together something to show him how much he is admired and appreciated by folks outside of Japan.
Of course, I procrastinated in the beginning. And then I waited around for some artwork to come in but that didn't really pan out. So I made my own design and had the English translated expertly to Japanese and the result was an A4 sized framed whatchamacallit that I think gets the message across nicely.
Here's a version that's easier to read.
And here are some other versions that didn't make the cut.
The biggest hurdle turned out to be actually getting the thing to Dan Oniroku. I went through three contacts I have which crashed and burned. Finally, someone was able to put me into contact with someone else and that person is in direct contact with Dan's office. I got an address for the go-between and sent the item off. With any luck, it should be in his hands in a few days.
Thanks to the sites mentioned above and thanks to the many folks who sent along their well wishes (most of whom have probably already forgotten all about this!).
Assuming Dan sensei receives our humble gift, there's no guarantee of a response. As you can imagine, Dan is not well these days. But it would be nice to put a little cheer into his life at this difficult time. That would be reward enough.
In Other News
Referring to a couple of previous posts, I am reliably informed that actress and star of Hana to Hebi 3 (Flower and Snake 3), Komukai Minako, is out of the slammer and free as a bird. A judge tossed her case out like an old rag. The reason? Insufficient evidence! Interesting as this had been my speculation since I first learned of the arrest warrant.
A lucky viewer captured Arisue Go and Komukai Minako on TV in glorious high definition back before all this drug nonsense had taken place
From what I can tell, she was freed not long after the Great East Japan Earthquake and then made a beeline for the Philippines where she had been hanging out when the arrest warrant was announced. The article I read indicated she would be seeking some type of permanent residency in that country.
Speaking of jail, this brings us to the matter of Roppongi Jail. I am also reliably informed that Jail's Mama is out of the slammer as well and back to being, well, Jail's Mama. I've also heard the prices have come down. Better get over there while it's still cheap. Relatively cheap anyway.
As for the others who were arrested, I don't have any information on them but I think it can be reasonably assumed that they were let go, too.
All in all, two bizarre cases with bizarre outcomes. That 99.8 percent conviction rate might actually drop one or two one-hundredths of a percent after all this.
Someone speculated that maybe the bastard of an earthquake had something to do with the outcomes. There is a precedent for this kind of thing. Some minor offenders were let out of jail in northeast Japan after the earthquake and tsunami. One woman quickly returned to her criminal ways (shoplifting) and got put back behind bars.
Did the same sort of thing happen with Komukai and Jail? I hope not. I would rather believe these cases went away simply because the law has no interest in victimless "crimes".
KabukiJoe
