"Girl" at school was 39-year-old man

[CGowen]

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese man was arrested for trespassing this week after turning up at a high school dressed in a girl's uniform and a long wig, local police said.

Thirty-nine-year-old Tetsunori Nanpei told police he had bought the uniform over the Internet and put it on to take a stroll near the school in Saitama, north of Tokyo, on Wednesday, the daily Asahi Shimbun said.

When students standing outside the gates started to scream at the sight of him, he dashed inside the school grounds, hoping to blend in with the crowds of teenagers, the paper said.

They also screamed, forcing the man to flee, losing his wig in the process. A school clerk pursued him and stopped him at a nearby riverbank, the paper said.


...

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2257905520080222

[Heidi]

1. With all due respect to the OP, I find this _much_ more sad than funny.

Why would anyone scream at the sight of a person dressed as the "opposite" gender? There's no indication that this man presented a threat to anyone. From the article, it sounds as though he was on public property, to "take a stroll NEAR the school." He wasn't actually on campus or in a classroom.

Cross-dresser and/or transexual does NOT equal "pedophile," so why is this even a Reuters feature?

[CGowen]

2. But he ran into the school after they screamed outside... n/t

[Heidi]

7. Well, yeah, seeking shelter when one is made an object of irrational fear is SO newsworthy.

:puke:

[CGowen]

11. He certainly had to realize that the outfit wasn't working,

so running into the school was not a good idea.

Running away back home would be a reaction I would think of, or there is more to the story and we don't have the full details.

[Chovexani]

3. Trannies are funny

Or didn't you get the memo. :eyes:

Actually I think the reason for the article was less about transphobia and more about racism. I detect a faint hint of "OH, THOSE WACKY JAPS". It's sadly quite common, especially on the internet. People (usually ignorant gaijin types--think your more obnoxious anime fen) will look at some of the more extreme things that go on in Japan as evidence that the entire country is a freak show and Japanese people are just players in it for ridicule.

Thus we get stories like this, and about panty vending machines, etc. and any discussion on the article inevitably turns to how supposedly "perverse" the Japanese are. Someone will inevitably bring up tentacle porn.

At this point I could come up with a drinking game, I've seen it so many times.

[SteppingRazor]

4. Kind of a two-way street, no?

I mean, you just made an argument about racism against the Japanese that included the phrase "ignorant gaijin" for chrissake!

But, be that as it may, it certainly doesn't excuse Western stereotypes of Asians, and you definitely have a point in bringing them up. It seems that, if you look for it, you can catch a "wacky Japanese" story on the news wires at least on a monthly basis.

[Chovexani]

12. The term was used ironically, in jest. Are you familiar with Japanophiles?

The Ignorant Gaijin is the Japanophile equivalent of the Ugly American. It's a caricature.

If you want to see one in action, head to the Cherry Blossom festival if your local botanical garden has one. Inevitably there will be a white kid in a Naruto headband showing off how awesome he is by speaking fanboy Japanese at some poor Asian person who may or may not be a native Japanese speaker. :P

[SteppingRazor]

23. Yeah, I totally get the type you're talking about.

And, hell, just last year, I was at THE Cherry Blossom Festival, in D.C., with upwards of a million people. And sprinkled throughout the crowd, there they were -- those teens in Naruto headbands you mentioned, or else vaguely creepy older guys wearing Sailor Moon T-shirts. Terrifying stuff. ;)

[npk]

5. I think most teenagers...

would scream at the sight of a man in his 30's running into a school dressed in female clothing. What was the purpose of dressing up like a female and going to a school in the first place. It's not like this guy was a student at the school. That would be one thing. This guy was 39. Clearly he had some issues and probably some more devious intents involved.

[Heidi]

8. Do you think, based on what you read, that this guy presented a genuine threat to anyone?

That's a yes or no question, by the way. :hi:

[tigereye]

16. possibly - why should she have to say yes or no?

it sounded like he wasn't just walking by.... he was dressed like a schoolkid.


it sounds more like a question of kid's safety, than an attempt to limit someone's freedom's, although I think both sides could make an argument of their perspective.

[Heidi]

25. Because he was either or a threat, or not a threat.

There's no evidence to suggest that cross-dressers in general present harm to kids. Sounds like the guy was indulging a secret desire to "blend in" and got freaked out and sought shelter in the nearest building, a school. There's not a shred of evidence in the article to suggest that this guy compromised kids' safety. But there's plenty in the article to suggest that irrational fear accelerated the situation. :hi:

[MsKandice01]

26. But what if he really was a threat??

If a 40-year-old man came onto your daughter's school grounds dressed as a teenage schoolgirl, you wouldn't be concerned in the least bit? ANY 40-year-old man walking into my child's school trying to "blend in" with schoolgirls sends up a HUGE red flag for me, dressed as a woman or not.

[IndianaJones]

27. of course you are right. nt.

[Mugu]

28. Only pretzel people wouldn't be alarmed about

A 40 YO guy hanging around a school.

Regards, Mugu

[tigereye]

35. but people on the internet don't get to decide that...

the people dealing with the situation do.


How many adults harbor a secret desire to "blend in" with school children? Regardless of how they are dressed?

I'm being serious here.

The issue from where I sit doesn't seem to be whether he was a cross-dresser or not, but the frame of mind of someone, any adult, who dresses up as a kid, near a school. That might suggest possible "issues" for any adult. JMO

[suninvited]

32. There just isnt enough information in the story

for us to know his intent.

We can only speculate, and when it comes to something like this it is easy to imagine the worst. I have known a lot of cross dressers, none of them harmful. It is most definitely something that is very misunderstood.

[tigereye]

9. that's what I was thinking....

[Heidi]

10. You agree with the "devious intents" part?????

Sounds like the guy got screamed at while indulging his own personal fetish and sought shelter. That doesn't imply a "devious" intent, in my opinion. :shrug:

[tigereye]

13. I guess my work makes me suspicious of adults who want to enter

schools when they shouldn't, regardless of how he was dressed. Occupational hazard, I suppose.


on edit, he was wearing a school uniform.... as a parent, I would probably wonder if an adult trying to pass as a kid tried to enter my kid's school.


:hi: Heidi!

[Chovexani]

15. I agree.

More details are needed. Of course, to some people crossdressing inherently implies "devious" intent, no matter what the context.

[tigereye]

17. yeah, I could see that he might have been just walking by

but the schoolgirl uniform might have made people wonder....


yeah, it is one of those situations where it's easy to speculate.... without really knowing what he was thinking... etc.

[Heidi]

18. That's the part that worries me, Chovexani.

From all that's written in the news article, this was a cross-dresser indulging his fantasy of blending into a school-girl culture. He was no more of a threat to those school girls than any other school girl peers are. There's no devious intent in desiring to blend in with those with whom we identify. Where's the threat? There is no genuine threat besides teens and Reuters being beset by irrational fear. This story just screans PRURIENT INTEREST by the readers and outraged. :grr:

[Chovexani]

21. It's sad.

But people are ignorant and love to think the worst about "freaks".

Personally I think the real freaks are the people who are terrified of anything not considered "normal" by our effed up world's standards.

[Chovexani]

19. How long has it been since you've been a teenager?

At least in the US, they'd most likely laugh at the guy and call him a freak.

Pedophiles are generally smarter than this. This guy was likely a harmless schoolgirl fetishist (as in, he wanted to be one, as opposed to being with one--there IS a difference). Note that he didn't actually go inside the school until after the kids started screaming. He probably panicked because he was seen.

What I think is devious is the fact that people are leaping onto the fact that he was crossdressing and automatically assigning ill intent because of it (because, really, it is the only thing we have to go on; the article is very short on details). I think it's disgustingly typical and shows society has far more "issues" than this guy ever had.

[Heidi]

22. Thank you. EXACTLY.

This article obviously was written, short of detail, to appeal to prurient interests. :puke:

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[npk]

14. Not enough information from the story, but...

"Thirty-nine-year-old Tetsunori Nanpei told police he had bought the uniform over the Internet and put it on to take a stroll near the school in Saitama, north of Tokyo, on Wednesday, the daily Asahi Shimbun said."

-------------------------------

He goes to the trouble to purchase the uniform that the female students wear at the school and then just decides to take a stroll by the school which he has absolutely no business at, considering that he is neither a student or parent of a student. It sounds to me like that man had some plan in mind. Either he wanted to see if he could blend in for the purposes of hanging out with kids, which is a little creepy and wrong, or he was trying to see if he could pass for a female in the minds of the male kids, and why would a 39 year old man want to pass as a female to a male student. Maybe for the purpose of luring one of the students into a relationship, which in this country would constitute "Enticing a minor." Either way this guy deserved what he got.

[Heidi]

20. It sounds to me like he wanted to blend into a culture with which he secretly identifies.

How would that make him any more threatening than any "school girl" peer would be to another?

What's with all of your "creepy and wrong" and "luring" conjecture? There's no evidence of any of that. :sheesh:

[One_Life_To_Give]

31. Ding, Ding, Ding

I agree this guy likely has a fantasy about being a teenage schoolgirl. In and of itself no big deal.

[ScreamingMeemie]

24. And your thoughts are exactly why so many are wrongly accused,

berated and even convicted in our country. There is no innocent until proven guilty.

[Deep13]

29. Apparently, not all sexual predators are diabolically brilliant. nt

[CreekDog]

30. I think the question we should be asking is

Where is Temeah? :shrug:

[npk]

33. He's 39 years old

This isn't some teenager or twenty-something that is rebelling against society or wants to be accepted for who he is, this is a perve , plain ans simple. That fact alone that he is 39 and went to a school of all places, instead of a racetrack for example- assuming they have racetracks, should be enough to convince anyone that this individual was looking for a lot more than just acceptance from his peers.

[One_Life_To_Give]

34. Lacking objective judgement perhaps

But no evidence has been presented to assume he intended anything more than to walk on bye. Living out some fantasy of his own, principly by himself.