Odd

“I get the sense that people no longer respect the dead. It’s disturbing.”

Mobile phone shutter noises have gradually increased in volume to counter the dark art of upskirt photography, but as one avenue has closed, another appears to have opened, with photography of the dead now a growing trend amongst Japanese phone wielding photographers.

Yet despite the concerns of the lady quoted above, and her worries that “the deceased would never want their faces photographed,” she appears to be behind the times somewhat, with social commentator Toru Takeda claiming, “Some can’t grasp ‘reality’ unless they take a photo and share it with others … It comes from a desire to keep a strong bond with the deceased.”

An assertion that may well hold some truth, but with mobile technology now allowing an array of alterations to be made to a photo, it arguably depends on what kind of images are being shared.

As it’s a fine line between the respectful.

And the perhaps not so respectful.

After equipping his shoes with nails back in June, and fulfilling his desire to “injure the legs of a woman with a good figure” by repeatedly kicking a young lady in the calf muscles, Seitaro Kasai finally found himself in court yesterday.

Yet after declaring that the 32-year-old’s actions were “selfish and mean crimes in which the defendant gratified himself with sexual excitement from seeing women suffering”, Tokyo District Judge Yasutsune Kawada let Kasai off with a 2 1/2-year prison sentence — suspended for 5 years.

However perhaps not wanting to be regarded as a complete soft touch, Judge Kawada did order the confiscation of Seitaro-san’s shoes. Two pairs of them no less, sending out a firm message to modified footwear maniacs throughout the length and breadth of Japan.