First of all. I express my deepest condolence to the Hawker family and I pray for Ms Lindsay. We all are not endowed with the ability to discern the wicked person from the people around us instantly.In a sense , our life is a continual sequence of selecting the good people from the bad.The saddest part of this incident is of course that Ms Lindsay, innocent and philanthrophic, was strangled.However, I pray that she could have handled the Japanese language better so that she could have detected this murderer's abnormality and his most wicked plan behind his conversation. Everyday I am having difficulty communicating with others and always trying to read between lines and their unexpresed inner minds.So was Ms Lindsay. Nova and her senior colleagues should have advised and dissuaded the most effectively. I and all of my family always pay our heartfelt respect to the British people, who has been enlightening Japan since Meiji era. May her soul rest in peace.

M. Kamiyama, Hamamatsu, Japan

I have lived in several different areas in Japan. I worked for Nova for over 1 year. I found overall Japanese people to be very non aggressive. This story has only been bought to attention due to the sad grissly details. There are many murders each year through out Japan, but overall they have a very low crime record with bicycle theft at the top of the list. I hope this event doesnt deter others (especially females) of traveling to Japan.
My condolences to the familes, friends and co workers.....

KG, Melbourne, VIC

Actually Lucie Blackman was English. The police were not very helpful when she went missing.

Nina, London, UK

I show a condolence for the victim and her family.

As a reference Lucie Blackman was killed by a KOREAN in Japan.
NO JAPANESE!

UT, Ibaraki, Japan

I worked for Nova for 4 years in Osaka. My experience of life as a gaijin girl is mixed. I have brilliant Japanese friends who I am still very close to, that said I feel safer in central London.
Many times in Osaka fellow colleagues would report flashings, gropings and stalkings to police there and meet indifference, and or ' you were asking for it' attitudes.

NOVA maintained a non socialisation policy with clients. Often teachers had private students, but usually did not recruit NOVA clients. In theory, the policy is designed to protect teachers however, many individuals upholding the policy ie managers, had often married, or dated their students so professionalism boundaries blurred.

The customer is always right in Japan, so that as a teacher, you may be vulnerable to a disgruntled student, even if you are not at fault, and as a company, I did not feel NOVA truly supported its staff, - english teaching is a commodity, foreign teachers are the product.

Japanese society has a skewed idea about women, and a love hate relationship with foreigners. If you are both, you may receive a lot more attention than you bargained for.

It is worth remembering also that the populace is large, and a care in the community policy is in place. Students once advised me of doctors recommending individuals with mental health issues to take up hobbies like flower arrangement, or learning a foreign language.
NOVA teachers are degree holders,not always qualified teaching personnel, therefore they may not recognise disturbed behaviour and or special needs support.

With cultural barriers a huge part of day to day living as a teacher, having adequate skills for coping with culture shock, and all the knock on effects of it, sometimes, you just don't see a threat in front of you until its too late.
My sympathy goes out to the family.

KH, London,

It makes me sad to hear about such horrible events - my prayers to Lindsay's family and friends.

It scares me to think there is such evil in the world - my prayers to all children, daughters and sons for their safety in this world.

Canada, Canada, Canada

Do you remember when an American Lucie Blackman was killed by a Japanese man in Japan? At that time, the Japanese mass media concentrated only on her being a bar hostess and her mental anxiety.

Ron, Amarillo, Texas

Saying that this raises fears for the safety of other British women in Japan is ridiculous. I've lived in many different countries and I feel safer in Japan than in any of them, including Britain. Crime against foreign women in Japan is miniscule. But no woman in any country should go to the home of someone she barely knows. That's just inviting trouble and is strongly advised against by all the English-language publications for teachers in Japan.
That said, many of the women who come here are young, it's their first time living in a foreign culture, and they behave as they do at home. They act very differently to Japanese women, and it gives Japanese men (with their sometimes bizarre views on women) the wrong impression of how they can be treated. I'm not suggesting that's what happened, but in Japan, agreeing to visit a man's house has huge significance.
Your 'shock' that she broke Nova's strict rules is funny. If she wasn't working outside Nova, she'd be unique, and broke.

TC, Kyoto, Japan

As a Brit living in Japan, I can tell you this country has a dark side. On the face of it this kind and gentle country has some serious social problems, and unfortunately this is everyday news here.

God bless Lindsay

stephen Marks, Yokohama, Japan

Groped on the train: On the 'bullet' vehicle through Tokyo the passenger content is so thick most of the time that I was going from A to B, standing all the time, crushed between about a hundred people in a compartment meant for tweny five; my glasses were knocked off and hung from one ear and I couldn't bring up me hands to hook them on again for ages. I often slept between station, sometimes held up between bodies and frequently slept past my stop or was too crushed in to get off where I needed to. Groping is not usually an option on the 'bullet' - whereas cheek to cheek is!

Derek Clifton, Andover, Hampshire, England

Chiri bean, you may live in Japan, but you are wrong about the suicide rate in Japan (though yours is a very common mistake, fostered by the media here that likes to play up the "suicide problem".)

Please see the following article for the facts about suicide in Japan:

http://www.transpacificradio.com/2007/03/15/japan-suicide-numbers-statistics/

Greg, Tokyo, Japan

To Ichi in Liverpool. Japan does have a legal age of consent - it is 18.

Ben, Tokyo,

OH please!
I am a woman living in London and know plenty of wonderful examples of chauvanistic Western men. I have also lived in Japan for 5 years, and I have to be quite honest, there are more WESTERN pigs. Sorry lads, but that was and is still my experience. I find that western men are more secretive about their chauvanistic nature and are pretty sick too but more on the down-low about their child pornography and such.

Moral of the story? Chauvanists are everywhere and so are murderers.

Charlotte, London, UK

Rest in Peace Lindsay. I keep expecting to see you walking around Nishi Funabashi so that we can arrange that drink we were always talking about. Losing you is one of the hardest things I'll ever have to do, I'll miss you sweetheart.

Tom Burris, Nishi Funabashi, China/Japan

As sad as it is , for her father to say on TV that the muderer must be a sad loner lacks respect for all the people in the world that either choose to live alone or are alone for no fault of thier own , does he think all single living people turn into murderers .

There are perverts & fiends in every walk of life , a warning here for anyone teaching abroad or planning to , not stray away from the classroom into private teaching and respect the guidelines its a risky world.

Brian Moore, Midlands, UK

Every country has monstrous criminals .
Britain has Ripper Jack.

ketty, tokyo,

I agree, this is a sad and tragic event, but do not let the Japanese who travel overseas give you the wrong picture. The Japanese society is quite bent, Iknow as I live here. With a suicide rate, one of the highest in 1st world countries and so many deaths related to children, it is one of those places you have to experience before you truly understand the Japanese.
My heart goes out to Lindsay's family and loved ones.

chiri bean, Tokyo, Japan

Poor little lady.

But don't you just wonder WHEN it's going to sink in to young women's consciousness that being in a private place with a stranger or semi-stranger, is a very dangerous thing to do?

Sad that should be true, but it IS true nonetheless.

God bless her soul, and give her family and boyfriend comfort.

S. Main, Turriff,

I think some people are clearly closed-minded when it comes to this situation! It is so sad to read these comments about what people are saying about Japan.

I am a foreigner living in Tokyo for 18 years now and things like this and the Blackman case do not happen often in this country! The Blackman case was 8 years ago. For example, how many psycho killers are in the US that kill innocent Japanese women and men for that matter? A lot. There are crazy people in each country, oh yes, even England. England just had it's recent and famous "Ladies of the night" killer who murdered more than 5 women, didn't they?

To just subject something like this to Japan is just not fair.

Chelsea, Tokyo, Japan

I worked as a Nova teacher in Japan several years ago and during my year there a number of fellow female teachers reported being stalked by Japanese men, although none experienced any violence. One teacher woke in the night to find a man had broken into her apartment. When she woke he fled through her balcony door. When she reported it to the police they failed to take her seriously as she had not been hurt, suggesting that she had perhaps lured the man to follow her or break in. The fact that fellow passengers routinely ignore it when female passengers are groped or assaulted on trains suggests the respect that is really shown towards women in Japan.

Helen, London,

Hello, I work for the same company as the young lady that lost her life. I am a senior supervisor and would like to express my extreme sadness. I did not know Lindsay personally but I have met many a good person(s) from the United Kingdom. Please express my condolences to the family and friends who live in the UK.

sensai, fujisawa, japan

This is such a sad and tragic incident, as the vast majority of Japanese people do not go about murdering English teachers.
I feel very sorry for the family, as I am an expatriate learning at a university, and I understand how it is living overseas.
I do not want people to have the impression that Japan as a whole is evil, or that it's the most dangerous country in the world or anything of the sort.

Karina, Aomori, Japan,

Ichi, you seem to belive your own words darling, what a backwards country Japan is not respecting women regardless of where they come from. There are thousands of Japanesse people in the UK and they all treated with respect , now, when we go over, it's a different story. Western women are open , respectable and sociable and like anyone in the world they should be treated with kindness and dignity.

hannah khan, london,

....something wrong with moral fabric...
needs retrospection

suresh, bglr, india

This is so sad. My thoughts go out to the devastated family.

I lived and worked in Japan for 2 happy years, and love the country and the people. Sadly, I am not entirely surprised by another incident like this. There is a lot of sexual behaviour in Japan that would be considered illegal/immoral in the west and until Japan brings this under control we will only see more of such incidents.

Steve H, London, UK

I currently work for nova. There are strict rules about seeing students socially and teaching private lessons. Thousands of single women work for nova in Japan in complete safety. Japan is one of the safest countries in the world. Meeting a man you don't know very well in his home is dangerous anywhere. My heart goes out to Lindseys family. It is an enormous loss and I cannot even imagine their grief.

Anne, Joetsu, Japan

Come on, folks, get real! You can find perverts and killers all over the world, even if you don't look for it.

If the British fear to get a job in Japan they might as well stay at home for the rest of their lives. The same applies for any other developed country where emotions are constantly supressed because of the conventions of the society.

dr. Gábor Muharos, Budapest, Hungary

Japan has no legal age of consent; it is quite common for schoolgirls to "earn" their way through college. It' s probably the most chauvanistic first world country, unfortunately those western girls foolish enough to go there do so not realising that they will be viewed by the majority as second class citizens. "After all, they're being paid for a service, so that makes them...." is the attitude. Unfortunately naivety and arrogance permeate western society, which leads to unfortunate events like these in cultures foreign to westerners.

ichi, Liverpool,

Really sorry about this one. Japan has also been the news recently with the prime minister saying that the industrial strength rape factories that the Imperial Army set up in China, Korea and other occupied territories were staffed by local volunteers. China and Korea who know the true nature of the behaviour of the Japanese occupation forces, are livid about these denials by Japan's most senior public official.

What kind of model he serves for young Japanese men in their treatment of the opposite sex must go some way to explaining things like this. Japanese women are suitably subservient and probably know how to deal with male Japanese chavinism, but oustiders or non Japanese have two marks against them, being non Japanese and then being female, in a very chauvinistic society that ranks being Japanese above all other nationalities and being a man above a woman. It's very sad, and Japan needs desperately to change and learn to respect foreigners and women. I have been here for 6 years

CB, Tokyo, Japan