7 comments

  • mattm 6 minutes ago
    > Kimura has told the story in Japanese interviews, and the details come from those.

    It'd be nice if the article linked to the sources. There's very little substance in this article.

  • jeffybefffy519 1 hour ago
    Somali pirates WERE fishermen before being pirates... They turned to piracy to combat other countries fishing their waters.
    • happyopossum 1 hour ago
      That’s a great story, with very little attachment to reality.
    • readthenotes1 1 hour ago
      And then they turn to piracy for its own sake because they realized how lucrative it was
    • rayiner 28 minutes ago
      [flagged]
      • ceejayoz 8 minutes ago
        > Another alternative is one that the United States and other western states are reluctant to endorse: encouraging Sharia courts inside the clan territories. Islamic Sharia courts could be a useful, vital instrument in combating piracy.

        Yiiiikes.

    • IncreasePosts 1 hour ago
      No, the pirates are organized crime syndicates. They are not the same people who were fishing the waters 35 years ago
      • pythonic_hell 5 minutes ago
        Perhaps they’re pirates because there are no other ways to maintain a living. Like fishing?
  • mikeatlas 1 hour ago
    > Both things can be true.

    Ughhh I hear this like 5x a day now. It's the new emdashery.

    • phoghed 25 minutes ago
      Damn shame how often people need to be reminded of this, I agree
    • esafak 19 minutes ago
      Por qué no...
    • helpfulclippy 47 minutes ago
      Unless someone is a structural engineer or something, I never want to hear the term "load-bearing" again.
      • victorhooi 42 minutes ago
        Aha...gold star =)...10 points to Gryffindor....well played, Sir.
  • Gensui 23 minutes ago
    Based on my research, he did not actually go to Somalia, but rather to the neighboring Republic of Djibouti.

    At the time, Somalia was extremely dangerous and under strict travel restrictions.

    Therefore, he established a base in Djibouti, which was relatively safe and hosted a Japan Self-Defense Forces base.

    He then invited former pirates and fishermen from the surrounding areas to that location.

    In reality, his approach was to provide indirect support through fishing equipment and technical training.

  • Gensui 1 hour ago
    The reason President Kimura helped the Somali pirates is that he himself is a “man who has overcome adversity”—having lost his father at a young age and struggled financially, and having hit rock bottom during the collapse of the economic bubble.

    He came to deeply empathize with them after learning that the pirates were not vicious criminals, but “former fishermen who, due to civil war and poverty, had no choice but to risk their lives as pirates just to survive.”

    Driven by his innate “profound kindness that won’t let him ignore people in distress” and his “overwhelming drive to take action—even donning a bulletproof vest himself to enter dangerous areas”—he engaged in direct dialogue with the pirate leaders and provided them with tuna fishing techniques and boats as a means of survival.

    It was not just his own self-interest, but a down-to-earth love for humanity—a desire for “everyone involved to be happy”—and an incredibly positive outlook that led him to believe “the problem can be solved by changing the system,” even in situations where anyone else would have given up.

    These qualities gave rise to this miraculous initiative.

  • samlinnfer 1 hour ago
    [flagged]
  • aha21 36 minutes ago
    [flagged]
    • brendoelfrendo 35 minutes ago
      Your racism belongs elsewhere.
      • tomrod 34 minutes ago
        Looks like a troll/alt account.