Naked man from Spain jumps into Japan's Imperial Palace moat

Tokyo Times reports that a man took off his clothes and jumped into the Imperial Palace moat to retrieve a bag, and ended up getting into a tragicomic tussle with the police. More photos and videos at the link. Tokyo Imperial Palace pandemonium

[Anonymous #1 11:24 on Tue, Oct. 7]

This man is my new hero.

[DeWynken #2 11:25 on Tue, Oct. 7]

NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!!

[grimc #3 11:27 on Tue, Oct. 7]

Note that the Tokyo police are using a medieval polearm--I don't know what it's called--with a large U-shaped end, designed to control an unruly person, and NOT a taser.

[Lucifer #4 11:38 on Tue, Oct. 7]

I am concerned over this current trend of increasing the difficulty of satisfying masonic hazing rituals.

[gnosis #5 11:39 on Tue, Oct. 7]

@1 - LOL. This guy is my new hero!

[pepsi_max2k #6 11:41 on Tue, Oct. 7]

naked moat man is my hero. bring on the memes.

[Wigwam Jones #7 11:44 on Tue, Oct. 7]

I don't know what the thing with the hoop on it is, but the other JP is carrying a bo, and he's holding it in perfect guard position for bo-bo kumite. I doubt naked guy had a chance to do, er, whatever he was planning to do.

[MarlboroTestMonkey7 #8 11:44 on Tue, Oct. 7]

Gone into tussle with a katana held between his teeth would have been more appropiate.

[FreakCitySF #9 11:47 on Tue, Oct. 7]

THX1138 meets Marlon Brando!\

http://fusionanomaly.net/thx1138.html

[ohnonichole #10 11:48 on Tue, Oct. 7]

are we 100% sure this isn't some wacky new japanese game show? catch the naked man?

[El_Cid #11 11:54 on Tue, Oct. 7]

The really, really sad thing here is that this guy probably thought it would be really embarrassing to be walking around Japan with wet clothes.

Good choice he made! No embarrassment from wet clothing now!

[grimc #12 11:56 on Tue, Oct. 7]

@WIGWAM

From the video, it looks like the hoop thing with yellow stripes is actually something that El Ci-my-junk was swinging at the cops. Maybe a chain post?

[Antinous / Moderator #13 11:58 on Tue, Oct. 7]

Sonnō jōi

[bakermiller #14 12:00 on Tue, Oct. 7]

The hoop thing is a traffic barrier thats sits on top of orange traffic cones.

[Anonymous #15 12:04 on Tue, Oct. 7]

British, apparently.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/3152239/British-man-goes-skinny-dipping-in-Japanese-emperors-pond.html

The Japanese TV networks will hunt him down and make him a star, no doubt.

[WarEagle #16 12:17 on Tue, Oct. 7]

kudos to the tokyo police. This guy was throwing rocks and charging police, i wouldn't have been surprised if the headline would be much different in the states..say for example in the washington D.C. reflecting pool...

"Metro Police shoot suicidal naked man in deadly confrontation"

[jetsetsc #17 12:23 on Tue, Oct. 7]

Picture of the year.

[Bionicrat2 #18 12:34 on Tue, Oct. 7]

A shield? I never would have thought of that as defense against a large naked man. I guess it shows my lack of security training.

[Wigwam Jones #19 12:39 on Tue, Oct. 7]

@ #17 Bionicrat2

A shield? I never would have thought of that as defense against a large naked man. I guess it shows my lack of security training.

For not letting his junk touch you when you tackle him - use it to hold him down on the ground.

[I have no mouth and I must scream #20 12:45 on Tue, Oct. 7]

@ 3
that polearm is a Sasumata
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasumata
and it is apparently making a come back

@17
my guess is that the shield would be used more for blocking as a barrier

[Anonymous #21 13:14 on Tue, Oct. 7]

Asszilla!

[Gary61 #22 13:22 on Tue, Oct. 7]

fave quote:
Naked Moatjumper says: "I LIKE SUSHI!"

[blatantdisregard #23 13:47 on Tue, Oct. 7]

I like the look on the guy's face in the middle of the background. He looks quite amused by the whole thing.

[Johnny Cat #24 13:55 on Tue, Oct. 7]

Oh yeah, that guy in teh background is definitely enjoying a zen moment.

[technogeek #25 14:00 on Tue, Oct. 7]

Sorry, don't buy it. Taking off most of your clothes before jumping in moat to retrieve a bag I'll buy. Underwear? I say that bag was pushed.

[VICTOR JIMENEZ #26 14:08 on Tue, Oct. 7]

So that guy is Spanish, English or just from Ibiza?

[VICTOR JIMENEZ #27 14:11 on Tue, Oct. 7]

Whait! It´s definitively spanish, his name seems to be Gerardo.

As seen on:

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc3ZS3Q61hE[/url]

[Anonymous #28 14:18 on Tue, Oct. 7]

Queue The Benny Hill Music!

[Lizzle #29 14:28 on Tue, Oct. 7]

It's a good day when I'm completely distracted from looking at an oddly hairless naked Spaniard just by the expressions on the faces of the amassed ranks of the Japanese police.

That is *so* not a sentence I ever imagined typing before today.

[SomeGuy #30 14:54 on Tue, Oct. 7]

Hey. I think he's wearing one of these: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/06/artificial-foreskin.html

[TK #31 15:14 on Tue, Oct. 7]

Now that's performance art!

[nanuq #32 15:23 on Tue, Oct. 7]

I like how some people in the crowd are filming the whole thing. I wonder how many times we'll see this on Youtube? And from how many different angles?

[Sproogle #33 15:25 on Tue, Oct. 7]

#20 was right on. Check out the last paragraph:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancatcher

[A New Challenger #34 15:28 on Tue, Oct. 7]

Careful! He's armed!

[DMcK #35 15:41 on Tue, Oct. 7]

Now all somebody needs to do is 'shop in some ape faces and BA-ZAM! Naked Spaniard = Charlton Fucking Heston

[Anonymous #36 16:42 on Tue, Oct. 7]

1. He is BRITSH, lives in Spain but he isn't spanish. Please correct that mistake.
2. if the police would just left him alone, he might have just got bored and left...

[Jesse in Japan #37 17:26 on Tue, Oct. 7]

@3: It's not just the police that use those. They have sasumata at just about every elementary and secondary school in Japan in case some wacko with a knife comes onto the school grounds. At my school we even had a drill where they demonstrated how to use them.

[icky2000 #38 17:43 on Tue, Oct. 7]

I hope that if I ever go crazy and run naked in a moat I first get in better shape.

[Modusoperandi #39 18:00 on Tue, Oct. 7]

They're just glad that he's not Godzilla.

[taj #40 19:22 on Tue, Oct. 7]

What you can't see in the photo:

1)It's the naked Brit who's swinging the black and yellow pole. (with little loops on the end to fit over traffic cones, to cordon off areas). The police man on the right used his shield well to deflect the hit.

2) The satsumata is being held by the young officer on the left.

I am really annoyed that while this was happening, no one sitting at home watching it on the telly bothered to phone and let me know about it. I could've easily popped over during my lunch break and watched the action live myself.

BBC video here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7656537.stm

[Wigwam Jones #41 19:31 on Tue, Oct. 7]

@ #40 taj

What is the difference between a tsuku bo satsumata and a standard bo used in bo jutsu, if you happen to know? To me, the staff looks the same.

[taj #42 19:45 on Tue, Oct. 7]

Wigwam Jones,

I don't happen to know. (And I misspelled sasumata above with an extra "t" in the middle! Oops!) I'm guessing from the words that bo jutsu is simply "stick arts". The satsumata that the young officer on to the guys left is wielding is not simply a stick for swinging and parrying, but has the U shap implement attached, which is used to pin a person against a wall, the ground, etc.
I've only had a really good look at the old Edo-era ones. They were spiky, barby, natsy things that would do a lot of damage whist catching and pinning a person. The one in the photo looks like it has a very shallow "U" shape, which would keep a person beyond arms length (knifing distance) but without doing to much damage to the nutter in question.

Perhaps Jesse will have more insights.

[taj #43 19:55 on Tue, Oct. 7]

Contemporary sasumata: roughly US$50-100. (The lighter weight aluminum ones being the most costly). Available in a range of attractive colors. http://neji.web.infoseek.co.jp/sasumata.htm

[Wigwam Jones #44 20:00 on Tue, Oct. 7]

Oh, I see now, thanks! I had to go back and look at the photo again - I didn't see the 'U' shaped thing on the end. Interesting device. Seems it could have a lot of application in a society that has few guns, but some problems with knife-wielding criminals.

[Antinous / Moderator #45 20:03 on Tue, Oct. 7]

He looks oddly familiar.

[Takuan #46 20:15 on Tue, Oct. 7]

http://www.tomholland.tv/Plan9/Plan9-TorJohnson.jpg

[Ugly Canuck #47 20:17 on Tue, Oct. 7]

I've said it before, if you are going to do something crazy, you may as well do it naked.
It's kinda polite, in that it puts others on notice right away, as it were.

[Takuan #48 20:26 on Tue, Oct. 7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodegarami

[Takuan #49 20:29 on Tue, Oct. 7]

and to segue from sleeve entanglers, consider a time when police could not slay drunken samurai and had no tasers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jutte

[ill lich #50 20:36 on Tue, Oct. 7]

"Hey buddy, you might want to have a doctor check out those huge moles on your leg!"

[kelciekelcie #51 21:05 on Tue, Oct. 7]

I found it ultimately amusing and sad at the same time.

[Ugly Canuck #52 03:27 on Wed, Oct. 8]

Yes Ill lich, good advice, as the moles are just where they'd be difficult for the guy to inspect or to see them himself.

[Kieran O'Neill #53 04:45 on Wed, Oct. 8]

#18: Like Taj said in #40, the guy with the shield used it to deflect a blow. (photo in link)

[planettom #54 05:49 on Wed, Oct. 8]

Note to vacationers:
What happens in Japan doesn't stay in Japan.

[Kieran O'Neill #55 06:27 on Wed, Oct. 8]

Oh noes. I just read the caption in the Metro online for that picture:

"The naked man attacks the Japanese police with his long stick".

I can tell you that wasn't the caption in the print version!

[pepsi_max2k #56 07:31 on Wed, Oct. 8]

Are we totally sure this wasn't Homer again?

http://www.simpsoncrazy.com/episodeguide/7G09.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/46/SimpsonsMPG_7G09.jpg

[Anonymous #57 07:40 on Wed, Oct. 8]

The best part of the photo is that the Japanese police seem to have specialized tools for handling naked people without actually touching them.

[I have no mouth and I must scream #58 15:04 on Wed, Oct. 8]

@48 Sodegarami
Takuan if only he had sleeves

[Anonymous #59 21:55 on Fri, Nov.13]

That black/yellow stick the naked guy is wielding is a traffic-control barrier. They put a couple of traffic cones up, then loop the stick on top of them.

Fun Fact: the schools here also have those satsuma sticks for use in case a pervert invades the school. I call 'em Pedo-Tridents.