Tuesday, July 10, 2007

In March, 22-year-old Nova teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker was brutally murdered in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture. Tatsuya Ichihashi remains the Japanese police's only suspect and has still not been found.

In support of Lindsay's family and the Japanese police in their hunt for this man, Being A Broad has launched a T-shirt campaign. We hope that enough people — men and women, Japanese and foreign — will wear this T-shirt so that this man's face is seen by as many people as possible in Japan on a daily basis.

As Lindsay's family says: "The more people that wear the T-shirts, the more support that we will feel is being shown for us. Lindsay was a teacher who loved her life in Japan. She would have been first in the queue to buy and wear such a T-shirt for another victim. She had a strong sense of justice, and would have done anything she could have to have helped others."

The Japanese words on the T-shirt roughly translate as "Until this man is caught, I won't sleep at night," which can be interpreted in many ways: Perhaps you are that bit more nervous at night knowing this man has not been caught; perhaps you are a father worried about your daughter; perhaps you want to make a statement against all violent crime toward women. For men and women, Japanese and foreign, this T-shirt can have many meanings.

What wearing this T-shirt will definitely mean, however, is that you are playing a part in assisting Lindsay's family in keeping this man's face right where people can see it. Wear it at the gym, out shopping, on the train — anywhere you will be seen by lots of people.

There are many things you can do to help the campaign: buy and wear a T-shirt, buy lots of T-shirts for us to give to people to wear, volunteer to help with the campaign, get your company involved, and pass on this information to all your foreign and Japanese friends living in Japan.

Please note that these T-shirts are being produced at cost price — from $13.99 — and neither Being A Broad, Caroline Pover, nor the Hawker family are receiving any income from the sale of these T-shirts.

To order T-shirts in a range of styles and sizes, go to www.cafepress.com/beingabroad. To volunteer, please e-mail caroline@carolinepover.com.

(Caroline Pover, Being A Broad)

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