New York
Back when people used to read newspapers, they called it a ‘human interest’ story. Now it appears as just another statistic. The know-nothings on social media, who express utter drivel on a daily basis, will have pretty much ignored it, but a dreaded pro-Biden sheet actually published the full story.
A young Japanese man came over to the Bagel from Tokyo to make it as a jazz pianist, and that he did. He started a trio of his own and toured with several bands until the fateful night of September 27, when he rode the New York subway after a video shoot. Tadataka Unno is now 40, and a new father, but he most likely will never play an instrument as a professional again.
Coming off the subway at West 135th Street, the Japanese musician was surrounded by a group of ‘young people’ (the media over here tend not to describe criminals by their race or ethnicity). The group beat the musician for no known reason, fracturing his right collarbone, injuring his arm and rendering his right hand useless. He now uses his left hand only and the fuzz has made no arrests although the beating was all caught on camera. Throughout the ordeal he remembered being called ‘Chinese’ or ‘Asian’ plus a profanity. Young people beating some stranger is hardly a crime the cops will bother with in Harlem nowadays, thanks to Mayor De Blasio’s and Gov. Cuomo’s woke liberal policies. Why bother to arrest anyone who will walk after 10 minutes is the police thinking. Bail is no longer required for lesser crimes, such as looting. Perpetrators simply have their names taken down, and are given a future court date. Then they are free to walk.
Tadataka has lived in Harlem for 12 years. His mother had repeatedly warned against his move to the States because of the dangers of life in a dump like New York City. But this is where jazz piano thrives and where the apparently very gentle Tadataka settled. He was very popular with his fellow musicians, or ex-fellow musicians, I should note. Readers of this column are familiar with the affection and admiration I have for the Japanese. They are brave, tough, clean, extremely polite, but most important of all they cherish their ancestors and respect traditions. They are the exact opposite of the scummy cowards who attacked him — eight vs one being the kind of odds so admired by Hollywood war movies. Oh yes, I almost forgot, there were lots of bystanders during the attack but not a single one came forward to help. This is the Noo Yawk we all love so much, the city of legend that never sleeps, a place inhabited by cowards, criminals, freeloaders and freaks, as far as I’m concerned.
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Yet again, never mind. But I do. Only in today’s anti-white climate could such a story be turned on its head in social media posts about pro-Trump white supremacists. It makes one wonder what would have happened had social media been around in 1945. Would inmates in concentration camps and the gulags have been accused of torturing their guards? Tadataka is on very strong painkillers and he cannot hold his baby son in his arms, let alone play the piano. He and his wife are thinking of returning to Japan.
And speaking of the Land of the Rising Sun, I’ve been back in the dojo training hard with only two other men in the room. It’s nice to feel bruises again after months of Zoom karate, something the martial art has turned into in America because so many get hit and then sue. After a particularly bruising session last week, I dined with Freddy Gray and Zack Christenson in an Upper East Side bistro and we sort of drank the place dry. Around these parts at least 95 percent of the people wear masks outside and take them off once inside. Go figure! More indoor dining followed chez the president of Pugs club, Prince Pavlos of Greece, with father-in-law Bob Miller and fellow member Arki Busson also in attendance. Actually, the house belongs to Bob, and he pointed out that his neighbors are the Frick museum, Bill Cosby and Jeffrey Epstein. ‘That’s three out of four good guys,’ I said, because Cosby got a very raw deal after paying off a blackmailer. Pavlos and his wife M-C have really beautiful children, and it got me thinking. If it weren’t for Phil the Greek, I hate to imagine what the British royals would look like. I might be heading south with the Greek royals sooner rather than later.
Much about the city I once loved now just plain stinks. They’ve even started to riot on Fifth Avenue, with office towers 85 percent empty. No one will be paying the taxes that keep a large proportion of Noo Yawkers in readies once tenants walk away from leases. De Blasio has turned the streets over to criminals, homeless lunatics and to mountains of uncollected garbage. The lockdown has crippled small businesses and the rich have moved to the Hamptons and Palm Beach. Sales of houses in the Hamptons have skyrocketed, $973 million for the third quarter alone. The city is no longer fit for humans, and somebody should have warned poor Tadataka. But BLM is thriving.
This article was originally published in The Spectator’s UK magazine. Subscribe to the US edition here.
