Well, this was unexpected…I’m sure many of you by now have heard the news that hit the internet world yesterday. Yes, apparently it is indeed true, J’s Racing President Junichi Umemoto hit someone with his car and then attempted to leave the scene. While I’m not going to really comment on the details of the situation, it’s a serious reminder how precious human life is and how quickly things can change. I mean, Tokyo Auto Salon had just passed and everything for J’s Racing was going smoothly and then one fateful night, something crazy like this happens. It was not a good idea on his part to attempt to leave the scene after and according to the story, he was worried about the consequences of his actions and panicked. We should all be weary of the things we do and how they affect the lives of others around us. I honestly don’t even know what else to say about the whole thing because I am just as shocked as all of you. You obviously can’t tell how someone would react to doing what he did so it’s unbelievable how someone can go to being the head of a company one minute, and then being arrested for attempted murder the next. I don’t know how strict the judicial system is over in Japan or what’s going to happen to him so we will all have to sit back and wait for the news. In China, they probably wouldn’t even really give a shit because it’s so over crowded there that they don’t really have much regard or care for human life, shit..they probably wouldn’t even mention it and it wouldn’t be news. Whatever happens happens…It’s a shame that something like this occurred and if it were me, I would have at least left a note…..oooookay, too soon, haha. Anyays, here’s what happened….

Quoted from GTchannel.com…

J’s Racing President Arrested for Attempted Murder

According to Japanese websites, J’s Racing president Junichi Umemoto has been arrested for attempted murder.

Full translation of:http://news.tv-asahi.co.jp/news/web/html/210124004.html

The police have arrest a 43 year old man related to a hit and run incident which happened in downtown Osaka. The suspect arrested for attempted murder is Junichi Umemoto who is a auto repair shop director.  Late night on Jan 22, while driving a car, he hit a man walking and tried to leave the scene.  Eiji Fujikawa, 39 years old, a colleague of the man held onto the mirror of Umemoto’s car.  Umemoto continued  to drive and dragged him approximately 100 meters before Fujikawa let go.  Fujikawa-san broke his skull is now unconscious and in critical condition.  The suspect is saying “I was scared of repercussions and kept on going.  I didn’t mean to kill him.” On his own blog Umemoto introduces himself that he has entered over 100 official races and is an active driver.

All you J’s Racing fans, do not worry though…the company isn’t going anywhere and despite what people say, no, if you buy J’s products you won’t be supporting “an attempted murderer”. Here’s a statement that J’s Racing posted up today…

January 25, 2011

J’s Corporation
C.E.O  Hisaaki Murakami

To all the parties concerned:

This statement is prepared in response to the news “Junichi Umemoto Arrested” reported on the media.

We sincerely regret and apologize for all the trouble we caused to our customers and business acquaintance. At the same time, we earnestly hope a speedy recovery of the injured party.

As of now, we have not obtained the complete information and we are unable to report all the detail of the incident. However, it is a fact that Mr. Umemoto has been arrested and has been questioned by the police.

Upon this development, the board of directors removed Mr. Umemoto from the C.E.O and have elected Mr. Hisaaki Murakami as the replacement. The boards also have elected Mr. Masafumi Yagi as the general manager to succeed Mr. Murakami.

Starting today, with this new management, we resume the regular operation and make utmost effort to avoid the similar trouble to our customers, clients, and the business associates.

We are determined and committed to do whatever necessary to restore the trust from you.

We greatly appreciate and look forward to your continued support and patronage.

I actually had a chance to meet the new head of J’s Racing, Hisaaki Murakami, at an industry party during SEMA last November in Las Vegas and he seems like he has a good head on his shoulders so I’m sure J’s Racing will continue to be at the forefront of the industry and shouldn’t see any drastic changes due to the recent events. Umemoto may have been the President of the company at the time but there’s a committee of people around him that also have a huge part in the company so there’s absolutely no reason why J’s would take a step back from this.

There’s actually a couple of reports I saw on J’s official site but they’re PDF files in Japanese so I cannot translate them, but you get the idea. The company will continue moving forward with new management so they will not be directly affected by Umemoto’s actions.

Anyways, everyone be careful out there and try to make good decisions. Life is a precious thing and you just never know when or how it can change in a split second…