Top Japanese Diplomat Assaulted by Woman in Oregon in Anti-Asian Attack: Docs
Snejana Farberov, New York Post, July 20, 2023
The top Japanese diplomat in Oregon was shoved to the ground in Portland without any provocation by a homeless woman with a history of violence toward Asian people — and authorities are investigating that attack as a hate crime
Yoshioka Yuzo, the 62-year-old consul general for Portland’s Consular Office of Japan, was walking near Southwest Park Avenue and Oak Street on June 17 when he was “jumped” and pushed to the ground, according to newly released court documents.
The diplomat, who has been at his posting in Portland since March, suffered a cut to his head and was taken to a hospital for treatment.
“The poor guy just went down,” eyewitness R.D. Lipscomb told the station KGW8. “It looked pretty bad.”
Police officers arrived to find Yuzo bleeding profusely from a wound to the back of the head. The high-ranking civil servant said he had been pushed down “unprovoked.”
The consul general’s suspected assailant, identified as 23-year-old Arissa Robinson, was found hiding inside the US Bancorp Tower a short time later.
Arissa Robinson
Robinson, who is homeless, was booked into the county jail on charges of assault and bias crime. She remained behind bars without bond as of Thursday.
The attack on the Japanese envoy was part of a “broader pattern” of Robinson committing acts of violence against people of Asian descent, according to court records.
In August 2022, she was arrested after allegedly punching a 76-year-old Asian man in the head several times and putting him in a chokehold, which cut off his air supply and prevented him from screaming for help, according to court documents cited by station KPIC.
She was arraigned on counts of strangulation and harassment, but they were dismissed in January.
A year earlier, Robinson was “flipping people off” in Portland’s China Town when she allegedly attacked a mother and child, kicking over a baby stroller with a 1-year-old inside. She was quoted as telling cops, “They were in the way so they got decked … I meant to do it.”
Robinson was arrested in that attack, but the charges against her were dropped on the same day as the counts stemming from the 2022 incident, after a judge had ruled Robinson unfit to stand trial, according to a motion filed by the woman’s lawyer.
The attorney argued that Robinson should not be sent to the state mental hospital because she did not “present public safety concerns.”
The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said the charges related to the August 2022 assault had been refiled following Robinson’s arrest last month.
