What sort of action are you looking for? While inexcusable behavior on the pusher's part, this seems like a pretty minor case of assault (about as minor as it could get) resulting in a pretty minor injury (a single, small bandage and likely some bruising to boot, hence the limp). Even in the ultra-tort-mania US, I have a hard time imagining the police doing more than filing a report for a situation like this unless there are significant medical bills involved.

I don't get that at all... Yeah, giving someone a shove is the most minor case of assault imaginable, and it's understandable for the police to dismiss it...

But pushing someone down a staircase can result in them being paralysed or killed. Pushing someone down a staircase is almost attempted murder.

If someone deliberately tried to kill me, I think I would likely lose my mind. If the police wouldn't act, and if there was no way to remove this person from your life, then you'd be forced to take matters into your own hands...

If this was at work, you'd immediately have to go to the highest authority you can and report to them that a co-worker has been bulling you and it's climaxed with a potentially deadly assault. If they then failed to act, well, you could either pack up and leave, or put a billiard ball in a sock and wait for this person to go to the bathroom...

If it wasn't deliberate, you could go and confront them and explain that they could've easily killed you with that stunt, and if it ever happens again, then you'll <insert ultraviolence here> to them

I had a supposed-friend once pull a stupid stunt that they knew could've very easily got me killed, but they did anyway just for fun, revealing their true personality. Needless to say after that I simply cut them out of my life and never contacted them again... However, my instant reaction at the time was to give them an open-hand slap, resulting in a sting for a few minutes (no wounding). They reported this "assault" to the police and I was forced to go and apologize in front of a magistrate for it (without a chance to explain myself), pay a fine, and attend anger management classes -- under an intimidating police interrogation, I was offered that "bargain" and threatened with worse if I tried to defend myself in court.

Another time when I was younger, I got mugged by a gang of 5 while walking through the city late at night. I had no money, and snapped my bank card in half when they started dragging me to an ATM... So they punched me down and stomped on my head (again, something potentially deadly). However, when I reported this to the police, along with full names and descriptions of the muggers, they told me it wouldn't be worth them investigating and I should just take this as a lesson not to walk dark streets at night...

So -- given my two experiences with the police and justice, I don't have much faith in them either

I am going to give you the absolute sum of my distilled wisdom garnered from having spent 20 years in prison.

Do not look for justice to be fair or even to be administered.

Perhaps he was just trying to be funny, like this dude:

Unexpectedly funny, indeed

Ppl who put others at risk trying to be funny.. One thing that really pisses me off is screaming at my ears, I have 3 different noises in my head already due damage from loud sound, I just cant stand it (when I was a baby a huge sound speaker exploded near me). Then they try to "scare" you with a close scream..what a fun joke, trying to make you deaf.

Well either

1) They are afraid of him so they won't tell more to the police

2) They hate you

Life isn't fair, if you try to do something yourself you're gonna get in a lot of trouble.

Can we get the story about what happened before the push?

@Hodgman

I think you're reading more into the story than we know at this point. Here's my reasoning:

-The unanimous opinion of witnesses was that L.Spiro was not pushed down the steps. Pushed while near them, yes. Pushed towards them, yes. But it doesn't sound as though he was standing at the top of the stairs and then shoved down them.

-L.Spiro isn't treating this like anything near an attempted murder, and the significance seems to be more personal and cautious than fear-based and punitive.

-The injury is minor. Maybe that's luck, but it's more plausible that the staircase was not that tall and the push not so violent.

It still was a shitty thing to have happen, and the pusher is a shitty person for having done it. But if the intention were to cause serious harm, then the pusher is really incompetent because that wouldn't be hard to do with stairs in the mix.

From the information avalable this sounds unprosecuteable. What would you have the police do to the pusher that might realistically happen? It's conceivable that there's some sort of massed behavior leading everyone to undervalue what happened, but at this point Occam won't let me go there.

After keeping an acquaintance apprised of the situation and after the police contacted him for his side of the story, basically the consensus is that his side of the story has some holes in it that make him the suspicious party, however when it comes down to the final act of him pushing me down stairs, there are no witnesses (although there are witnesses seeing him pushing me until that point) so it boils down to his word against mine.

I have been advised to get a medical certificate, which I probably will—I will need it for my leave of absence from work anyway.

But in the end nothing can really happen.

Can we get the story about what happened before the push?

Do not misunderstand, but he owns a bar just outside my room.

I say not to misunderstand because I am not a bar-goer. A friend introduced me to the place about 3 years ago because they play American rock music, but I’m really not into smokey environments etc., and I very rarely go there to drink. I used to play piano there and he (the owner) has been interested in having me do some magic shows for 50/50 profits. He’s also invited me to join his band as a pianist but I declined on the grounds that I’d really freeze up if I had to play for a live audience.

So that is what I mean when I say we have been on good terms until now.

On the day in question I did not go there to drink, but reluctantly I did have 1 (one) drink (under pressure from them). Not enough to get drunk even by a long shot.

When I was paying I was trying to ask him something (I could explain but I would have to go into our detailed history (his and mine)) and I made a mistake in my Japanese.

He got angry and pushed me once, at which point I realized I had made a mistake in language (I didn’t realize at first).

I re-approached and apologized while trying to explain that I had made a mistake in my Japanese.

He wasn’t having any of it. From there is when he started pushing repeatedly (with witnesses as I said) and the rest is history.

If someone deliberately tried to kill me, I think I would likely lose my mind. If the police wouldn't act, and if there was no way to remove this person from your life, then you'd be forced to take matters into your own hands...

Not a viable option in Japan. Japanese laws are literally retarded, and any physical violence from a foreigner towards a Japanese means you get kicked out of the country.

L. Spiro

Isn't that a case of "Wa"? (seeking harmony).

After keeping an acquaintance apprised of the situation and after the police contacted him for his side of the story

Wait, are you saying you told an acquaintance about it, and had the police hear him? Don't do that. Producing a false witness is a really, really stupid idea.

Perhaps we need dashboard cameras, except for people...

-The unanimous opinion of witnesses was that L.Spiro was not pushed down the steps. Pushed while near them, yes. Pushed towards them, yes. But it doesn't sound as though he was standing at the top of the stairs and then shoved down them.

This is a bit misleading, but it is my own fault.

I should have been a bit clearer.

The stairs are around the corner, meaning no matter what he did, once we turned the corner we were out of line-of-sight from anyone else.

When I said no one saw him pushing me down the stairs this is what I meant.

I’m not saying anyone witnessed him not pushing me. To be clear, everyone saw him pushing me towards the stairs, but once we turned the corner we are out of sight from everyone else. After that they can not confirm nor deny.

So no witness will say I was “not” pushed down steps. If that is how you interpreted it then my apologies. The stairs were around the corner and at that point there were no more witnesses, which is exactly why I can’t pursue charges. That is what I meant by it being his word against mine.

L. Spiro