{"id":441067,"date":"2026-05-23T04:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T04:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/441067\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T04:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T04:10:12","slug":"japanese-tourist-sentenced-after-punching-sitting-on-wife-at-queenstown-campground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/441067\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese tourist sentenced after punching, sitting on wife at Queenstown campground"},"content":{"rendered":"

First published on \"NZ<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Japanese<\/p>\n

\nJapanese tourist Takahide Nishio outside the Queenstown District Court.
\nPhoto: NZME\n<\/p>\n

A Japanese tourist was celebrating his second anniversary with his wife when they got into a fight over a passport and he punched her.<\/p>\n

Takahide Nishio then shoved his wife, Takako, before dragging her along the ground and then sitting on her for 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

The couple, who are from Kyoto, Japan are travelling in a campervan around New Zealand.<\/p>\n

But on 5 May, the day of their second wedding anniversary, the pair got into an alcohol-fuelled argument while in Queenstown.<\/p>\n

Now Nishio has found himself in the Queenstown District Court being sentenced for a charge of assault on a person in a family relationship and a charge of resisting police.<\/p>\n

The tourist, who does not speak English, was supported by a Japanese interpreter via video.<\/p>\n

According to the summary of facts read out in court by Judge Mark Williams, the couple were staying at a Queenstown holiday park.<\/p>\n

“You two argued over a passport. You punched your partner on the shoulder, you then pushed her with open palms,” he said.<\/p>\n

“You then grabbed her jacket and pushed her on to the ground. You dragged her along the ground before sitting on her for about 10 minutes.”<\/p>\n

Onlookers called police and when they arrived Nishio resisted arrest by holding his arms across his chest to avoid being handcuffed.<\/p>\n

“You then head-butted the window and kicked the door of the police car,” Judge Williams said.<\/p>\n

In a letter to the court, Nishio said he regretted his actions and was sorry for the pain he had caused.<\/p>\n

“Your reaction towards the police was a result of you panicking because you do not speak English. You apologised to your partner and to the other guests of the campground,” Judge Williams said.<\/p>\n

Nishio acknowledged he needed professional help with regard to alcohol and also needed help to deal with his emotions.<\/p>\n

“You want to offer your apologies to everyone who’s been involved.”<\/p>\n

His wife also provided a letter to the court which said she was sad, angry and upset with her husband.<\/p>\n

His bail conditions imposed on him last week meant the couple had to be separated for the week.<\/p>\n

This had left the wife feeling isolated, Judge Williams said.<\/p>\n

“I accept that has been stressful for both of you.”<\/p>\n

Judge Williams imposed a good behaviour bond and, if Nishio was to offend again while in New Zealand, he could be resentenced on the two charges.<\/p>\n

Nishio would make a $500 donation to Women’s Refuge and continue travelling with his wife.<\/p>\n

They are in the country until 13 June when they plan to head to Australia.<\/p>\n

– This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First published on Japanese tourist Takahide Nishio outside the Queenstown District Court. Photo: NZME A Japanese tourist was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-441067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}