Man stabs people in Akihabara, 7 dead
A man was running around the main street of Akihabara with a knife attacking people randomly around 12:30 pm 8th of June today. 17 people have been sent to the hospital, 5 of them have already gone into cardiac arrest, a 19 year old and a 74 year old have been pronounced dead.
Gang member 25 year old Katou Tomohiro has been arrested near the scene of the crime.
Details have not been released yet at this point.
Update: Sankei news reports that a the suspect had run a truck through a red light knocking several people down before coming out wielding what appeared to be a survival knife attacking everybody he sees. A 3rd man, 47 years old, has now been pronounced dead.
Update 2: Death toll is now 6, 4 males aged 19, 29, 47, 74, and two females aged 20 and 21. Suspect says he was tired of living and hated the world and just wanted to kill somebody, didn’t matter who.
Update 3: CNN reports that 7 are now dead.
June 7th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
:(
June 8th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Every day is bad news…
June 8th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Akiba blog with the on-the-street pics of the aftermath:
http://blog.livedoor.jp/geek/archives/50670762.html
Everybody knows that intersection.
According to the NHK tv I’m watching, the count is up to five dead now. The suspect(s?) jumped out of a truck mowing down pedestrians and started the mayhem with a survival knife. One suspect that was arrested said “he was tired of life”.
This only loosely reminds me of those police patrols checking “survival otaku”-types to search if they have any weapons in their bags. I strongly doubt that this is otaku related, though.
June 8th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Argh… he kill some otakus. T_T
June 8th, 2008 at 12:41 am
My god O.O
Please tell me they’ve stopped him already…
June 8th, 2008 at 12:41 am
I wish i had been there to stop the knife stabber.
Anyway, a very sad thing indeed, considering that most otaku just don’t stand a chance against anyone, even without a knife wielding gang member.
But still 17 people wounded.
Why stab so many people anyway?
Did he hate otaku, did he just go berserko, did he think it was a nice pass-time?
I do hope the otaku i know isn’t among the victims.
June 8th, 2008 at 12:44 am
and I going there in two months….
You’d have thought that SOMEONE would have tried stopping him?
June 8th, 2008 at 2:27 am
He knew exactly that he’d have the least chance of being stopped by normal citizens until police would arrive in Akihabara, so that’s why he went there on rampage.
What an asshole, he should have gone up some yakuza district and attacked thugs patrolling the area, not the innocent otaku populous in Akiba.
June 8th, 2008 at 4:18 am
Someone’s definitely gonna blame video games, but I would blame society. Tokyo is no utopia and people are more prone to snap here than anywhere else. During certain months there would be suicides in train tracks almost on a weekly basis.
I was there just today at around 4pm. At first I thought it was just the cops cracking down on exhibitionists, but who would have guessed it was something worse.
June 8th, 2008 at 4:44 am
I mean, what the hell is with that “he is tired of living” bullshxt? Only 25 years old and he’s all tired already? Look around you BOY. There are a lot of people with far bigger problems than yours. I thought you’d graduate from emo after graduating from high school.
Why is it that this country, while being so progressive and first-world, has the sickest and most fscked up crimes???
June 8th, 2008 at 5:36 am
.. kill ppl just because tired of living ?
, fck, just die already !
June 8th, 2008 at 5:45 am
A female friend of mine is visiting Tokyo right now, I hope she’s alright. Are there any reports of foreigners being hurt?
June 8th, 2008 at 6:40 am
No reports of any foreigners being involved yet, so probably not.
June 8th, 2008 at 6:43 am
@Anonymouse
Go read up about anorexia, at the film supersize me, and conisder that over-eating, undereating, and all these problems, stem from a life that takes things for granted.
Depression, in the words of sum, is a disease only appliable in first world, second world countries….
~
What scares me the most is the possible revealation that the individual involved in this incident could’ve been an otakun. That would REALLY make things look bad.
June 8th, 2008 at 8:43 am
It looks like the death toll is six men, one woman, not five men, two women.
June 8th, 2008 at 8:56 am
japs can suck dick and lick lolipops
by the way that guy had no style, if it was me I would find some pregnant asian in the subway and kick her in the stomach 100 times, then run
June 8th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Where is my friend Tyronel to diss those moraly k0rrupt asians
June 8th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Actually, I see a slight improvement. An improvement… but slight:
The person who was “tired of life” went out of his way to take everyone else’s life.
Usually… they take their own…
I KNOW. I’M SORRY.
June 8th, 2008 at 9:28 am
I’m fine with Tyrenol, but Pedr is another thing entirely to himself.
Though, in objection to Tyrenol, we don’t really know if he was an otakun/hikkikomori/whatever-sad-excuse-for-life…. and I’m thankful you’re sorry.
June 8th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Seriously, though: What’s going on in Japan is horrible. I keep hearing about “the public being detached from what the government’s doing” and such.
But Japan, home of the creators of better cars and better animation, has the highest suicide rate than any other country out there.
Last I heard, Germany had this “We’re all gonna be okay if we keep our heads up” promotion. Why have we not heard that from Japan? Why are we not hearing this from Japan? Why does it seem like the animu industry is making it worse? (”So Long, Mr. Despair?”)
June 8th, 2008 at 9:55 am
bro nigger, they banned child porn, they banned other cool shit, they are becoming a nation of regular people, as opposed to japs
basically they’ve been done, they’re becoming like the rest of the first/second world, just a large biomass, they’re done man, time to flush your robot toys down the toilet, without their chin-up attitude to life they’re just yellow roaches without any particular talent, man
June 8th, 2008 at 10:04 am
You want me to be truthful Tyrenol ?
I don’t know.
Perhaps it is Japan’s rigid conservatism does prides on excellence that pays little heed to things like self-improvement promotions or what-not. I heard that Japan was not welcoming even to immigrants… that says a lot. The fact that there is still prejudice against burakumin says something:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burakumin
If a country has people that look down upon others within it, I think it says a lot.
Stress is not foreign to Asian countries with a hectic urban life. I know this as a Singaporean, and we do have, on odd occasions the unusual stress-related craziness-induced rampage. Admittedly, our country’s nanny state prevents such things, but it is far lower here than in Japan.
It’s not helping that there is an ageing populatuion in Japan as well.
(though I highly doubt anime has anything to do with it, since nto everybody watches it there…)
I’d post more when I have more insight.
June 8th, 2008 at 10:44 am
>>>pedras-ah-ahlamd
How old are you? Are you being serious? Because your comments come off immature and meaningless. You’re like one of those people who say really stupid and over the top things over the internet, but you wouldn’t dare say it to someone’s face.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, i think you’re a pussy. If you said something to me. It would be over in less than five minutes. Anyway, it sucks that all of those people died for nothing. So young too, 19 years old. Damn.
June 8th, 2008 at 11:05 am
> Last I heard, Germany had this “We’re all gonna be okay if we keep our heads up” promotion. Why have we not heard that from Japan?
.
Japanese government agencies actually try those kind of promotions all the time (there was one cute anti-yakuza initiative a few years ago), but they never work. This is because modern Japan is incredibly media-saturated. In such societies, those kinds of committee-designed public wellness media initiatives just don’t work. They just feel even more fake, empty, and forced than so much else already does, and in worst-case scenarios can actually contribute to the problem. It’s the mental equivalent of trying to raise worker morale via systematic beatings.
.
> Why does it seem like the animu industry is making it worse? (”So Long, Mr. Despair?”)
.
It only seems that way, but they’re actually being a bit helpful. The anime/manga industry is not a “respectable”, industry, and thus has little power to direct large social changes. However, this means that authors are a little more free to be open, crude, and I daresay, honest, because they are not nearly as tightly bound by things like official policy and official appearances. Titles like Mr. Despair can actually make things a little better, because it is frank and open in its cynicism, disrespect of society, and self-deprecating humor, instead of just ignoring things with hollow messages of “cheer up, be better”. This is a something that public wellness media initiatives that stem from “respectable” groups cannot practically do; if a “respectable” institution dared to even _appear_ to joke about suicide, it would effectively be immediately destroyed from the resulting public backlash.
June 8th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Magus Says:
You know when a nigger dies he’s going to dog heaven, that’s where you’re going buddy, to dog fucking heaven
June 8th, 2008 at 11:18 am
and by dog heaven I mean animal, mut, subhuman type heaven, for animals.
not black homie type heaven, because that type of heaven doesn’t exist.
June 8th, 2008 at 11:22 am
>japs can suck dick and lick lolipops
eh? So 1 guy = japan? NO douche
that said
>Suspect says he was tired of living and hated the world and just wanted to kill somebody, didn’t matter who
>_> and i thought people there had a good life. They should really put some info as to why he was pushed to actually harming over 40 people (and killing 7). Surely, at only 25, something had to have happened
June 8th, 2008 at 11:52 am
bro, people in japan don’t have a good life. they work like dogs and come home to a world dominated by pure faggotry, (anime, plastic shit, ugly wife playing the japanese banjo thingy in the corner, small crampy house)
fuck if that was me, I would wake up one day, go to a play school or a kindergarten, wait until around 2PM when the teachers are out of the rooms and the children are taking a nap, and just snap their little necks, maybe take a pair of scissors with me I could just cut the neck right off since they would be 3 years old and very delicate., i could probably kill 40 untill someone noticed, maybe if I had some experiance i could kill more
June 8th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Shut the hell up, pedras-ah-ahlamd!
You are contributing nothing of worth up until now, so shut yer trap!
While i do think the guy chose Akihabara because of the otaku, he could have gone there for the high density of people.
I’m quite curious why out of all places did he choose Akiba and at that time…
June 8th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Pedras is just the resident troll here on Canned Dogs. Even if he gets banned, he eventually comes back with a different screen-name, etc. Every blog/forum has one; don’t sweat it so much.
June 8th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
> I’m quite curious why out of all places did he choose Akiba and at that time…
I’d wager that because it’s famous. Seriously.
Famous trendy things tend to have irrational prominence in people’s thinking when they set off to do things such as murder or suicide. For example, many people who commit suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge in California will drive past other, higher but less-famous bridges on their way.
Granted, technically this is a case of murder and not suicide, but Far East Asian cultures have a cultural history of combining the two ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amok ); it’s where the term “running amok” comes from. Furthermore, this murderer probably knew he was going to get the death penalty when he started this.
June 8th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Oh god no not Akihabara of all the crimes that have to happen in everyday life why does Akrihabara had to be hit. That places is a safe haven places for Otakus. I always thought it was a good places that not a lot of crime happens there I guess I was wrong crime can happen just about anywhere.
June 8th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
pkick: “Open, crude, and honest,” huh? “Not a respectable industry,” huh? “Anything uplifting would feel forced,” huh?
That’s all tiring thinking about how horrible it is.
June 8th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
> That’s all tiring thinking about how horrible it is.
*shrug* Well, that’s the truth. If it wasn’t tiring and horrible, it wouldn’t be a problem in the first place.
June 8th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
THE END CANT COME SOON ENOUGH.
June 8th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
This gets more disturbing as it goes along
http://au.news.yahoo.com/080608/19/176xz.html
excerpts from the story:
Kato reportedly had a strong interest in comic-book and video-game subculture
He admitted to police that he documented his journey on internet bulletin boards posted from his mobile telephone, a police official said.
“I’ll crash my vehicle into people and if the vehicle becomes useless, I’ll get out a knife. Goodbye everyone!” said one posting hours before the crime, as quoted by Japanese media.
On a different site, an anonymous posting on May 27 was entitled “A disaster in Akihabara” and warned that an incident would take place on June 5.
June 9th, 2008 at 4:41 am
I think it’s that time of the year again when new hires in traditional companies get disillusioned while being treated like insects by their managers and senpais. Just today my homebound train was delayed due to “jinshin jikou”. Although the words do not literally mean suicide, it kind of implies it.
Anime, music, videogames, comics, TV and what not would be the easy targets for blame, but I think we all know that the real reason is that most people here are living sad lives, sometimes without them even knowing.
June 9th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
>>>THE END CANT COME SOON ENOUGH.
Didn’t you say the same thing when a murder around the time of Higurashi Kai happened?
June 9th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
I’LL COME WHEN I’M GOOD AND READY, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
June 9th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
I was amazed that shows like Higurashi Kai and School Days continued to play despite the murders. And then there was the “implied” violence and sexual promiscuity in Clannad and Kodomo no Jikan respectively.
It’s unfortunate that the “karate moms” aren’t as powerful in Japan as the “soccer moms” are in America. If so, then the late-night animu wouldn’t be as messed up as they are now.
But hey. The pot calling the kettle black; the USA is the home of school shootings and the land of people who aren’t black using the “n-word.”
June 9th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
What about the intensely violent anime of the 80s and 90s? Granted these were OVAs but they seem to have largely died out as a breed. Loosely speaking I would say violence has been toned down overall in media (not just anime), and has been pushed out of the mainstream.
Historians of the future will look back on the violence and bloodshed 20th and 21st centuries and they won’t be blaming the media, that’s for sure. Contemporaries love to trivialize and politicize current events to their own advantage.
June 9th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
> Tyrenol: It’s unfortunate that the “karate moms” aren’t as powerful in Japan as the “soccer moms” are in America.
Oooh, no offense, but you have NO idea what you’re talking about. Japanese soccer moms make American soccer moms look like weaklings.
(And why karate? Soccer is much more popular in Japan than in America, you know…)
> uinreli: What about the intensely violent anime of the 80s and 90s? Granted these were OVAs but they seem to have largely died out as a breed.
Not just OVAs, there was loads of gore, nudity and sex on TV series way back then, in prime-time slots no less. Fist of the North Star, Devilman, Ranma 1/2, etc etc. It’s pretty much impossible to broadcast similar shows now unless you’re on premium cable or really late-night.
> Loosely speaking I would say violence has been toned down overall in media (not just anime), and has been pushed out of the mainstream.
This is 100% true. Anyone who thinks that Japanese TV in the “good old days” was clean and pure is just falling into a delusional nostalgia trap. Japanese TV was much more raunchier and violent back then than it is now.
June 9th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Okay, okay. Japanese “soccer moms.”
I’m pretty sure that those martial arts dojos (which are just as numerous as Starbucks in my city alone) aren’t there just to look pretty.
Back on topic: Even though I’m glad that the violence had gone down in media, my argument is still the same.
Good writers and storytellers (as well as acting people, and maybe even ADRs) are able to draw the line between “shows worth watching and keeping” and “desperate and disposable show filled with viral marketing and eye-cocaine for the numerous junkies.”
June 9th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
We will not let THE END come too easily
June 9th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Btw, a thought:
Pedr: Resident troll. Should’ve been banned if it weren’t for this forums restrictions
NOYFB: Not entirely a troll, but dude who uses capslock to prove his point, to the annoyance of others. Reched troll levels on some occasions
~~
Tyrenol: Resident conservative. Not a troll at all, but has views that will not sit well with everybody. Worth having around, as opposed to Pedr, and occasionally NOYFB.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
>Didn’t you say the same thing when a murder around the time of Higurashi Kai happened?
IVE SAID IT ON MULTIPLE OCCAISIONS, DO SOME RESEARCH KTHX
>Not entirely a troll
MEH, IM JUST SOME DUDE. IM IN THE PROCESS OF TRANSMOGRIFYING FROM 隠しヲタ TO 一般人/車好き, BUT SOMETIMES I JUST CANT LET GO. THE CAPS LOCK THING, THINK OF IT AS MY SIGNATURE STYLE. ALTHOUGH NOT ENTIRELY ORIGINAL, NO ONE ELSE AROUND HERE WOULD/COULD USE IT WITH SUCH GREAT EFFECT. THE NON-CAPS LOCK ERA, THAT WAS JUST A FAD WHERE I TRIED TO COME ACROSS AS A NORMAL GUY, DIDNT WORK EITHER WAY, THIS IS THE INTERNET, SO WHATS THE POINT, ETC.
>to the annoyance of others
MEH, SOMEBODY ELSES PROBLEM.
ANYWAY, PRETTY SOON NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO HAVE AN OPINION, SO MIGHT AS WELL SAY WHAT YOU WANT TO NOW, WHILE YOU STILL CAN.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS, if you’re really trying to become normal/car lover, why do you still post your strongly emotional opinions here?
And why so negative overall on anime, manga and japanese things in general when you do admit liking some otaku things?
I mean, i’m a late blooming otaku, i began becoming one when i was still 24.
I’ll say, either embrace your otakuship at the level it is and become a bit more digestable, i don’t mean stopping your CAPS LOCK style, but posting with less vitriol.
And what do you mean with your last statement?
June 10th, 2008 at 1:33 am
I think he fears that there is a lack of opinion or independent thought, especially in some of the posts on this blog. (this…. is quite true)
Vitriol isn’t exactly a bad thing, and Tyrenol shows that. The problem is how your portray it…. as much as NOYFB argues that the capslock is a style (perhaps it is), we are so used to treating it as shouting that we feel he perpetually shouts at us.
June 10th, 2008 at 8:27 am
> Good writers and storytellers (as well as acting people, and maybe even ADRs) are able to draw the line between “shows worth watching and keeping” and “desperate and disposable show filled with viral marketing and eye-cocaine for the numerous junkies.”
The two aren’t mutually exclusive, and frankly I daresay actually dependent on each other. Part of what makes Japanese pop culture so unique is its constant blending of both the “high” and “low”, the refined and the crude, the artistic and the commercial. There have been numerous observations on this subject; see the whole concept of “superflat” for more info. In terms of Western analogues, the works of the artist Andy Warhol have similar motifs.
June 10th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
>why do you still post your strongly emotional opinions here?
WHERE ELSE AM I GOING TO DO SO? HOW ABOUT I TELL MY COWORKERS.
>24
HAHA, DAMN. I DARE NOT REVEAL MY AGE, BUT LETS JUST SAY I’VE BEEN INFESTED SINCE THE AGE OF 14. (IN B4 BUT UR ONLY 15 NOW)
>he perpetually shouts at us
I ACTUALLY WANT TO SHOUT WHEN I AM POSTING SOMETIMES. NOT THAT I ACTUALLY DO, THAT WOULD RAISE RED FLAGS.
June 11th, 2008 at 10:46 am
[WHERE ELSE AM I GOING TO DO SO? HOW ABOUT I TELL MY COWORKERS.]
What i mean is also this: Why do you post strongly emotional opinions?
[HAHA, DAMN. I DARE NOT REVEAL MY AGE, BUT LETS JUST SAY I’VE BEEN INFESTED SINCE THE AGE OF 14. (IN B4 BUT UR ONLY 15 NOW)]
Dare to guess how old i am now…?
MUAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!
[I ACTUALLY WANT TO SHOUT WHEN I AM POSTING SOMETIMES. NOT THAT I ACTUALLY DO, THAT WOULD RAISE RED FLAGS.]
Why do you want to shout and what’s with the red flags?
[ANYWAY, PRETTY SOON NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO HAVE AN OPINION, SO MIGHT AS WELL SAY WHAT YOU WANT TO NOW, WHILE YOU STILL CAN.]
And what do you mean with this?
Is Blackadder right with his explanation or is there something different you want to convey?
June 11th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
>QUESTIONS
TOO MANY OF THEM.
>And what do you mean with this?
WELCOME TO AMERICA. CURRENT EVENTS HELLO.
>his explanation
THAT WAS MORE OF AN ATTEMPT OF AN EXPLANATION, WHICH WAS FAIL
>OCCAISIONS
HAHAHAHA, WOW.
June 11th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Sorry to be curt, but now, you’re not making sense.
June 11th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
[>QUESTIONS
TOO MANY OF THEM.]
LOL, are you unable to answer them?
Or just unwilling?
Again: Why do you post strongly emotional opinions?
[>And what do you mean with this?
WELCOME TO AMERICA. CURRENT EVENTS HELLO.]
I’m dutch, why do some U.S. citizens think there are only other U.S. citizens on the net?
And yes, i agree, the unseen powers are successfully getting their wishes fulfilled.
And as far as the U.S. of A. is considered, it’s not a matter if it will be destroyed from the inside, but when and by which future president.
[>his explanation
THAT WAS MORE OF AN ATTEMPT OF AN EXPLANATION, WHICH WAS FAIL]
Yep, i understand.
[Sorry to be curt, but now, you’re not making sense.]
In some ways he does make sense, regarding the sorry Orwellian state of affairs in the first world, which will become even worse.
In other ways i suspect he’s just a nutjob and has his emotionally negatively loaded opinions regarding Japan and otaku, where-ever those otaku may hail in from.
And as he’s an self-admitted otaku, he displays a lot of self-hatred in the form of derogatory, snarky and strongly opinionated reactions.
In fact, he’s quite easy to understand with regards to his posts here and most probably will try to refute that someone can understand him through his posts, although just partly.
June 12th, 2008 at 12:58 am
>I’m dutch
OH, IM SORRY TO HEAR THAT.
>unseen powers
BARACHEM KNOWS HIS STUFF.
>curt
NICE TO MEET YOU CURT.
>he’s just a nutjob
NAH, IM JUST EXTREMELY PESSIMISTIC, MUCH MORE THAN MOST PESSIMISTS.
>self-hatred
ACTUALLY, ITS QUITE THE OPPOSITE
June 12th, 2008 at 3:53 am
NOYFB: I prefer not to dip my fly in your ointment and explain why I used the word curt.
Oh, and I dislike pessimists. With a vengeance.
Oh, and Barachem: It’s a pleasure to meet a Dutch on these boards, especially since I’m from Singapore. And you seem to provide a better explanation than the one I could. But whatever.
June 12th, 2008 at 7:34 am
>I dislike pessimists
NOT MY PROBLEM.