Murders in Akihabara

by Zel
Jun 8, 2008 7:08 PM | 79 Comments

There was an incident in Akihabara in Tokyo recently where a 25 year old man attacked several people. Akihabara is known for being a place for anime fans to congregate and buy various anime merchandise. Tomohiro Kato the 25 year old man crashed into people with a truck then proceeded to get out of and stab several people. A total of 17 people were stabbed, 7 of which died (six men, one woman).

"The suspect told police that he came to Akihabara to kill people," said Jiro Akaogi, a spokesman for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

Source: Yahoo! News | Akihabara Channel

20 of 79 Comments Recent Comments

This is just awful, it really sucks that something like that happened in Japan :s.
I feel sorry for the family of the people who died.

Jun 21, 2008 1:26 PM by AccountClosed

infinite_zero said:
Japan has had of their share of tragedies recently, 7.0 Earthquake a few days ago also...

Dark times, Japan...

it was yesterday morning around 9am (Saturday) in the Miyagi and Iwate prefectures. Landslide and major blackouts occurred. At least 6 confirmed dead right now....

BTW, here is some interesting articles on the stabbings from English version of Mainichi News:
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080613p2a00m0na015000c.html
index: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/infocus/akihabara-stabbing/

Jun 14, 2008 5:42 PM by wakka9ca

Japan has had of their share of tragedies recently, 7.0 Earthquake a few days ago also...

Dark times, Japan...

Jun 14, 2008 2:26 PM by BasakaNZ

The Akihabara killings has been a topic not only discussed within otakus/anime-related groups, but also in and out of Japan and into international news.

I was in Akihabara one day before the killing happened. Everything still felt normal the day I was there (Saturday), but on Sunday evening nothing felt the same, even when things have resumed back to normality, as I could see from evenings news in Yokohoma.

Jun 14, 2008 11:53 AM by quentinlau

Asako said:

Cortez321 said:
Dont forget that it the US is the only first-world country that allows civilians to own guns legally

Nonsense. You can own guns in many countries, you just have to have a valid REASON for it. Not just declare it's your right.

Actually, that's not quite right either. Switzerland has compulsory gun ownership through its militia, and extremely liberal laws because of the gun culture fostered (at least in part) by that. Only a carrying permit actually requires a reason. Australia, despite federal crackdowns after several highly publicized incidents, still has a large number of weapons, and Tasmania and Queensland both not only have relaxed laws, but resist federal attempts for increased gun control. New Zealand is even more liberal, as they never considered gun control much of an issue aside from temporary fallout from the Australian incidents. Canada also has a strong gun culture, and while it officially has laws, it has not been able to fully enforce them. As many as half of all civilian-owned firearms in Canada are unregistered.
Really, as far as I know, only European nations make that big a deal about specific justification for ownership. Even then, the UK, while extremely strict on rifled weapons, requires nothing more than a certificate for many shotguns.

Also, of the mentioned nations, only the UK lacks significant lobbying on the right to bear arms. Even if it's not in the constitutions specifically, it's still often a perceived right in these countries.

On the original statement, this is utter BS. I know of no nation without a totalitarian regime that outright bans civilian-owned firearms. Even Japan does allow it in certain cases, just with heavy restrictions (which actually aren't well enforced).

Jun 11, 2008 2:24 AM by ErwinJA

Cortez321 said:
Dont forget that it the US is the only first-world country that allows civilians to own guns legally

Nonsense. You can own guns in many countries, you just have to have a valid REASON for it. Not just declare it's your right.

Jun 10, 2008 9:35 PM by Asako

wakka9ca said:

kisami said:
that was a rather low tech way to go though...most people just grab some automatic or semi and let it loose. not that i would encourage anyone to do such thing but kniving people? unfortunately since he was apprehended, his impulse was probably to take lives rather than to die(and make a name for himself evidently). if he wanted to die, he would have probably put far more thought into that, since a low tech means of administering violence like that will almost certainly be stopped.

the fact that may people got killed and injured suggests that crimes of this kind are not a common occurence (indicated by his advanced warning that no one bothered to take siriously). i can think of high profile cases in the US that are similar to this where an person or people gun down several people before ending their own lives.

Well, I guess using a knive is way easier than using a gun, and the accuracy with knives are way better than with guns. Especially since he was in a crowd and went on stabbing rampage....A knive is worse than a gun believe me.....This is just awfull...even worse when it happened exactly 7 years after the Ikeda incident where 8 schoolchildren of 7-8 were stabbed to death by an enraged janitor.....

Dont forget that it the US is the only first-world country that allows civilians to own guns legally

Jun 10, 2008 9:29 PM by Cortez321

I heard about this. I blogged about it as well. It's sad to think of all the killings taken place, and even sadder to think of what the government will do. I was thinking that they would wipe out the idea of anime conventions, but a friend told me that they couldn't wie out an entire culture.

Jun 10, 2008 2:25 PM by Xmoonblade

Mod Edit: Sorry indeed, for editing your post. These kinds of replies are not appreciated.

Jun 10, 2008 2:05 PM by YoshikoHatake

Revelli said:
where is akihabara since its the place of anime, like this i can go there.this summer

It is located less than five minutes by rail from Tokyo Station.
I was scared as hell when I heard these news because my friend lives near Akihabara. Thank goodness at least he's safe.

Jun 10, 2008 11:26 AM by Ritsuka

Peralisc said:

nMoura said:
i just saw it in the news
oh my why did he do that??

coz he is a psycho

other questions?

I'm sticking with 'attention whore'...

Jun 10, 2008 3:47 AM by anony

nMoura said:
i just saw it in the news
oh my why did he do that??

coz he is a psycho

other questions?

Jun 9, 2008 5:52 PM by JudgeRuthless

Jun 9, 2008 3:58 PM by wakka9ca

Scary Isn't It?

Specially When There Was A Phone Call About It Hours Before The Incident D:

Jun 9, 2008 1:47 PM by PhAzEsHiFt

woah....i remember by parents telling me bout it earlier >.<
this guys messed up in the head........messed.....

Jun 9, 2008 12:45 PM by mui

That's too bad...

Jun 9, 2008 12:43 PM by iTom

no comment, just wtf!

Jun 9, 2008 11:52 AM by Kyo_Kagami

I don't know what to say :/

Jun 9, 2008 11:15 AM by Seanpie

otakuman706 said:

Plate said:

If Japanese people, or even Japanese cops, had guns, it wouldn't have gotten that bad. As it is, anyone can walk around and stab people.

Edit: I bet they're going to ban knives now.

Thats not necessarily true, unless you can somehow read what the turnout of a given event will be with 100% accuracy. The event might not have even happened had guns been legal or it may have been much worse. Without even touching on the argument of gun control and the effect guns have on a given population it is not actually known what would happen if something were to change- think about the Butterfly Effect or any similar arguments

I simply think that no one is going to stab an armed police officer. Maybe they should take to wearing stab vests like England if they want to be unarmed like England.

Just my opinion. Though I would add that tossing the Butterfly Effect into a hypothetical discussion is rather silly.

Jun 9, 2008 10:55 AM by Plate

Plate said:

If Japanese people, or even Japanese cops, had guns, it wouldn't have gotten that bad. As it is, anyone can walk around and stab people.

Edit: I bet they're going to ban knives now.

Jun 9, 2008 10:42 AM by otakuman706

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