Akihabara massacre
Encyclopedia
The was an incident of mass murder
that took place on Sunday, June 8, 2008, in the Akihabara
shopping quarter for electronics, video games and comics in Sotokanda, Chiyoda
, Tokyo, Japan
.
At 12:33 p.m. JST
, a man hit a crowd with a truck, eventually killing three people and injuring two; he then stabbed at least 12 people using a dagger
(initially reported as a survival knife
) killing four people and injuring eight.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
arrested , 25, on suspicion of attempted murder
. The suspect, dressed then in a black T-shirt with a jacket and off-white trousers, was a resident of Susono, Shizuoka
. He was held at the Manseibashi
Police Station. Two days later on June 10, he was sent to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office. He was later re-arrested by the police on June 20 on suspicion of murder. During the trial, prosecutors sought the death penalty, and the Tokyo District Court agreed, sentencing Kato to death.
According to police and hospital officials, six of the seven who were killed were men, including Kazunori Fujino and his friend Takahiro Kamaguchi (both 19), Katsuhiko Nakamura (74), Naoki Miyamoto (31), Mitsuru Matsui (33), and Kasuhiro Koiwa (47). A woman, Mai Mutō (21), was also killed. Communication records showed that Mutō probably made an emergency call for police from her mobile phone, though she left no message. Later that day, a makeshift memorial was created by passersby.
, Honshu
. His father was a top manager in a financial institution. Katō's grades were considered to be exceptional in elementary school and he was a top track athlete. He entered Tsukuda Junior High School and became president of the tennis club in middle school. He started to act violently at home after enrolling at Aomori Prefectural Aomori High School
, an elite high school. Katō was unpopular with his classmates and his class academic ranking fell to 300 (of 360 students). He failed entrance examinations for the prestigious Hokkaido University
, eventually training as an auto mechanic at Nakanihon Automotive College. He was hired as a temporary worker at an auto parts factory in central Shizuoka Prefecture
, though he had been recently told that his job was to be cut at the end of June.
Katō reportedly did not get along well with his parents, and seldom returned home. An interview with Katō's brother revealed that his parents had put immense pressure on them to perform and to excel in their studies, ordering them to redo their homework to high standards in order to impress teachers in school, and recalled one incident when Katō was made to eat scraps of food from the floor. Another neighbour described Katō being punished by his parents, who made him stand outside for hours in deep cold during winter. Previous online postings before his announcement of the attack contained sharp criticisms of his own upbringing. Deeply in debt and believing that his family had given up on him, Katō unsuccessfully attempted suicide in 2006 by ramming his car into a wall.
The suspect apparently posted messages from his mobile phone to a Web site "Extreme Exchange, Revised", revealing his intentions through his final message via his mobile phone 20 minutes before the attack. A police official stated the first message read, "I will kill people in Akihabara." Other messages he is alleged to have posted include, "If only I had a girlfriend, I wouldn't have quit work," "I would never have become addicted to my mobile phone. Anybody with hope couldn't possibly understand how I feel," and "I don't have a single friend and I won't in the future. I'll be ignored because I'm ugly. I'm lower than trash because at least the trash gets recycled." It also referred to "a stabbing spree in Tsuchiura
." Commentators referred to the incident, based on the messages, as another case with the phenomenon of Hikikomori
or Internet suicide
. Later messages revealed his plan to use a vehicle until it became inoperable, and then to use a knife to continue the attack on foot. He waited for Chūō-dōri to close at noon to vehicular traffic before commencing the attack.
The suspect Katō was arrested red-handed of attempted murder after a police officer spotted him stabbing a woman. On June 10 the police sent him to Tokyo District Prosecutor's Office. On June 20 the police arrested him again on suspicion of murder of the seven victims. On the same day the Prosecutor's Office withheld action on him for the first suspicion. While being positive about his capacity to hold the criminal liability, the Prosecutor's Office decided by June 20 to demand that his detention for a psychiatric test be authorized by the Tokyo District Court.
Katō was cooperative during the inquiry but unapologetic, and cried at times. Police seized from his apartment empty packages of knives, their receipts, and one club
.
Katō erased all contacts and communication records from his mobile phone just prior to the attack, the purpose of which he confessed was to avoid annoying those around him. Katō later said that he posted the online messages hoping that police would take notice and stop him.
The knives were reportedly purchased two days before the attack from a military supply shop in Fukui
at about 12:40 p.m. Katō spent about 20 minutes in the store, purchasing a telescopic baton and a pair of leather gloves while the store closed-circuit television
captured him talking to and laughing with the salesman and demonstrating stabbing motions. Katō came to Akihabara a day before the attack to sell his personal computer and some software to raise money to rent the truck.
Konami
canceled three launch events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
in Tokyo, with the "safety of participants in mind" as a result of the attack.
The massacre
also sparked many conversations in Japanese blogs when it was discovered that two Ustream
users had broadcast live video streams of the tragedy, attracting a viewership estimated at between 1000 and 3000 people. No known recording has been saved of the videos, although the event has been written about in many Japanese blogs and online IT magazines.
The current Super Sentai
series at the time of the attack, "Engine Sentai Go-onger
" (2008) featured transforming daggers as part of the heroes' standard personal sidearms, called Switch Funshaken Rocket Dagger(s) (in reference to their rocket-shaped themes). After the attack, which occurred the day immediately after the Rocket Daggers made their debut in the series, both Bandai
, the company that makes the toy versions of the weapons, and Toei
, the company that produces the TV series, changed their names to "Switch Funshaken Rocket Booster(s)" and re-designated them as "swords" rather than "daggers" out of respect for the victims of the attack, and to lessen any trauma in the 6-8-year-old audience that the tokusatsu
franchise regularly targets.
Toei animation's One Piece
was edited in TV broadcast the following week, as one of the main characters was stabbed in the back with a knife.
On 17 June 2008, convicted child serial murderer Tsutomu Miyazaki
was executed by hanging, which was suspected to be a reaction to Katō's massacre.
The media labeled the attacks as a growing epidemic of , acts of rage committed by Tokyo's alienated youth; others labeled the otaku culture as the answer for its negative stereotype of compulsive, antisocial behavior.
sentenced Kato to death after finding him fully responsible for the attack.
, where eight elementary school students were killed. In 2008, there had also been another random knife killing by Masahiro Kanagawa
, though on a smaller scale. Prime Minister
Yasuo Fukuda
, who visited the site a week after the massacre to offer prayer to the victims, said that he "is worried that similar cases occur about 10 times a year in Japan." According to the National Police Agency
, 67 similar random attacks have taken place between 1998 and 2007. It was reported that Katō's massacre was "the worst case of its kind" since World War II "in terms of the number of deaths."
A few days after the attack, police arrested several people who stated their intention to make copycat
killings elsewhere in Japan, including one case who made his intentions known to popular message board 2channel. On June 22 three women were injured by a female attacker at Ōsaka Station
; a 38-year-old woman later confessed to attacking two of the victims with a razor. A 19-year-old man who made an Internet threat to go on a June 15 stabbing spree at Tokyo Disney Resort
was arrested by police. Between June 8 and June 23, 12 people were arrested, and five people warned, for making threatening messages. The 17 people involved in the threats ranged from 13 to 30 years old. On 26 June 2008, police overpowered and arrested a man who was found to have a knife in his possession in Akihabara.
Mass murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...
that took place on Sunday, June 8, 2008, in the Akihabara
Akihabara
, also known as , is an area of Tokyo, Japan. It is located less than five minutes by rail from Tokyo Station. Its name is frequently shortened to in Japan...
shopping quarter for electronics, video games and comics in Sotokanda, Chiyoda
Chiyoda, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards in central Tokyo, Japan. In English, it is called Chiyoda ward. As of October 2007, the ward has an estimated population of 45,543 and a population density of 3,912 people per km², making it by far the least populated of the special wards...
, Tokyo, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
At 12:33 p.m. JST
Japan Standard Time
Japan Standard Time or JST is the standard timezone of Japan, and is 9 hours ahead of UTC. For example, when it is midnight in UTC, it is 09:00 in Japan Standard Time. There is no daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated several times. Japan Standard Time is the same as...
, a man hit a crowd with a truck, eventually killing three people and injuring two; he then stabbed at least 12 people using a dagger
Dagger
A dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...
(initially reported as a survival knife
Survival knife
Survival knives are knives intended for survival purposes in a wilderness environment, often in an emergency situation when the user has lost most of his/her main equipment. Military units issue some type of survival knife to pilots in the event their plane may be shot down. Survival knives can be...
) killing four people and injuring eight.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department serves as the police force for the entire Tokyo metropolis. Founded in 1874, it is headed by a superintendent general, who is appointed by the National Public Safety Commission and approved by the prime minister.The Metropolitan Police, with a staff of more...
arrested , 25, on suspicion of attempted murder
Attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.-Today:In English criminal law, attempted murder is the crime of more than merely preparing to commit unlawful killing and at the same time having a specific intention to cause the death of human being under the Queen's Peace...
. The suspect, dressed then in a black T-shirt with a jacket and off-white trousers, was a resident of Susono, Shizuoka
Susono, Shizuoka
is a city in eastern Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of February 2010, the city has an estimated population of 54,027 and a density of 390 persons per km²...
. He was held at the Manseibashi
Manseibashi
is a concrete single arch bridge across the Kanda River in Chiyoda, Tokyo. Two public transport stations and a police station nearby are named after this bridge....
Police Station. Two days later on June 10, he was sent to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office. He was later re-arrested by the police on June 20 on suspicion of murder. During the trial, prosecutors sought the death penalty, and the Tokyo District Court agreed, sentencing Kato to death.
Details
The incident
The suspect Katō drove a two-ton rented truck into a crowd at the crossing of Kanda Myōjin-dōri and Chūō-dōri streets in Akihabara. While Kanda Myōjin-dōri was open to traffic, Chūō-dōri was closed to vehicular traffic for the convenience of shopping pedestrians, a practice observed every Sunday and during holidays. Police concluded it was at 12:33 P.M. when he hit five people with the truck, after ignoring a red light earlier that morning. As some people gathered to care for the victims, he then left the truck and stabbed at least 12 people, according to a witness, while screaming. Police chased him, cornered him into a narrow alley, and a police officer pointed a gun at him; he dropped his knife and was held down by the police at 12:35 P.M., about 170 metres (557.7 ft) away from the truck.The victims
At least 17 ambulances rushed to the scene as passersby tried to revive the victims. Five of the victims reportedly went into cardiac arrest at the scene. It was initially reported two people died from the attack, and during the day the death toll increased to seven. Later it was determined through autopsies that three victims died as a result of being hit by the truck while the other four were fatally stabbed.According to police and hospital officials, six of the seven who were killed were men, including Kazunori Fujino and his friend Takahiro Kamaguchi (both 19), Katsuhiko Nakamura (74), Naoki Miyamoto (31), Mitsuru Matsui (33), and Kasuhiro Koiwa (47). A woman, Mai Mutō (21), was also killed. Communication records showed that Mutō probably made an emergency call for police from her mobile phone, though she left no message. Later that day, a makeshift memorial was created by passersby.
Early life and education
(born September 28, 1982) grew up in a suburban home in AomoriAomori, Aomori
is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture, in the northern Tōhoku region of Japan. As of 2009, the city had an estimated population of 302,068 and a density of 366 persons per km². Its total area was 824.52 km².- History :...
, Honshu
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
. His father was a top manager in a financial institution. Katō's grades were considered to be exceptional in elementary school and he was a top track athlete. He entered Tsukuda Junior High School and became president of the tennis club in middle school. He started to act violently at home after enrolling at Aomori Prefectural Aomori High School
Aomori Prefectural Aomori High School
The is a high school in the city of Aomori, Aomori Prefecture, Japan.Originally a Junior High School named the , the school was established on September 11, 1900....
, an elite high school. Katō was unpopular with his classmates and his class academic ranking fell to 300 (of 360 students). He failed entrance examinations for the prestigious Hokkaido University
Hokkaido University
Hokkaido University is one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. It can be seen in the several rankings such as shown below.-General Rankings:...
, eventually training as an auto mechanic at Nakanihon Automotive College. He was hired as a temporary worker at an auto parts factory in central Shizuoka Prefecture
Shizuoka Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Shizuoka.- History :Shizuoka prefecture was formed from the former Tōtōmi, Suruga and Izu provinces.The area was the home of the first Tokugawa Shogun...
, though he had been recently told that his job was to be cut at the end of June.
Katō reportedly did not get along well with his parents, and seldom returned home. An interview with Katō's brother revealed that his parents had put immense pressure on them to perform and to excel in their studies, ordering them to redo their homework to high standards in order to impress teachers in school, and recalled one incident when Katō was made to eat scraps of food from the floor. Another neighbour described Katō being punished by his parents, who made him stand outside for hours in deep cold during winter. Previous online postings before his announcement of the attack contained sharp criticisms of his own upbringing. Deeply in debt and believing that his family had given up on him, Katō unsuccessfully attempted suicide in 2006 by ramming his car into a wall.
Motivations
Three days before the attack, on June 5, Katō accused people at his workplace of hiding his work clothes, and left work immediately afterwards. Apparently he believed at this point he was going to lose his job, though this was not actually the case. This may have triggered the attack.The suspect apparently posted messages from his mobile phone to a Web site "Extreme Exchange, Revised", revealing his intentions through his final message via his mobile phone 20 minutes before the attack. A police official stated the first message read, "I will kill people in Akihabara." Other messages he is alleged to have posted include, "If only I had a girlfriend, I wouldn't have quit work," "I would never have become addicted to my mobile phone. Anybody with hope couldn't possibly understand how I feel," and "I don't have a single friend and I won't in the future. I'll be ignored because I'm ugly. I'm lower than trash because at least the trash gets recycled." It also referred to "a stabbing spree in Tsuchiura
Masahiro Kanagawa
is a Japanese man who went on a stabbing spree in the city of Tsuchiura on March 23, 2008, which left a 27-year-old man dead and seven others wounded. Police arrested Kanagawa, then 24, who was wanted in an earlier slaying of a 72-year-old man. The man told the investigators that he "just wanted to...
." Commentators referred to the incident, based on the messages, as another case with the phenomenon of Hikikomori
Hikikomori
is a Japanese term to refer to the phenomenon of reclusive people who have chosen to withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement because of various personal and social factors in their lives...
or Internet suicide
Internet suicide
An Internet suicide is a suicide conducted in full view of the public via the Internet, or pursuant to a cybersuicide pact, which is a suicide pact made between individuals who meet on the Internet.- Background :...
. Later messages revealed his plan to use a vehicle until it became inoperable, and then to use a knife to continue the attack on foot. He waited for Chūō-dōri to close at noon to vehicular traffic before commencing the attack.
Investigation
Katō was cooperative during the inquiry but unapologetic, and cried at times. Police seized from his apartment empty packages of knives, their receipts, and one club
Club (weapon)
A club is among the simplest of all weapons. A club is essentially a short staff, or stick, usually made of wood, and wielded as a weapon since prehistoric times....
.
Katō erased all contacts and communication records from his mobile phone just prior to the attack, the purpose of which he confessed was to avoid annoying those around him. Katō later said that he posted the online messages hoping that police would take notice and stop him.
The knives were reportedly purchased two days before the attack from a military supply shop in Fukui
Fukui, Fukui
is the capital of Fukui Prefecture, Japan. The city is located in the north-central part of the prefecture on the coast of the Sea of Japan.-Demographics:...
at about 12:40 p.m. Katō spent about 20 minutes in the store, purchasing a telescopic baton and a pair of leather gloves while the store closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
captured him talking to and laughing with the salesman and demonstrating stabbing motions. Katō came to Akihabara a day before the attack to sell his personal computer and some software to raise money to rent the truck.
Reactions and consequences
The attack made global headlines and sent shock waves across Japan, shaking public confidence in what is traditionally considered a society safe from violent crime. The Government of Japan is now reviewing laws regulating knives. The Tokyo Metropolitan Public Safety Commission announced that the 35-year old practice of closing Chūō-dōri on Sundays and holidays was to be suspended until safety measures were reviewed. Katō's parents gave an apology to the victims in a television interview.Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
canceled three launch events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
is a video game developed by Kojima Productions for the PlayStation 3 console. The game was directed by Hideo Kojima and made its worldwide release on June 12, 2008, ten years after the release of Metal Gear Solid and twenty years after the North American release of Metal Gear.Guns of the Patriots...
in Tokyo, with the "safety of participants in mind" as a result of the attack.
The massacre
Massacre
A massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
also sparked many conversations in Japanese blogs when it was discovered that two Ustream
Ustream
Ustream is a website which consists of a network of diverse channels providing a platform for lifecasting and live video streaming of events online. Established in March 2007, the site has over 2,000,000 registered users who generate 1,500,000+ hours of live streamed content per month with over ten...
users had broadcast live video streams of the tragedy, attracting a viewership estimated at between 1000 and 3000 people. No known recording has been saved of the videos, although the event has been written about in many Japanese blogs and online IT magazines.
The current Super Sentai
Super Sentai
The is the name given to the long-running Japanese superhero team genre of shows produced by Toei Co., Ltd., Toei Agency and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi...
series at the time of the attack, "Engine Sentai Go-onger
Engine Sentai Go-onger
is the title of Toei Company's thirty-second Super Sentai series of Japanese tokusatsu television series. It premiered on February 17, 2008, a week following the finale of Juken Sentai Gekiranger, and ended on February 8, 2009. It aired as part of TV Asahi's 2008 Super Hero Time block alongside...
" (2008) featured transforming daggers as part of the heroes' standard personal sidearms, called Switch Funshaken Rocket Dagger(s) (in reference to their rocket-shaped themes). After the attack, which occurred the day immediately after the Rocket Daggers made their debut in the series, both Bandai
Bandai
is a Japanese toy making and video game company, as well as the producer of a large number of plastic model kits. It is the world's third-largest producer of toys . Some ex-Bandai group companies produce anime and tokusatsu programs...
, the company that makes the toy versions of the weapons, and Toei
Toei Company
is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930s United States; operates studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a...
, the company that produces the TV series, changed their names to "Switch Funshaken Rocket Booster(s)" and re-designated them as "swords" rather than "daggers" out of respect for the victims of the attack, and to lessen any trauma in the 6-8-year-old audience that the tokusatsu
Tokusatsu
is a Japanese term that applies to any live-action film or television drama that usually features superheroes and makes considerable use of special effects ....
franchise regularly targets.
Toei animation's One Piece
One Piece
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 64th volume released as...
was edited in TV broadcast the following week, as one of the main characters was stabbed in the back with a knife.
On 17 June 2008, convicted child serial murderer Tsutomu Miyazaki
Tsutomu Miyazaki
, also known as The Otaku Murderer, The Little Girl Murderer, and Dracula, was a Japanese serial killer.-Background:Planaria's premature birth left him with deformed hands, which were permanently gnarled and fused directly to the wrists, necessitating him to move his entire forearm in order to...
was executed by hanging, which was suspected to be a reaction to Katō's massacre.
The media labeled the attacks as a growing epidemic of , acts of rage committed by Tokyo's alienated youth; others labeled the otaku culture as the answer for its negative stereotype of compulsive, antisocial behavior.
Conviction
On March 24, 2011, the Tokyo District CourtTokyo District Court
is a district court located at 1-1-4 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. -References:...
sentenced Kato to death after finding him fully responsible for the attack.
Related or similar events
The stabbings occurred exactly seven years after the Osaka school massacreOsaka school massacre
The Osaka School Massacre took place on June 8, 2001, at Ikeda Elementary School, an elite primary school affiliated with Osaka Kyoiku University in Osaka Prefecture, Japan.- The attack :...
, where eight elementary school students were killed. In 2008, there had also been another random knife killing by Masahiro Kanagawa
Masahiro Kanagawa
is a Japanese man who went on a stabbing spree in the city of Tsuchiura on March 23, 2008, which left a 27-year-old man dead and seven others wounded. Police arrested Kanagawa, then 24, who was wanted in an earlier slaying of a 72-year-old man. The man told the investigators that he "just wanted to...
, though on a smaller scale. Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Japan
The is the head of government of Japan. He is appointed by the Emperor of Japan after being designated by the Diet from among its members, and must enjoy the confidence of the House of Representatives to remain in office...
Yasuo Fukuda
Yasuo Fukuda
was the 91st Prime Minister of Japan, serving from 2007 to 2008. He was previously the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history, serving for three and a half years under Prime Ministers Yoshirō Mori and Junichiro Koizumi....
, who visited the site a week after the massacre to offer prayer to the victims, said that he "is worried that similar cases occur about 10 times a year in Japan." According to the National Police Agency
National Police Agency (Japan)
The is an agency administered by the National Public Safety Commission of the Cabinet Office in the cabinet of Japan, and is the central coordinating agency of the Japanese police system....
, 67 similar random attacks have taken place between 1998 and 2007. It was reported that Katō's massacre was "the worst case of its kind" since World War II "in terms of the number of deaths."
A few days after the attack, police arrested several people who stated their intention to make copycat
Copycat crimes
A copycat crime is a criminal act that is modelled or inspired by a previous crime that has been reported in the media or described in fiction.-Copycat effect:...
killings elsewhere in Japan, including one case who made his intentions known to popular message board 2channel. On June 22 three women were injured by a female attacker at Ōsaka Station
Osaka Station
is a station on the West Japan Railway Company located in the Umeda district in Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan. It is the city's main rail terminal in the north....
; a 38-year-old woman later confessed to attacking two of the victims with a razor. A 19-year-old man who made an Internet threat to go on a June 15 stabbing spree at Tokyo Disney Resort
Tokyo Disney Resort
is a theme park and vacation resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, just east of Tokyo. It is owned and operated by the Oriental Land Company with a license from The Walt Disney Company. The resort opened on April 15, 1983, as a single theme park , but developed into a resort with two theme...
was arrested by police. Between June 8 and June 23, 12 people were arrested, and five people warned, for making threatening messages. The 17 people involved in the threats ranged from 13 to 30 years old. On 26 June 2008, police overpowered and arrested a man who was found to have a knife in his possession in Akihabara.