A few weeks ago I asked some elementary school students where they wanted to travel in the world. They answered, “Nowhere. Everywhere is dangerous. In America everyone carries guns. I want to stay in Japan. It’s safe here.” At the time I wanted to remind them of all the random murders that occur in Japan. People here often kill out of frustration. Also, as with any country, women, children and the elderly are often targets too. When I first came here nine years ago it seemed mentally deranged family members (usually men but sometimes women) were killing their spouses and kids and themselves too. But in the last few years I have seen many more news reports of random acts of violence.
Take Sunday’s headline story. A man went into a crowded part of Tokyo (popular and exceptionally crowded) and started stabbing people randomly. He killed 7 people and wounded 10 before he was finally stopped. Today’s news shows that he purchased knives in at least two different prefectures before coming to Tokyo. He said he came to kill people. Japan still has the death penalty but it is a sentence rarely given. What does society do with such a man? Video surveillance cameras at one shop where he bought knives show him looking like a normal citizen, smiling at the cashier and making his purchase.
A similar story a few weeks ago saw a young man waiting at the bottom of an escalator at a station stabbing people as they got off. He stabbed 7 people before station staff took him down. His reason? He just wanted to kill people.
A couple of months back a young man took a train to another city and waited on the platform for a train to come. As the train rushed in he stood behind a man completely unknown to him and pushed the man in front of the train. His reason? He just wanted to try and do it.
Over the last few years there have been plenty of such stories. Youths suddenly attacking people with hammers or baseball bats, “to get the attention of society;” an elderly couple found with their heads bashed in at the bottom of their stairs, nothing stolen from the house; a little girl stabbed on her front door step and no one saw who did it; a woman who killed her husband with a broken bottle and then chopped him up into pieces for disposal (she was a victim of domestic abuse so the motive is a little more obvious); a young woman grabbed into her neighbour’s apartment, stabbed and cut into pieces which were flushed down the toilet. A young boy coaxing another toddler from a fifth floor toy store and then pushing him over the rail of the parking lot on that floor. The list goes on. A few years ago a man entered an elementary school and just started stabbing children and a couple of teachers. You want to talk about gun control? How about knife control?
Tragically, these stories are in the news almost every other week. I would save the headlines and show my students after a half year and let them see just how “safe” Japan is. But I wouldn’t want to scare them too badly.
