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NEWS: 17 Hit or Stabbed, 7 Confirmed Dead in Tokyo's Akihabara

According to the latest, it's now 3 dead, a 19, 47, and 74 year male, with 2 more in cardiac arrest and a total of 17 wounded.

It says the truck driver ran off onto the JR marunouchi train line but was arrested... And it seems the 2-ton truck was a rental, which would lead me to believe this was planned for some reason.
Whether it's an anti-otaku hate crime (doubtful) or simply the man choosing a very busy section of town to go on a rampage (more likely), I hope the japanese justice system of "never hearing from the guy again" works.

GATSU wrote:

In spite of it all, the Japanese are probably still glad that none of those psychos were packed like they would be here....

Damn straight. With the crowds in Akihabara on a Sunday and a gun of any sort, your kills would be limited only by the number of bullets you could carry.
I live in Tokyo and goddamit if people start being able to obtain guns readily here that'd be BAAAAD.

In my opinion Japanese people are even more likely to go "postal" in the classic sense than americans (due to the stress of their working lifestyle), it's just that when they do, they rarely harm anyone but themselves. With the semi weekly suicides on the train tracks, I could only imagine the havoc if those suicides turned into platform shootings.
Although it seems in this case the guy wasn't planning this as a suicide, as he ran away (although perhaps he just got cold feet). Perhaps he really just completely went insane.

By claiming that the (in my opinion) probably random attack at Akihabara was specifically targeted against otakus, the rest of the otaku community gain status as victims by proxy, and seek sympathy.

I can't help but think that something's not going to get aired this week because of this.

It's horrid to think things like that but on an industry level this can't be good.

First, my condolences to the family of the victims.

I know that this is a tragic event but please explain again how is this related to anime and manga.

If Akihabara has another hit and run incident or robbery with the victim injured, is that also going to be posted here? Is this site going to become an Akihabara crime report site?

abunai wrote:

By claiming that the (in my opinion) probably random attack at Akihabara was specifically targeted against otakus, the rest of the otaku community gain status as victims by proxy, and seek sympathy.

I'm not sure any human action can really be called random. Human beings act using a lot of subconsious thinking and internalized thought processes which, unless there's something malfunctioning in the brain, can usually be analyzed accurately with enough time and effort.

Putting that aside, since it's a semi-subjective view, wouldn't it be kind of odd not to suspect that this has something to do with otaku hate? I mean, it's not like Japan is a violent crime ridden country to begin with and given the location, it's not hard to make a leap of intuition. Also, given the fact this is being reported here, it adds to the natural impulse because otherwise what's the point.

I know that this is a tragic event but please explain again how is this related to anime and manga.

TOKYO, June 8, 2008 (AFP) - A man went on a stabbing spree Sunday in a busy Tokyo neighbourhood famed for comic-book subculture, killing at least seven people and leaving around a dozen injured in Japan's deadliest crime in years.

The assailant, who later told police he was "tired of living," drove a truck into a crowd of pedestrians shortly after noon in Tokyo's bustling Akihabara area before jumping out and stabbing strangers while screaming.

The assailant was identified as Tomohiro Kato, 25, from central Shizuoka prefecture. He first said he was a gangster before retracting his story.

"I came to Akihabara to kill people. It didn't matter whom I'd kill," he was quoted by Jiji Press as telling police.

Kato, bespectacled in a beige suit and black-and-white sneakers, was armed with a survival knife and duelled with a police officer who fought back with a baton.

By the time Kato finally dropped his knife with an officer's gun pointed at him, 17 people lay bloodied on the street of the crowded district, according to fire department and police officials.

Jiji Press and other Japanese media said seven people were dead -- six men aged 19, 20, 29, 33, 47 and 74, and a 21-year-old woman.

Kato had blood running down the side of his face as he was taken into custody. Kyodo News reported that he was a temporary worker at an auto component factory in Shizuoka.

The attack fell on the anniversary of the last incident of similar magnitude in Japan -- a stabbing frenzy that left eight children dead at an elementary school in 2001.

Ambulances with sirens blaring raced to the scene Sunday, where Kato's rented white Isuzu truck was abandoned with a shattered windshield on streets that were closed to traffic on a balmy Sunday afternoon.

Hundreds of stunned pedestrians stared from a distance as medical workers set up green plastic sheets in the middle of an intersection to ensure privacy as they gave emergency treatment.

"I was shocked to hear the news as I've visited this place quite often," said Wataru Amano, a 26-year-old truck driver. "I could have been a target if I had been here a few hours ago."

"I'm afraid this will give a negative image of Akihabara, where people are coming from around the world," he said.

Akihabara is best known for major electronics stores and in recent years has mushroomed into a haven for Japanese subculture, pulling in tourists from home and abroad interested in comic books and video games.

Akihabara's attractions range from a museum of Japanese animation to cafes where waitresses dress as maids and video-game characters. It is also a major commuter hub.

"When I passed by, I saw a man collapsed on the street. He was stabbed in the chest and bleeding badly," one young woman said. "He was unconscious."

It was seven years to the day since a mentally disturbed man went on a rampage with a butcher's knife at the Ikeda elementary school in the posh suburbs of the western metropolis of Osaka.

Mamoru Takuma, who had an apparent grudge against children of the elite, stabbed to death eight youngsters.

At Takuma's sentencing, the judge called the killings "one of the most heinous cases in Japan's criminal history." Takuma was executed in 2004 at the age of 40.

The elementary school attack stunned Japan, which prides itself on its safety, and authorities moved to step up security at schools.

In another knifing spree, a man in 1999 drove into the main train station in the southwestern city of Shimonoseki and stabbed to death five people.

Japan tightly restricts guns. But in December last year, a licensed hunter with a vendetta barged into a private gym in the western town of Sasebo and shot dead two people.

burs-msl/rlp

AFP 081440 GMT JUN 08

MSN.com has picked this up.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25026870

A sad sad day.

Also, I can't remember, is the Toyko Police armed?