Violence in Japan

As most people may by now be aware, there was a bizarre attack in the popular Akihabara (a.k.a. Electric City) area of Tokyo on Sunday afternoon. A young man, who had apparently been planning his attack well in advance, drove a rental truck into a crowd of people (Akihabara + Sunday afternoon=masses and masses of people), then got out of the truck and went on a stabbing spree, killing seven people (three died when hit by the truck, and four died of stab wounds) and injuring 10 others. Making the story even more interesting is that the attacker – Tomohiro Kato – was living right here in Susono city where he was a temporary worker at an auto parts manufacturer. Huh. You can read the story here at the Japan Times Online http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080611a1.html

The most remarkable thing about this story, however, is how remarkable it is. Now of course, news programs and talk shows are questioning Japan’s current situation and analyzing the “increase” in violence. But this incident is rare. I would still feel very safe walking down the street in the middle of the night, whether here in Susono, or even in the red-light district of Kabukicho in Tokyo. Japan is essentially still a very safe country. The crimes that occur here are frequently strange, sometimes tragic, but seldom violent. Recently, a middle-aged woman was discovered living in a man’s closet; and she’d been living there for nearly a year before the bachelor suspected anything (the story is here http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080530/ap_on_re_as/japan_closet_woman). I’m not saying that every nation shouldn’t stop once in a while and re-evaluate itself and its social values…I’m just saying that one incident does not define the nation.