Just a few brief notes about recent news stories that have come out. More message board posts from Kato have been found recently describing such things as The type of girl he likes His frustrations at not having a girlfriend By now everyone has seen translations of some of his message board posts describing each…
Some updates on the case… Workers reported that his company was planning on restructuring and his contract had been extended to the end of August, but one day when he came in to work and his wok clothes were missing from his locker he flipped out. He seems to have thought that the company was…
The perpetrator, Tomohiro Kato, said that he just wanted to kill people, he didn’t care who. The Akihabara area is famous for computers, electronics, mangas, anime figures, maid cafes, and “otaku” culture in general. For plenty of photos of the happenings, feel free to visit this site (a news blog on livedoor) for lots of…
At 12:30pm today in Tokyo’s well-known Akihabara area a 25 year old man went on a rampage leaving 14 men and 3 women injured or dead. One police officer is also among the injured. A 25 year old man first drove into pedestrians with a rental car, then got out and began stabbing people with…
I once watched a tv show with “true crime” stories. One of the stories was of a woman who accidentally broke the thin plaster wall between her apartment and her next door neighbor’s. She only broke a little of it, but enough to see how much nicer his apartment was than hers, he had a…
A long story can be told very short here. The District Court judge from Utsunomiya was arrested for sending emails from internet cafes and other places asking a woman in her 20s to go out with him. One bit of interesting information that shows the extent of the wackiness of the stalking is that he…
The story is that some high school kids were walking around in Osaka at around four o’clock in the morning and saw a father and son riding around in a convertible. The kids made a comment to the effect of, “You know those idiots must be cold!” The father and son then yelled something to…
I have to admit that I was a little worried that this would end with another “illegal disposal” type charge, similar to the one that Hiroshi Nozaki was charged with in January, 2000. In that case, he was convicted for disposing of the body of a 27 year old Filipina. Details in a previous post…
This brief article just published on CNN doesn’t give us many details, but indicates that the military will go through with the charges accusing a U.S. Marine in Okinawa of “rape of a child under 16, abusive sexual conduct, making a false official statement, adultery, and kidnapping through inveigling.” I’m sure more details will follow…
I am surprised that this case is not getting a lot more airtime than it has otherwise, but if you really think about it, Hawaii is a big travel destination for people in Japan. Now is the time most people are shopping for tickets for package tours to Hawaii and other such destinations because the…
As most people reading this blog know, Japanese officials usually carry out executions before informing the media or next of kin. What I didn’t know until reading this article in Mainichi Online was that Justice Minister Hatoyama has been carrying out executions at a pace of once every two months! Here is the article: Four…
Note: I emphasize that the perpetrator in this case is Japanese not because it is unlikely but to put emphasis on the fact. While the really big news in Japan is about crimes committed by non-Japanese here, there is a lot of types of crime here which seem to be growing exponentially. Domestic Violence is…