The parents of murder suspect Tomohiro Kato apologize outside their home in Aomori on Tuesday night in this image taken from TV.

Akihabara rampage suspect unhappy with work conditions

Wednesday 11th June, 06:30 AM JST

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 56 Total Comments Show All

WilliB at 04:43 PM JST - 11th June

That he would claim mental illness is no surprise. They always do. I hope the court will not fall for it this time.
Spider at 05:50 PM JST - 11th June

To respect the parents’ privacy, media agreed to pixelate their faces and not give their first names.

It saddened me deeply to see his parents paraded in front of the Japanese media in this way. I sincerely hope they are now left alone to grieve and come to terms with this awful shock.

Also, everyone is looking for someone to blame for this man's actions. Society! Parents! Youth culture! Work conditions! He is clearly mentally ill. Alienation, pressure to study and poor working conditions do not, in any way, explain the planned brutal murder of those innocent people.
moonbeams at 06:28 PM JST - 11th June

westurn, if you were correct, there would be thousands of people flipping out everyday. sure, there are some problems in this society, but it's not as bad as you make it out to be. it's just something different from what you're accustomed to and probably something you lack deep depth in.
yabits at 08:24 PM JST - 11th June

jeez what a loser...get used to it moron, its called reality

Reality is also what just happened in Akihabara.
yabits at 08:41 PM JST - 11th June

They don't have to [apologize], but they do, because they feel truly sorry for his actions and the misery he has caused.

All those media people swarming to the parents' house certainly helped to put them in the situation shown. An entire nation has its eyes on you, and many onlookers are likely to feel some parental responsibility involved. (At a minimum, the parents brought this man into society.)

This is a refreshing change from other countries where the parents of mass murderers blame everything else in the world, or who say or do nothing at all.

It's rather easy to try to make everything go away with this kind of gesture. Or attach too much significance to it, since it is nothing more or less than a learned behavior. People who don't apologize are more likely to sense the truth that an apology under these circumstances seems ineffectual and pathetic. For those who know how to listen, silence can also be quite dignified and humble.

Perhaps the question can be asked, Are the parents the only ones who feel the need to apologize for this incident? (And shouldn't the media be rooting them out so that this rather curious kabuki dance can play itself out?)
yabits at 08:42 PM JST - 11th June

jeez what a loser...get used to it moron, its called reality

Reality was what also happened in Akihabara.
yabits at 08:48 PM JST - 11th June

if you were correct, there would be thousands of people flipping out everyday. sure, there are some problems in this society, but it's not as bad as you make it out to be.

How many people flipping out before it can be said things are bad? Thousands? A rather loose standard, in my opinion.

A better question goes to how preventable all this was. Putting restrictions on knives is a laughable gesture and in itself is a response symptomatic of a deeper problem
jpdrag0n at 09:55 PM JST - 11th June

He should've just committed suicide. That way people who had no relation to his work related problems or his loneliness wouldn't be brutally murdered.
westurn at 10:06 PM JST - 11th June

Moonbeam yo are right and wrong, first the wrong...

"if you were correct, there would be thousands of people flipping out everyday."

Umm, ever ride the trains and notice the people mumbling to themselves ? Do you realize there are more than 100 suicides a day in Japan ? Do you realize that by "westurn" standards more than 70% of all Japanese males are alcoholics ? Do you realize that spousal, verbal, and physical assaults are at epidemic proportions in Japan... at least according to the hotlines that keep record. Do you realize that there are an estimated 120,000 unnatural deaths in Japan each year that go uninvestigated ? Do you even have a clue as to how many homeless have been created over the past 10 years ? Do you know that only Japan suffers from Hikikomori syndrome ? Any clue as to the thousands of NEETs out there ? Parasite singles that have no concept of independant living...nor care to ?

In short, your "thousands" should actually read millions ! The place is awash with mental disorders !

You are right about one thing though...

"it's just something different from what you're accustomed to"

You got that right !
medievaltimes at 12:27 AM JST - 12th June

That he would claim mental illness is no surprise. They always do. I hope the court will not fall for it this time.

Dont be so quick to rule out mental illness. From the limited information we have there is already a case to be made for it.

Mental illness doesnt really exist in Japan so it basically goes untreated. Im not so sure it really matters in a court of law here. I remember the Osaka school killings a few years ago (both are spree killings) and that dude had a loooong history of mental illness. The existing mental health system failed him. But in the end they executed him anyway.

It remains to be seen in Katos case.
lipscombe at 09:59 AM JST - 12th June

Mental illness doesnt really exist in Japan so it basically goes untreated

surely you mean mental illness isnt recognised in Japan, there is far from a shortage
sincity2 at 11:41 AM JST - 12th June

Perhaps we could get more Americans to move to Japan?

So many of them are so friggin crazy, that should more than make up for any shortage in Japanese loon rates.
yabits at 06:15 PM JST - 12th June

That way people who had no relation to his work related problems or his loneliness wouldn't be brutally murdered.

Like it or not, everything has a connection to everything else. A society which ends up offering the choice for people to just kill themselves when they run out of hope may find that some people will opt to take others out with them.
Starviking at 06:43 PM JST - 12th June

"There were 4,677 illegal knife violations in 2007, an increase of 1,336 from 2002"

Perhaps because the police have been cracking down on 'criminals' who have Swiss Army knives or camping knives? The guy who created Death Note was arrested a few years ago for having an oh-so-dangerous camping knife in his car!
medievaltimes at 12:39 AM JST - 13th June

The place is awash with mental disorders !

Westurn - you nailed this one on the head.

Ask Japanese people about this crime/mental illness and common responses are--he is selfish...he needs to do his best...it is the influence of western culture...there is nothing that can be done...its regrettable...etc.

Its laughable. Look how many people are alcoholics. Look how many people are anti-social. Look at the suicide rate. Look at the standard high school girl sexual fantasy among grown men. Look at the lack of basic social skills among the population.

Japan really needs to look outside its borders for some modern psyhiatric practices.