Police consider banning some types of knives following Akihabara stabbings

Friday 13th June, 04:02 AM JST

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Nessie at 04:40 PM JST - 13th June

If he only mowed people down with the truck, would they consider banning trucks?

Actually, they're banning pedestrians, as per the Pedestrian Paradise thread.
Starviking at 07:02 PM JST - 13th June

What an insightful comment this is! Why would anybody need to be carrying a large knife? I think I hear your mother calling you.

Wow, I can hear your mother too Fair Dinkum! How about we leave the childish comments at that?

A large knife you say? At the lower part of the 'good reason' range in the Swords and Firearms Control Law we have 6cm. If you don't have access to a ruler, that's around the size of a man's little finger. At the top of the range we have 15cm - about from the tip of said little finger to the wrist.

Near the 6cm limit we have my Swiss Army knife - with such deadly accessories as a toothpick, tweezers, corkscrew, can-opener, bottle-opener, scissors, saw, 4 cm blade and 6.2 cm blade. Really not dangerous at all. Very useful, both in engineering and hiking and general life. But get stopped by the wrong cop...welcome to jail...criminal!

Near the 15cm limit we have Stanley knives (or box-cutters as I think they're called in other countries). Useful in art and carpentry - you can see hundereds in any Japanese school. Dangerous - but not really deadly.

A pal of mine taught English, and did a lot of carpentry on the side in a Japanese senior high school. Had Stanley Knifes and other 'dangerous' items on his person often whilst going to and from school...I guess he was lucky not to get stopped by any cops. I guess that would also be the case for another pal of mine who did a lot of art-projects in school.

Over the limit: 15cm+...lets see - various kitchen knives, usually bread knives and chopping knives. Have you ever been to a pot-luck or a barbecue? I've been to a few, and people have good reason to bring kitchen knives to them. Would their reasons satisfy the police?

You may think there's no good reason for carrying such large knives, but I don't agree.
Nessie at 08:44 PM JST - 13th June

I would like to carry one when I go camping, is that illegal now?

Just don't run over any bears with your van.
Zen_Builder at 05:22 AM JST - 14th June

Those 6cm and 15cm are the measurement of the Blade NOT the knife.

Reason for the 6cm is simple that is the length of the blade that can be stuck into a persons chest without reaching the heart, alternate measurement is if the blade laid across your palm exceeds it is considered deadly)or the length of your index finger.

Kitchen-knifes, etc are NOT good for stabbings but work best for slashing. I think they are considering banning stabbing knifes like daggers.

No one is talking about knifes that are used for specific purposes/professions like camping, etc. OTOH, if you carry a camping knife in Shibuya you might get some raised eye-brows from the cops.

If you watch the news and japanese telly especially the "24hr cop specials" you would get a better insight.

Example: There was one recently about problems in Yokohama and they started to search cars for weapons. One guy was stopped and asked to open his trunk at 23:00(11:00pm). Cop pulls out a baseball bat and asks the guy if he came from practice. Guy hums and homs, Cop told him if he said "Yes I am from practice" or had said "I forgot to take it out after practice" he would let it slide. But as the guy didn't have a good answer he has to ask what is the purpose of the bat in the car(sans glove, balls, etc). Same thing for overseas.

This is what the guys are talking about with good reason for being in possession and/or carrying.

People like usual are going overboard and assuming things without thinking them through. We all know how spotty JT reporting is and how much info the leave out of articles that we can find on other news sources.
Starviking at 11:59 AM JST - 14th June

No one is talking about knifes that are used for specific purposes/professions like camping, etc. OTOH, if you carry a camping knife in Shibuya you might get some raised eye-brows from the cops.

But look at what happened to Death Note co-creator Takeshi Obata:

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Shakujii Station officers pulled over his car in Tokyo's Nerima Ward Oizumimachi at 12:45am after seeing a head light that was out. Officer Shakujii questioned the author about the light issue and found him to be in posession a folding type army knife with a blade of 8.6cm in length. The knife was located in the car's internal console box. When asked about the knife Obata reportedly replied that it was for camping. According to the law one may not be in possession of cutlery with a blade in excess of 6cm in length unless they have legitimate reason. Breach of the law can be punished by a 30,000 Yen fine and/or imprisonment of up to 1 year.

Now folding type army knife sounds much more dangerous than Swiss Army knife, but as anyone who owns such a knife knows - they're pretty useless for attacking anyone. As reported, being a camping enthusiast is no excuse. 1 year in jail for being in posession of a pen-knife - ridiculous!

People like usual are going overboard and assuming things without thinking them through.

Seconded!
Zen_Builder at 12:21 PM JST - 14th June

Of course there are tons of camping grounds in Oizumimachi(Nerima-ku) and everybody goes camping there just after midnight.

That being the point was he coming from or going to camping that he needed a camping knife with him. Did he have the camping gear in his car?
Starviking at 12:38 PM JST - 14th June

That being the point was he coming from or going to camping that he needed a camping knife with him. Did he have the camping gear in his car?

More to the point, was his knife a serious danger to public safety?

Getting back to the 'coming from' or 'going to camping' - people forget to do things all the time. I have a serious problem with laws that criminalise people for forgetfulness - look at the gaijin card regulations!

Laws should be as sensible, logical, and effective as the lawmakers can make them. Of course, the problem is the lawmakers. They're not only a problem in Japan - but it would be nice if Japan make efforts to have sensible laws...
damexicanbuda at 07:55 AM JST - 15th June

All daggers and army style knives should be made illegal! We hav to many idiots in Japan, both Japanese and take your pick of anythother nationality.It is too easy to kill with these knives, they were made for fighting in wars NOT CAMPING! They should all be banned! NOW!!!!
Starviking at 10:52 AM JST - 15th June

damexicanbuda,

Do you know that Swiss Army knives, which are so useful in camping are pen-knives - and were not designed for 'fighting in wars'?

As for the daggers - I'm in full agreement.
damexicanbuda at 11:39 PM JST - 15th June

Thanks dear Starviking, Swiss Army knives not designed or "fighting wars" yes i do know this but when I visited Hong Kong I was forced to turn my beloved Swiss Army Knife over to the Hong Kong Customs Authorities, I guess they know that even a small, cute Swiss Army Knife in the hands of a trained terrorist can bring down a plane. (I am no terrorist so I was just sad to part with my dear Swiss Army Knife.)
Starviking at 07:31 AM JST - 16th June

That's terrible!

Was it in a carry-on bag or hold luggage?
rondh69 at 12:22 PM JST - 17th June

OK, you can ban a Gerber combat knife, but what about all those Iron Chef quality kitchen knives? C'mon, some of these would do just fine as combat knives...
chardk1 at 01:23 PM JST - 17th June

It's all just a function of the Japanese tendency to demand that the government coddle them into oblivion. Seriously, I am no libertarian but it is crazy how the Japanese man/woman on the street's response to EVERYTHING from low birth rates to unemployment to metabolic syndrome to crazy killers is "we need more laws controlling people's behavior somehow."

I realize you don't want people carrying stilettos or whatever, but at the end of the day as people have pointed out, almost anything can be acquired if you don't care about legal consequences and Kato clearly did not, so I don't know how the Akihabara incident would have been prevented by stricter knife purchasing laws. Short of outlawing using your hands, how could this tragedy have been averted??
sageb1 at 11:57 AM JST - 19th June

Banning knives is pointless. Since the root of the problem isn't knives but bullying, teasing and chil abuse, parents need to abandon the concept of children and sometimes women as chattel. Child abuse is definitely at the root of such "massacres"!

Now as for people objecting to the threat to families by the State, this is far from the knee-jerk reaction of a knife and pedestrian ban. My suggestion address the root of the problem.

The consideration by police of a ban on knives does not!
andrewfx51 at 06:03 PM JST - 19th June

The sword law is what took swords from the samurai in the first place - and there was no Charlton Heston or Ken Watanabe to stop them!!!! (some tried though) While banning pocket knives, let us also ban toothpicks, umbrellas, metal cutlery, badly designed bras (try taking one of them off one handed, and watch it take a bite out of your finger!), overly sharpened pencils, feather dusters and bell peppers (cause I got bell peppers banned, I would be a hero to a generation of Japanese primary school kids)