Akihabara › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

Monday 09th June, 01:54 PM JST

A woman cries on her friend’s shoulder Monday in front of a flower stand set up as a memorial to victims of Sunday’s stabbing spree in Akihabara. The site continued to draw a steady stream of visitors despite the rain.
PHOTO BY TARO FUJIMOTO

Latest 15 of 33 Total Comments Show All

nisegaijin at 10:52 PM JST - 9th June

...and that kind of punishment would make you any better than him, would it? I don't think so

This has nothing to do with me. It's about making that subhuman piece of sh!t suffer.
timorborder at 11:27 PM JST - 9th June

Something bright and cheerful would have gone down better today. I agree with this sentiment entirely.
eresay at 12:17 AM JST - 10th June

I'm surprised only westurn has commented on the guy in the background taking pictures of people hurting. It just keeps getting weirder...
lipscombe at 12:19 AM JST - 10th June

why not criticise the guy who took the picture you are looking at? only ok for journalists?
CrunchySaru at 01:10 AM JST - 10th June

A terrible tragedy. If the death penalty helps the family even slightly get over their grief then the death penalty is what he should receive in my opinion.

As far as the guy with the cell phone yes that was one of the first things I noticed about this photo too. camera's are everyplace today though so I am not surprised. The photo is probably on Flickr, Google , My Space or another website someplace.
KitsuneYoukai at 01:22 AM JST - 10th June

What was nice to see from such a horrible tragedy is Japanese people showing empathy with the whole incident and the victims. Posters here are always talking about how Japanese people are becoming desensitized when it comes to incidents like this and other type tragedies. I was glad to see that si not the case.
Everton2 at 03:05 AM JST - 10th June

"And he was such a polite and quiet guy" said his neighbors.
WhiteHawk at 03:45 AM JST - 10th June

tkoind2:

Japan has a growing number of alienated, hopeless people who are detached from society around them and no longer capable of empathy or compassion.

It's not just Japan. America is also cultivating an entire generation that is increasingly self-centered, with kids obsessing over their hand-held gaming device instead of conversing with their family and developing healthy social skills. I doubt Europe is much different.

This event is a tragedy is so many ways. Perhaps if Japan's society was more open to psychiatry and talk-therapy? This man obviously realized something was wrong, but the choice he made only made things worse. If he hated life before, wait until he sees the inside of a Japanese prison.
frontandcentre at 11:16 AM JST - 10th June

Hopefully he will be put away for a very, very long time. Killing him won't make anything better - and the families of the victims are never the people to ask, because they can't look at the case objectively. I think he must be mentally ill, and thus requires treatment
westurn at 03:12 PM JST - 10th June

Speaking of pictures, anyone else out there catch the phot's from todays yomiuri ? Front page has what appears to be a brown haired gaijin applying pressure to one of the victims. Anyone know who he is ? Also, check out the 'Bachan standing in the middle of the street all google eyed ! Blank exressionless face... speaks volumes ! Then there are all the people taking photos of the three victims as they die in the streets ! Question ! What exactly are you going to do with those photos ? I mean how sick is that ! Some of these people have telephoto lenses ! WTF for ? Is this something you really feel the need to photograph ? To show who ? When ? "Hey grams come on over here, I got some great photos of them people that got knifed in Akihabara !" "Yeh, just look at all that blood !" "Hey anyone for some ocha and sembei ?" Sick folks ! Really sick !!!
white_rabbit at 04:20 PM JST - 10th June

westurn wrote

there are all the people taking photos of the three victims as they die in the streets ! ... Is this something you really feel the need to photograph ?...sick folks ! Really sick !!!

You never know what purpose an image might come to serve. Perhaps they document the valiant efforts of rescuers. Perhaps they could be useful in court. Do you suppose that photograhy of war atrocities is equally sick?
westurn at 04:28 PM JST - 10th June

WR, lets not speculate too much on war atrocities... I don't think we have that situation here. Lets just say that rubber neckers and looky loos bustin' out the digitals to photo victims bleeding to death in the streets... instead of maybe helping... is sick and wrong ! Lets hope you are not such an individual... you never know when you might find yourself on the other end of the lens with some guy saying... "hey I'm making a document" !
white_rabbit at 05:24 PM JST - 10th June

look, a picture like that could help with this:

TOKYO — Police on Tuesday said one of the male victims who survived Sunday’s Akihabara stabbing spree was found to be infected with hepatitis B. Police are asking anyone who helped give the victims emergency aid or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to visit their doctor for an immediate medical check.

The Manseibashi police station in Akihabara is asking anyone who gave emergency aid to the victims to call them at 03- 3257-0110).
white_rabbit at 05:53 PM JST - 10th June

instead of maybe helping... is sick and wrong !

Many of those amateur photos made it into the mainstream news. Only so many people can help a victim. Do you know how to stabilize someone and provide first responder medical care?

Lets hope you are not such an individual... you never know when you might find yourself on the other end of the lens...

No question: if I was there I'd be taking pictures.
dany505 at 07:19 AM JST - 13th June

a picture says a 1000 words