I'm worried that Japanese society is becoming one in which people cannot feel safe. It is a very serious problem and we have to fully examine its cause and background first.

Friday 25th July, 08:15 AM JST

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, commenting on the latest random killing. (Kyodo)

Latest 15 of 22 Total Comments Show All

cleo at 11:54 AM JST - 25th July

The media runs riot with the actions of a handful of nutters, and suddenly the whole country is in a state of panic. And people from countries with much higher violent crime rates fall over themselves in the rush to tell us what's wrong with Japan.

The reason PM Fukuda is worried is that if people cannot feel safe they're going to blame it on his policies and vote him out at the next election. NO need to worry, Mr. PM - you're out anyway. With higher taxes and higher still promised, cuts in public services, lost pensions, snatching money from the oldies and throwing the senile old out on the streets all the while that the bureaucrats are siphoning off cash for themselves and their buddies and throwing non-existent money at money-losing, hare-brained public works, the LDP doesn't have a snowball in hell's chance at the next election.

Meanwhile all that gaman and pent-up emotion is apparently sending Japan down the slippery slope to Western normality. A pity, but there's still a long, long long way to go. People in Japan still have a higher perception of personal safety than people in Belgium, France, Switzerland, UK, Italy, Australia or New Zealand. So what are those countries doing wrong?
Patto at 01:30 PM JST - 25th July

Despite the well publicized recent killings in Japan, I feel a lot safer here than I do in the US and somewhat safer than in Australia or Canada. Japan always had the occasional shocking crime committed by some social misfit. A person's chances of being a victim of one are still really tiny. We should be asking what Japan is doing right.
Jooooon at 01:49 PM JST - 25th July

As Japan is one of the safest countries in the world (and the crime rate is shrinking, regardless of what the saturation coverage-likely modeled on western TV news-style reporting, such as on CNN and Fox news-of rare and dramatic incidents implies), I wonder if those on this thread blaming "culture" for these crimes would also then give credit to the same culture that has created such a safe society.

There are some incredible oversimplifications being stated here.
TPOJ at 02:03 PM JST - 25th July

Too little pride in Japanese ways of doing things and too much importantion of Western ways of doing things such as The increase in meritocratic management practices that hire and fire.

This statement has so much wrong with it I don't even know where to begin.

1- "Too little pride in Japanese ways." Both nutjobs have explicitly stated that pressure from work caused them to snap. The pressure can be accurately described as VERY Japanese, and it was their very Japanese refusal to stand up for themselves that led to their deteriorated mental state. Your opening phrase does not stand up to basic logic.

2- "Too much importation of the Western way of doing things" What, like technology? Modern business? Democratic government? The foundations of Western society have been irreparably adapted, and it's the attempt to squeeze modern life into laughably outdated codes of conduct that has led to these situations.

3- "such as the increase in meritocratic management practices" Any first year business student will tell you that meritocratic business practices are only a problem if your pool of employees are imbeciles. Is this seriously what you want to argue?

Feminism and the increasing power of Japanese women. They were always strong but now it is pretty overpowering, especially for people like Sato.

4- So, you're arguing that since some Japanese men are too spineless to handle a woman as a functioning adult, the women should infantalize themselves.

The use of talking based 'councelling' in a non logocentric culture.

5- That point would only be relevant if counseling was actually happening, which it isn't. Also..."Non logocentric"? That's an awfully pretty way of saying "primitive." Japanese people don't care about truth? Seriously? WTF are all these schools for, then?

Your main problem is that your "points" only make sense if Japanese people are spineless, inferior beings. They're not. Hence, your argument only makes sense when applied to a more specific group, like "crazed, mentally weak idiots like the guys in Akihabara, or timtak."

For a guy (you HAVE to be a guy) who's trying to defend Japanese culture, you certainly seem to have an extremely low opinion of Japanese people.
nigelboy at 02:07 PM JST - 25th July

Chances of getting stabbed by these recent nutjobs are less than getting hit by a lightening.
sallysky at 02:10 PM JST - 25th July

This morning, I talked about the issue with my mother-in law. She told me she sometimes feels fear about a stranger's stabbing my grandchildren at supermarkets and even on the road. Certainly, I feel nervous about such kind of incident, especially when walking on the road and going shopping at supermarkets with my son. Every day I can hear and watch and read the news and article on TV and in the newspaper. Mass communication has a big influence on the people's feeling in the society, I guess. They scatter many facts and information about the cruel incidents freely. Sometimes I try to operate and manage the quality of the information on TV for my son. For the children , they are susceptible to the wrong or cruel scene and information form TV. We tend to be at TV's mercy. Don't make the people unrest.Luckily, I don't have much time to watch TV...lately.
Alphaape at 04:25 PM JST - 25th July

Not to belittle the stabbings, but I think that there have all ways been these types of behaviors in Japan (as well as other countries) where nut jobs go beserk and do these types of things. I think that with the rise of the 24/7 newsday and internet, these incidents that where only known locally can now be pushed all over Japan and the world in a matter of minutes rather than being held back or reported on very little.

This still is no answer to why people go off on tangents, but I think that it helps to feed the frenzy of not feeling safe. Like it or not, blood sells. It is better (ratings wise) for a station to pump out hours of coverage from every angle on a tragedy such as this, than to try to cover some other story.

Some of the other reasons that people have posted (society values, over work, etc) I believe contribute to the problem, but without a support structure out there to help people who do feel these stressful situations, they will only act out on what they see on the TV and continue to copycat these types of crimes.
borscht at 08:32 PM JST - 25th July

Not being well-versed in Japanese history, I wonder if these sorts of stabbings - random and done by crazed men - ever happened in the past (not even the distant past but say, in the last 100 years or so.) And if so, how many?
ca1ic0cat at 08:55 PM JST - 25th July

Well said Cleo. My only observation is that this type of thing seems to have increased in the last 20 years. That's not based on any statistic, just IMHO. But I think Cleo is right that this is a downward spiral to western behavour where, unfortunately, murder is all too common.
usaexpat at 11:33 PM JST - 25th July

I'll give you the number one casuse as the old saying in America goes "it's the economy stupid". People are under more and more pressure with diminishing rewards in this stagnant economy. Look the world over: economy goes down, murders and suicides go up. Yes there are social issues at play but they were papered over during the boom years. Japan is suffering from a collective funk about the economy which for the last 50 years has been what made them a world power without an army. In the 80s and early 90s there were few freeters or neets or contract workers, people worked crazy hours for their companies with the belief that they would be rewarded with job security and financial stability. The problem these days is people are rewarded with neither if they can even find full time regular work. The more desparation people feel the more likely they are to come un-hinged especially in a pressure cooker like Japanese society.
vawiha at 01:02 AM JST - 26th July

tokyokawasaki, you're exactly right! In addition, most people are so caught up in materialism and greed, brainwashed my the corporate-controlled mainstream media and the "system", they are afraid to express who they are as individuals. People need to reflect on their purpose in life, get out of the "matrix" and into Nature and enjoy your life, find your passion, before it passes you by!
vawiha at 01:06 AM JST - 26th July

And, how do you react when you see a violent crime reported on TV? You react with a negative emotion, and feelings of anger or vengeance surface. That is how the mainstream media wants you to react, keeping you in a state of fear and negative emotions. This, on a massive mind control is one of the main causes of violence and people going crazy.

On the other hand, how do you react when you hear the waves crashing on the beach, or birds singing in the forest, or looking at beautiful flowers or trees? How do you react when you hear of good news? Of course, you react with positive feelings.

MAKE A CHOICE - HOW DO YOU WANT TO FEEL?
nigelboy at 07:45 AM JST - 26th July

Not being well-versed in Japanese history, I wonder if these sorts of stabbings - random and done by crazed men - ever happened in the past (not even the distant past but say, in the last 100 years or so.) And if so, how many?

I read on Sankei Shinbun two days ago that these 通り魔 "random" incidents has totaled 8 thus far this year equaling the number for last year combined. In the past ten years, it's been a range between 4~10 incidents per year.
timtak at 05:33 PM JST - 28th July

Dear TPOJ As others have pointed out, there is something about Japanese culture that encourages people not to commit violent crime towards others at least (I read somewhere that unnatural death is about the same in Japan as in the US, but while Americans were blowing away others, the Japanese were toppping themselves). So pride in and continuation of Japanese cultural ways, including workways, may decrease crime.

I am not sure what aspect of their work the killers found stressful. What makes you sure it was a Japanese style of working environmentt? Could it not rather have been a Western style employment situation that caused the stress?

A lot of technology goes from Japan to the West but anyway, I mentioned a few instances of Japanese ways of doing things. I don't think that Japan has "laughably outdated codes of conduct." Please tell me what these might be.

Yes, I seriously want to argue that meritocratic management practices may be inappropriate in Japan, and not because anyone is an imbecile.

I did not say that Japanese women should infantalise themselves, but I think that you would be right to say that they do. Is that bad? I said that Western style feminism would be out of place here. Do Japanese women want to be "handled"?

I don't consider the Japanese to be spineless or inferior either. But I agree that they would appear that way when viewed from your standards.
timtak at 05:34 PM JST - 28th July

Sorry, I meant to say, I mentioned a few instances of Western ways of doing things.