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Video of Knife-wielding Psycho’s Rampage

A knife-wielding 16-year-old boy attacked several people on the streets of Tokyo Saturday afternoon:

Around 3:20 p.m., the boy, carrying kitchen knives in both hands, was seen slashing wildly at one pedestrian after another, shouting, “I’m going to kill you!”

Two women aged 30 and 42 sustained minor injuries to the back and chest, while three other people, including an 18-year-old girl, escaped with slashed clothes, police said.

When he was apprehended, another knife was found hidden inside one of his shoes, the police said. Each knife was about 27 to 28 cm long.

The incident terrorized the area, which was crowded with shoppers on the first Saturday of the year.

Part of the terrifying scene was caught by a surveillance camera. Pedestrians can be seen running away, with the teenager passing in front of the camera a few seconds later:

21 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - January 7, 2008 at 4:19 pm

Categories: Japanese TV Tags: crime, japan, knife, news, teen

http://alecinjapan.com Alec

It’s interesting the camera filming the scene was a little one in the private building. If this was the UK (which is notorious for having CCTV cameras everywhere) there’d be cameras everywhere doing close-ups, butt-ups, knife-ups; not that that seems to deter British criminals much.
yop

Japanese gun regulation works.

Buster

If you got two guys, both deciding to go on a killing spree, who do you want to encounter less, the one with a knife or the one with a pistol and a shotgun?

reptile

To be honest neither, but you can always outrun/or disarm a person with a knife, with a gun it is a whole new game of luck.
shazzb0t

The guy with the knife without a doubt.

At any rate, yop’s comment has fuck all to do with the situation under discussion.

Rob A

Actually, Yop’s comment is spot-on. If there wasn’t as much gun regulation in Japan this kid could’ve gone on a killing spree instead of giving a couple of obaa-sans a cut on the back, and cutting off some girl’s shirt.
shazzb0t

coulda-woulda-shoulda.. to be honest the fact that japan has one of the lowest crime rate in the world shows that its gun policies are working just fine. that speaks louder than NRA propaganda my friend.

erika88

Yep.

shazzb0t

This kid is a pussy. Life is tough kid. You can’t just go and try to kill 30 year old women because your gf dumped your or your dad scolded you for being such a dumb shit.

Chris

I bet there’s a bit more involved than that.

shazzb0t

Besides obvious anger issues he had relationship problems. I called it.

http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/424321

Asuka

Relationships mean different things to different people, and are especially emphasized in a collectivist socity such as Japan. I wouldn’t say this teenager is weak or a “pussy”; those problems must have been very stressful for him.
shazzb0t

Yeah, well while you are holding the empty hand of this knife wielding maniac’s hand telling him its going to be ok, I’ll be trying to stay out of his way.

You can’t blame society for every terrible act the individual commits. Perhaps that is what they taught you in school, but the reality is that individuals make their own choices. So what he was rejected by his gf and is then out of an in group which he used to be apart of (ala collectivist society that you mentioned) it still doesn’t make his ‘lashing’ out at the world understandable.

Karisu

Wouldn’t a pussy just sit in his room and cry? Least the kid took action!

shazzb0t

Good point, but still, if you are going to take action at least take action on someone stronger than you.

http://www.neilduckett.com Neil Duckett

Saw all the press, didnt know to much detail until now though.
Pingback: En Tokio, un adolescente aterroriza a los transeuntes con dos cuchillos [ING]
morningstar

I very troubled with this report of a 16 year old teen trying to slash people. My concern is I hope this teen will be living in a well supervised gaurded institution mental treatment for life.

Asuka

But just locking him up doesn’t solve the problem. He needs psychological help and counselling, and should be given a second chance.

Karisu

I have the oddest sensations of “meh” and “yawn” reading and watching this. Probably has something to do with being a jaded desensitized American.
http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

To those of you whinging about gun control in Japan (especially the dude who writes at japanlost.blogspot.com if he reads this website):

Kitchen knives have a drastically shorter range of threat than handguns. All you’d need is a sturdy coat rack or even just a metallic folding chair to pin the kid to the ground and kick the knife away from him. Not that I’m saying I would jump out of my seat at the opportunity to volunteer to restrain a knife wielding kid with emotional problems, but it’s a much easier problem to solve than the same kid holding an instrument that projects high velocity, controlled shrapnel just by squeezing your finger a little bit closer to your palm.

More of a problem are automobiles. I’d say they might even be more dangerous than hand guns. (Remember what happened in Sendai a couple years ago?) You can also do some serious damage with yellow #2 pencils, especially in the eye area. Thinking that since anything can be made into a weapon, all weapons should be available to citizens is a fallacy.

Video of Knife-wielding Psycho’s Rampage

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