2 dead, including child, in stabbing attack in Japan

[WillBrink]

2 dead, including child, in stabbing attack in Japan

TOKYO (AP) — Authorities say 16 people, including elementary school children, have been stabbed in an attack in Kawasaki, outside of Tokyo. One adult and one child have died.

Fire officials tell the Kyodo news agency that a man has been detained in the attack.

It wasn’t immediately clear how serious the other injuries are.

https://apnews.com/466833b7e5fe400f8...source=Twitter

[Sam]

Apparently, the attacker committed suicide after he was done with his stabbing spree.

[WillBrink]

Apparently, the attacker committed suicide after he was done with his stabbing spree.

He went all Seppuku?

[WickedWillis]

He went all Seppuku?

Bet it wasn't traditional

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Bet it wasn't traditional

He’ll get it right next time...

[chadbag]

My wife is always reading these stories about public attacks in Japan (usually with knives). She reads Japanese press daily, being from there originally, and she is always telling me these things as she reads them. Usually as we are preparing to go on a trip there... She is a worrier. She hasn't mentioned this one yet.

Japan is an interesting place. Very group oriented, so lots of social pressure to conform. And lots of social pressure to be successful -- they have so-called "cram schools" for HS students to attend after school to prepare for college entrance exams and other similar things. Very high pressure. Some people can't take it and break and this is the sort of thing you get. An outburst against the society that they feel is pushing them down.

All in all, I feel quite safe wandering around in Tokyo, Osaka, etc., though there may be a small amount of "ignorance is bliss".

[Sam]

The attacker is 51 years old.

[chadbag]

The attacker is 51 years old.

Was this in relation to my post? The pressure cooker is not only for HS students. Everyone exists in it. Japan is very group oriented and therefore you sacrifice for the group, for society. And the need to always "excel" (at least in public), at school, in the job, etc. is very high pressure for a lot of people. Not everyone deals with it well.

[sundance435]

Was this in relation to my post? The pressure cooker is not only for HS students. Everyone exists in it. Japan is very group oriented and therefore you sacrifice for the group, for society. And the need to always "excel" (at least in public), at school, in the job, etc. is very high pressure for a lot of people. Not everyone deals with it well.

Yeah, as I understand it, there's no more brutal corporate/work culture than in Japan. We complain about the French having a 35-hour workweek, but it's common in Japan to have a 60-70+ hour workweek for years to try and move up, which isn't a given. Saw a special the other day about kids never leaving their parents' or never leaving their own place because the pressure is so high in the business world and to find a woman. The parents literally pay women (this is now a boutique business) to try and coax them out of their room/apartment and have normal human interactions. Their demographics are really in trouble.

[chadbag]

My wife finally brought this incident up today, and we were discussing it in general.

She mentioned that she talks to her friends from Japan that live here, or ones she meets (she met a bunch of Japanese women at Jazzercise whose husbands were working here for a year or two on work exchange or assignment, for example). A lot of them mentioned that they feel more able to let their hair down here in the US. To relax. And a lot of them, when they go back to Japan to visit, look forward to when they can get back to the US (Utah in this case) because of that. In Japan there is a very strong pressure to "conform" to societal expectations. Here in the US they don't feel the need to fix their hair and put make up on if they don't have time before leaving the house to take the kids to school. In Japan, that would be unthinkable (to them).

My wife also gave an example this morning that "May == Spring" so people are expected to wear "Spring" clothes, no matter the actual weather / temperature conditions. She says that people will look at you with that expression of "what is that you are wearing?" or "what, no makeup? What is that un-fixed hair of yours" type of looks.

The high pressure society is not one every one can stand to be in and wears you down and some people snap. This is why you "often" see these random acts of violence in Japan. "mass" knife attacks, or using cars to run into a group of people, or pushing people in front of trains.