2 stabbed to death, 5 wounded by Chinese man in Hiroshima Pref

just what we need .... not!

who needs gun? ban the knife!!!

@mikihouse Ban the knife ? What are you thinking ? where does it end with people like you. I understand the gun thing to a point. But look where the ban on survival knifes went. People just move to kitchen knives are you going to ban them too ?

@mikihouse Ban the knife ? Are you stupid ? where does it end with people like you. I understand the gun thing to a point. But look where the ban on survival knifes went. People just move to kitchen knives are you going to ban them too ?

THEGONGSHOW, it's pretty obvious Mikihouse is being tongue in cheek, and is most likely pro-gun, since pro-gun people can be relied on to come out with that kind of comment every time there's a stabbing.

Mikihouse, how many people do you think might have died if he'd had a gun? I would say a lot more.

This is very regrettable!!

This could have been perpetrated by a person from any other nationality, inclusive Japanese. What I know is that a lot of exchange students from China had been cheated of their wages. Let's wait to see what his motives were, (and there is no excuse for what he did). He took the law in his own hands, and it does not work that way.

Nice way to show your appreciation to your host country.

Ban the knife ? What are you thinking ? where does it end with people like you. I understand the gun thing to a point. But look where the ban on survival knifes went. People just move to kitchen knives are you going to ban them too? after that how far are you willing to go ?

Here in Scotland going around outside with a blade longer than 3" will have you down the cop shop quicker than you can say "sponge".

Back on topic, and this is just shocking... why is it that in such a relatively peaceful country like Japan these murders and attempted murders always seem so out of proportion? I mean, a knife AND a shovel? I hope the injured people can recover and RIP to the two who died at the hands of this madman.

"Exchange student" in this case means "worker trainee" - which might better be translated as "indentured worker." Companies are allowed to bring in foreign employees under the pretext of training and often (but not always) treat them terribly. Their passports are at times confiscated, their wages garnered for various fees, they are taught nothing that they could not learn by doing the same thing in their own country - and, after two years, they are sent back, never to return.

I have little doubt this was a reaction to such a situation. The Japanese government needs to tighten its control over this guest worker program.

i have a taiwanese friend working here who told me he feels like his life is being milked out, by working long hours but very low pay and feels somehow cheated. If this is the case then its really bad. Companies should treat workers equally and with respect regardless of nationality.

..but I condemn physical injuries, threats as well as murder, no matter what the situation, there must be a civilized solution.

Laguna "Exchange student" in this case means "worker trainee" - which might better be translated as "indentured worker." Companies are allowed to bring in foreign employees under the pretext of training and often (but not always) treat them terribly.

Exchange student workers are usually paid very little. I'm thinking that this student blew up because he could not take the strict BS companies policies that small J-companies usually get away with.

He should just have quit the company instead of risking his life behind bars!

This could have been perpetrated by a person from any other nationality, inclusive Japanese.

This could have been perpetrated by a person from any other nationality, ESPECIALLY Japanese. There I fixed it for you. How did they know he was Chinese?

Wow! This is pretty bad. I am curious about what ticked him off. On the other hand though, what has that last statement got to do with anything? It happened when they are cleaning oysters? Is there some kind of connection or was the article too short?

just as always I have thought,... BACKSTABBING COWARDS. hope someday these kinds of people meet their match in a frenzy karmatic way!

@ axle14 - "these kinds of people"? "Backstabbing cowards"? Who are "they" you allude to? The article mentions only one perpetrator. Please explain. Rest in peace to the poor victims of this maniac. Harshest possible penalty is deserved.

this wasn't mentioned on NHK's news 7.

Now, 2 possibly 3 Murders (considering how many die in the hospital) can qualify for The Death Penalty

Unpremeditated, so probably no death penalty.

If he didn't like his job, he should have left!

Nessie at Mar. 14, 2013 - 11:49PM JST Now, 2 possibly 3 Murders (considering how many die in the hospital) can qualify for The Death Penalty

Unpremeditated, so probably no death penalty.

Good Point Nessie...I realize now how those Psycho Moms that Kill their kids in Japan are getting off the Hook - its Not Premeditated - It's Post Partum...I guess.

The incident occurred when about 10 people were scraping oysters from shells at the plant, public broadcaster NHK said, adding the attacker was a trainee worker there.

If they were all scraping oysters, they all had knives.

I guess we're just gonna ignore all the weird death threats above...

@Tamara: Who's only hosting him because he's doing a job no one wants to do. I hope you never leave your country to see how you'd act.

I can totally see the "indentured worker" thing. The article needs to be a lot less vague with the language. First, they keep calling the place where it happened a "firm", which brings to mind suits and offices. Then, they suddenly switch gears and say a plant where people were shucking oysters. Which is it? Was this guy a management trainee or a cheap oyster shucker???

Unless someone is holding a gun to your head and making you work there, its no excuse to kill people to take our your frustrations in life. Especially attacking innocents

Even if this worker was getting treated badly and not paid well, it was ultimately his choice to stay there and keep working.

If he was upset at his situation in life, he should have left the company, and moved on to something else. Not stab and kill as many co-workers as possible

These types of violent behavior by foreign workers will continue to increase. The Japanese government and the ministries do not want Japan to become an immigration country and they don't want to change the cultural and social integrity, so they have a rather hands-off approach. That hands-off approach leading to abuses. When the J-government made unannounced inspections to firms employing foreign trainees last year it found that 80% of them were breaking the laws on pay and working conditions. Some of these workers were treated very badly by their companies. Many foreign workers discovers a disparity between his pay and that of other workers, but when they complained they are told that if he did not like it he could go back to your own country. Many foreign workers here do the same work as Japanese workers. The job description, the working hours are the same. But the salary and treatment are so different. There is a need for stiffer penalties for companies that mistreat workers. But this is Japan. Nothing will change.

The man killed two people, he has no excuses for that and deserves no pity. I wonder how great his working conditions in China would have been?

informed of “a brawl involving men and women with several people lying in blood”,

I wonder if the subject of the brawl stemmed from a Sekaku Islands comment.

Unpremeditated, so probably no death penalty.

How do you know it was unpremeditated?

@ TheDevilsAssistant - I'm not so sure an oyster shucking factory would be a hotbed of international political debate - I'm prepared to stand corrected if wrong though. No news yet on the nationalities of the poor victims? I'm suspecting a few if not all are/were foreign.

BurakuminDes-If it did stem from the subject of the disputed islands, I wouldn't come after you forcing a retractment of your opinion. LoL!

I just mentioned it because the Chinese, (or the reactions I have seen on the news), get can get pretty steamed up about the island issues. Anyways, I hope that was not the issue that set this guy off on his rampage.

Unfortunately this incident undoubtedly will send Japan back another 5-10 years in opening up to the idea of foreign immigration.

@dcog9065 not unfortunately! Japan would be as bad as any other country if it did. Japan should be especially careful with immigration of Chinese and Koreans.

@CGB Spender - Well unlike European countries who are experiencing similar demographic changes to Japan, Japan has no real immigration to speak of to ease the population decline and dipping productivity. Incidents like the one reported in this article only serve to reinforce the opposition that Japanese people have in general of foreigners being let into their country to work.

Nessie,

Unpremeditated, so probably no death penalty.

Premeditated or not has very little to do with criminal penalty in Japanese criminal law. "Intention to kill at the moment of crime" is the most important factor and other news reports say he has already confessed the intention to kill. Since the number of the dead is 2, he is likely to receive capital punishment. By saying, "I did not mean to kill, I just wanted to injure." one has some chance of avoiding death sentence.

A poor working condition of foreign working trainees is the real problem. Japanese government should do something to stop exploitation of foreign trainees.

This Hiroshima Company president must have been treating this worker like crap, maybe yelled at him, making him look stupid or lazy in front of the other workers and then the Chinese dude just snapped!! Moral of the story, respect your hard workers!!

Just saw the daughter interviewed on TV. She was speaking through tears that her father, the CEO who was murdered, would invite him over for dinner and also regularly give him rice and vegetables so he could send more money back home. She felt betrayed and I felt anger in her words when she said that their family's kindness was repayed with murder.

If he is feeling sad from poor wages and long hours go back to China and see how good it is. You come here as a guest to my country and you do this! Shame on you!

We don't need he is Chinese or not. And why do they say he is believed to Chinese and they say it twice!!!

I work for an excellent company as just a part time nights production worker. Its Watami. I think the president of the company and the management treat all workers well and fairly. But I can imagine his frustration with what he likely has to put up with while working with his co workers. I work with older people in their 50s and 60s and they make no secret of their dislike for foreigners and foreign workers in general. Yet, they like me as a person. I perform pretty much in the middle of the pack but cant get through one day without being told something extremely elementary. The men refer to me only by my last name yobisute. Only me. I am not young. I will be 50 in June. Its annoying and I have to shut their predjudice out to do my job. I am very supportive of the company. Its a great company. I just wish they could understand that in a global economy I wont be the last foreigner they see. When I hear only my last name, I feel as though they are disrespecting not just me but my entire family. I feel very sad sometimes.

I read all the comments and cant hold back to say something to some of you.

Alot of you jumped immediately at the victim. Accusing them to be bad slavers, acists and ctiminals whome pushed the guy to snap. Non of you called them the names I just said but what you write sounds like that and is implicating that they treat him like shit.

I dont see any indication to suggest that in this article. How you guys can make up a story like that from a article which is just saying that a chinese guy stabbed a CEO and coworkers?!

I'm also a foreigner and I just see a guy who did a bad crime. Oh and I see that the article is not mantioning his name, that looks wierd to me. Why not? I dont think he is under 21 so why hiding his name? WIerd.

All gaijins wanna be treated equal but you guys dont treat this japanese victims equal. Think about what you write before you judge people you dnt know more about then a few sentences.

Tamarama, The host is not always friendly from the start!! Especially in the countryside... They can be but usually only to us westerners!! Open your mind!

What the guy did is clearly wrong. Over the years we constantly here of HUGE problems with Japans ""training programs"", many trainees have died, lots of passports taken, wages pilfered or not paid at all,etc etc.

The program is a disaster & its ONLY so companies can hire slave like labour & pocket ca$h in the vast majority of situations.

Unfortunately we will NEVER hear the truth as the media in japan is ALL highly censored, so you ALWAYS need to take that into account, its unlikely we will ever know what REALLY happened & why, so we all get to speculate as usual.

Given the nature of this ""training"" Japan offers I know where I'd put my bet on if the truth would ever see the light of day

I heard today that the prez & this slaves boss would lay into him day in & day out & he SNAPPED

It appears the person on tv shedding tears about home cooked meals etc, just may be lieing!

As I said the media here WONT report the truth in all likelyhood...............

Premeditated or not has very little to do with criminal penalty in Japanese criminal law. "Intention to kill at the moment of crime" is the most important factor and other news reports say he has already confessed the intention to kill. Since the number of the dead is 2, he is likely to receive capital punishment. By saying, "I did not mean to kill, I just wanted to injure." one has some chance of avoiding death sentence.

Can you point to a garden-variety killing (i.e., not cops or kids, not involving kidnapping, not involving extreme viciousness) of two people that resulted in the death penalty in Japan? It was my understanding that capital punishment in Japan was for premeditated killings, usually of several victims.

Ah, found some stuff from Wiki: "The death penalty is ordinarily imposed in cases of multiple murders involving aggravating factors."

And the rough guidelines:

Degree of viciousness

Motive

How the crime was committed; especially the manner in which the victim was killed.

Outcome of the crime; especially the number of victims.

Sentiments of the bereaved family members.

Impact of the crime on Japanese society.

Defendant's age (in Japan, someone is a minor until the age of 20).

Defendant's previous criminal record.

Degree of remorse shown by the defendant.

The most recent executions, in February, were of the following (BBC News)

The three men hanged were indentified as Kaoru Kobayashi, 44, who killed a seven-year-old girl, Masahiro Kanagawa, 29, who killed one man and injured seven others outside a Tokyo shopping mall in 2008, and Keiki Muto, 62, who killed a bar owner for money in 2002.

As for the other posters' point on whether it was premeditated, I concede that we don't know if it was unpremedidated, but from the limited information above it sounds like it happened suddenly in the middle of a work shift, which would tend to favor the conclusion that it was not premeditated.

Nessie, homicide is classified as follows in Japan.

Murder (Article199) up to death penalty

Injury causing in death (Article205) up to 20 years in prison

Causing death through negligence during activity (Article211) up to 5 years in prison

Causing death through negligence (Article210) up to 500,000 yen fine

If one has intention to kill, it is murder. If one has intention to injure, it is injury causing death. If one does not have any intention to harm, it is negligence. As long as one has no intention to kill, one will not receive death penalty regardless of the number of victims. If one premeditates to injure, he may receive longer sentence in "Injury causing death" category, but no death penalty. If one has intention to kill and the number of victims is 2, death penalty is most likely, unless there is convincing reason to reduce penalty and lack of premeditation is no such reason. By the way, I have not yet heard article 210 was actually used.