Knife-wielding man holds woman hostage for 2 hours on Osaka street

He repeatedly yelled out for the media to come.

What an attention seeker, idiots needs to rot in jail for 10 years.

Another attention seeker. Maybe they lacked mother's love as children?

Mental illnes is more common than many realise, it only takes a small event to push some over the edge then you see irrational behaviour.

Along with the annual company health check they should also be doing psychological evaluations of the workers at the same time, this may uncover some of the unstable types before they loop out.

Becareful out there folks, nutters lurk in wait.

An unemployed old man looking to go to jail, perhaps?

Why wasn't he shot by sniper?

What an attention seeker, idiots needs to rot in jail for 10 years.

Another attention seeker. Maybe they lacked mother's love as children?

Why does this forum always want to punish these people instead of asking why are there so many cases like this?

One reason is that mental people are taken by police to a hospital where they clean their hands of them regardless of the crime then the hospital has to figure out what to do and so what can they do? so the guy ends up scott free no matter what.

The system is extremely unsatisfactory like in the Shinsaibashi case the Mayor said, he should have stabbed himself where as the Mayer should have said We need to make sure these people are dealt with properly instead of shoving the problem from department to department and eventually just letting them loose on society.

Japanese knifey summer starting again. Every year the same sh*t.

Poor woman must have been terrified. Glad this one ended relatively peacefully.

So, did the media go?

Why bother asking for the media if he had no interest in expressing a motive?

I'm sure the old man wasn't looking to kill her and they knew that. Sooner or later he would have had to go to the bathroom or something along those lines. I don't think he would want to relieve himself in public or take her into the mens room with him.

Happened at 9pm, I wonder if the man had been drinking too much? A reminder that we always have to be more aware in any city at night time when most drunks, druggies, and other "dodgy" people are doing what they do.

That poor woman must have been terrified. My heart goes out to her.

Can we be sure it wasn't manga and kawaii to blame? Seems like the reason for everything else the way many here tell it.

Scary now that even old age pensioners here are committing acts of extreme violence. Let's just hope this old violent man never sees sunlight again - and that the poor innocent lady can somehow recover mentally.

What is up with the geriatric crime wave this year? Very strange.

isn`t our comrade - i mean friend - mr. hashimoto the governor of osaka? what is with osaka that there are so many nuts there?

It says much about the undlying currents in Japan and its culture....

this might become the new norm in japan soon

Greetings from NYC home of @ a dozen gun killings a day. Knives? Not sure! (Looking forward to returning to my oh so peaceful Japan home...)

This isn't like the other cases recently. He asked for the media because wanted to have some attention. Since the previous knife attacker from Osaka got plenty of press, its a good opportunity to be cowardly copycat. If he really wanted the kill this woman, he would have done that before the police arrived.

At least he never ended up killing anyone. Sounds like there's an increase in nutters in Osaka, and I'll be sure to be looking over my shoulder next time I'm in town.

attention...maybe but this guy is like 65 years old why would he do any of that, shouldnt he be retired or something, or maybe he has all timers idk maybe he aint got much to lose.

Regardless of this nutjobs age, twice mine - he never deserves to see sunlight and freedom again.

"Along with the annual company health check they should also be doing psychological evaluations of the workers at the same time,"

That's one of the best ideas I've heard in a long time. Hope it gets followed up.

"idiot needs to rot in jail for 10 years”

Who's going to pay for that?

What's up with Osaka? To be honest I feel safe in Japan - but Osaka is the only joint here I have felt slightly worried in. Witnessed a scary all-in-brawl there in Dohtonbori in broad daylight a few years back. Osaka and Saitama: the dangerous joints in Japan?

And the Copycatting begins. Just hope this is the last one, but I'm not holding my breath

There is no evidence to suggest this guy is mentally ill (clincally speaking anyways) and its unfair to suggest that the govt is at fault. Why did it take two hours to resolve this? Didn't the police have some kind of plan for dealing with this?

Another attention seeker. Maybe they lacked mother's love as children?

Or perhaps dad's?

Perhaps Hashimoto could focus on such things rather than bullying teachers and government workers??

what's the governor going to have to say about this individual?

There seems to be a lot of this, could there be something in the water or food that's causing this kind of thing. I'm told there has been a spike at hospitals of nerve and skin disorders. Perhaps the his neurological problem is related to toxic chemicals in the system.

Japan as a nation really has to get over the stigma put on mental health issues. Most of these cases can be prevented by monitoring by professionals and the right medication. Unless awareness and openness about mental health issues are raised, and with this ofcourse more psychiatry clinics and so on (because the number of mental health specialists is ridiculously low) are established, these kind of things are going to keep happening.

the question is whether he knew if what he was doing was right or wrong. if he knew it was wrong he should be punished whether he had mental problems or not. there are a lot of people with mental problems that do nothing wrong. my guess is he was looking for a roof and three squares.

"Along with the annual company health check they should also be doing psychological evaluations of the workers at the same time,"

And who will decide what is or isn't "stable or normal" behavior? That's a bad idea.

Mental health care indeed needs vast improvement, and the stigma associated with seeking or getting mental health care needs to be addressed. Requiring psychological evaluations as the poster suggested, however, is not a feasable or acceptable solution.

I'm surprised no one has suggested that knives should be banned, or at least that there should be strict knife-control laws implemented what with the rash of knife attacks.

@Herve Nmn L'Eisa

Actually there are strict rules regarding knife length in place. But they are (obviously) not effective. And you can't ban all knives, even if you could, there's a host of other weapons, including yourself, that can be used instead.

At least this guy is locked up. That's one less to worry about.