Man stabbed on station platform after pushing dispute

short fuse much? hope they catch this nutter. btw pretty insane to stab someone in broad daylight and in public. No eyewitnesses?

Police said they are viewing surveillance camera footage to try and identify the suspect

Wow big bother is always watching, to me this is more scary

I wonder what percentage of people carry around knives? It seems like this type of incident often happens and one of them happens to be carrying a knife as if the are looking for a fight.

Yep, big brother indeed! It is incidents like this that make big brother worth while. Too many Japanese people are carrying weapons and are on extremely short fuses. You have to be very careful who and how you confront someone on the trains cos you don't know which psycho is armed. Remember, 1 in 3 Japanese adults have some kind of emotional or mental disorder and it could be the joker sitting next to you.

Who are allthese people wandering around with knives or knife like objects?

It would be nice to have a few METAL DETECTORS at all major train stations, you know, just to catch these fools before they do anything crazy in the trains!

Whoah, what a little nutbag. Small wonder, though, as argumentative techinques are all but non-existant in Japan. I tell people off once in a while and the reaction is always, always, silence and a bowed head. It's like interacting with school kids. I think it's unfortunate that so many people don't know how to discuss with other human beings and instead feel the need to stab someone to get a sense of having left a trivial argument the winning party. I fail to see the logic in acting this way. But then again, that is why the nutters are so scary - lots if them with to much pent up anger inside.

It is also sad that people become more and more scared of these incidents to happen and, as a result, get even more hesitant to talk back to rude/ill-mannered people.

Finally, so this guy got stabbed in the back?! On his way out of the train, probably thinking the altercation was over? Not a brave perp we have here...

Dis,

Remember, 1 in 3 Japanese adults have some kind of emotional or mental disorder...

Some sources for that statement please.

Oh it happened at 5 pm. Its very crowded and stressful on the train at rush hour time. Good luck with the surveillance with all those people.

Wow big bother is always watching, to me this is more scary.

What are you afraid of? If you are doing nothing wrong then you have nothing to worry about. If someone robbed you but was caught and convicted due to the cameras would you still find them scary?

Good thing there are no guns around...

In contradiction to what is being said above, i have seen quite a few altercations on trains/buses etc here, almost always in rush hour when people are stressed/cramped.

What i did notice though is that they never lead anywhere. Two people will start yelling/pushing each other, then they just go back to what they were doing as if that was the end of it. They seem to get into these tussles without actually having any intention to fight. Where i am from, starting something would lead to a fistfight at the least; if it was the US you may even get a gun pulled on you.

All it requires is one of the people to be willing to take it further, or in this case, one of the people to be slightly unstable, and you could get killed.

@Elbuda

It would be nice to have a few METAL DETECTORS at all major train stations, you know, just to catch these fools before they do anything crazy in the trains!

Be careful what you wish for. Do you realize the amount of time that would add to your commute if everyone had to single file through a metal detector? You think it's bad at the airport, how many people ride a train each day?

What are you afraid of? If you are doing nothing wrong then you have nothing to worry about. If someone robbed you but was caught and convicted due to the cameras would you still find them scary?

The basic logic of such a surveillance system is that for our security as citizens we are all being surveilled, or potentially so. That is to say, the logic of the system is that we must all be considered suspect in a first step in order to ensure our safety. Who, then, have we the citizens become, or turned into? Are we the new colonials?

Was fighting over the seat worth it? Indeed, I feel sorry for the victim but a fight over a seat? Cripes.

Knox:

Some sources for that statement please

Its actually 1 in 4 that have a mental disorder according to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (link below) but add in emotional disorders and I could quite bellieve it is 1 in 3.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/arts-culture/view/new-documentary-explores-taboo-subject-of-mental-illness-in-japan

Wow big bother is always watching, to me this is more scary

It doesn't matter to me. I feel my life is so good I have no reason to do anything for "big brother" to care anyway even if they watch me. If they really want to watch me walking down the street then be my guest. And while they are at it go ahead and catch some real bad people. In fact sometimes private citizens ARE part of the "big brother". Back home some people point video cameras from their houses into the streets. There are stories of these private efforts helping "big brother" catching criminals who have passed through the cameras' lines of sight.

Knox Harrington - Here is an article stating 24%. There was a similar article from a few years ago stating 30%. Bear in mind, these are diagnosed cases and doesn't include the loons running around unchained and un-medicated.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/arts-culture/view/new-documentary-explores-taboo-subject-of-mental-illness-in-japan

It was "Big Brother" watching that enabled a psycho to be put away for 5 years last week back home when he was caught on camera running up behind an innocent 16 year old girl and bashing her unconscious to the ground. Im with nishkat - if big brother wants to watch me - go ahead, I have nothing to hide. If he wants to watch OUT for me - Id be very grateful the way things are going these days.

Another otaku/gamer CGM!

Elbuda MexicanoFeb. 27, 2013 - 02:35PM JST It would be nice to have a few METAL DETECTORS at all major train stations, you know, just to catch these fools before they do anything crazy in the trains!

... laptops, cellphones, shoes, belt buckles, wallets, handbags... these things all normally contain some metal, and these are the things a metal detector would pick up.

Anyway, a simpler solution would be to just put up a sign saying, "Please be considerate of the hard-working cleaning crew. Stabbing people makes mess.".

It was "Big Brother" watching that enabled a psycho to be put away for 5 years last week back home when he was caught on camera running up behind an innocent 16 year old girl and bashing her unconscious to the ground. Im with nishkat - if big brother wants to watch me - go ahead, I have nothing to hide. If he wants to watch OUT for me - Id be very grateful the way things are going these days

. When people begin to fear their own neighbors, when bitter suspicion replaces easy acceptance between coworkers and friends, and when a man can mistrust the intentions of his own brother, that’s when a nation begins to falter and fail.

This is an excuse for there to be cameras everywhere.. for your safety you will lose your privacy.. but it is so hard when everyone looks alike.. to find one guy with dark hair.. wearing a black coat in his 20's... people must act quicker.. the guy obviously yelled out.. in pain.. if a man is stabbed.. if a woman has her purse taken.. if someone grabs a young girls ass.. Japan stand up for their rights.. help your neighbor in needs.. help the innocent and show some courage and jump the crazies.. take action as one.. stand together for the safety of all.. what if it was you.. your mother.. your daughter.. it does not take a hero to be heroic.

If you wanted more privacy in the developed world where do you want to go? And if you are really that worried then why do you use search engines that keep logs of your searches for a certain amount of time?

Must have been the full moon effect. I tend to just keep standing as much as possible to avoid the moth ball smell from the winter angora coats passengers wear straight out of their summer slumber.

I'm all for big brother. Why all trains here don't have cameras in them and on the platform is beyond me. While I'm at it, start fingerprinting the locals. Rather easy to identify the nuts and keep people in line. Indeed, there is a limit but for public safety and trains? Bring it!

While these two man-child crazies were going at each other over a seat - there was likely a heavily-pregnant lady forced to stand up opposite. Welcome to modern Tokyo.

What a ridiculous way of settling an argument.

@ dctokyo2002. Yes while it is unsettling to know you are being watched my machines, you are already being constantly watched by those around you. Also this helps catch the criminals so if you're not doing anything wrong why feel bad about having surveillance cameras

I read a book by a jpns guy who was a mercenary, spent two plus decades going around the world fighting in various wars in Africa, doing various other things like security at diamond mines, and bodyguard in S America.

One of the things he talks about is having a real visceral physical reaction to danger, a 6th sense that helped him and his coworkers out many times.

What he said was when he got back to Japan, that 6th sense was going off all the time, especially on crowded trains. He could feel the bloodlust and anger in all the frustrated ppl around him.

I am all with tmarie, let Big Brother reign supreme! Why not go the whole hog and have CCTV in the home, also random searches by the cops.If you've done nothing wrong, you have no worries right. We all know that our elected governments would not abuse such powers and if it makes us safe against "nuts" i'm all for it. I'd rather we were all monitored 24/7 rather than take a 1,000-1 chance of being stabbed in our lifetime.

"with a knife-like object" A pen? "my-hashi chopstick"? House-key? I have loads of things on me that could be used to cause light injuries if I stabbed at a person hard enough. (As a woman, I also often carry a nail file, pointy-ended comb, and sometimes, bamboo knitting needles.... )

What I'm getting at is, I don't think this incident means we should install metal detectors.

As for the cameras, there are enough Little Brother cameras around (cell phones) that, if we looked out for each other a bit more, maybe we wouldn't need to give up all privacy to the Big Brother cameras. Last night on the train a guy suddenly sat down across from me, right up next to a sleeping girl in a skirt. There was an empty end seat to his right, but he sat right up against the girl on his right and dropped his hand to so that back of it touched her thigh. I pulled out my phone and he saw that I was about to start filming, so he suddenly got up and moved along. I followed behind, and after seeing him sit next to another young woman, just stood infront of him.

These freaks need to know they are being watched. And that we, the general public, will step in.

JR always in trouble ...

NTV reported that as the man was getting off the train just after 5 p.m., the other man allegedly stabbed him in the back with a knife-like object.

Now that's what I call a no good dirty low down backstabber. Good thing the older man was wearing his overcoat.

@disillusioned

Thanks for the link. Looking at the date of the article, you've been complaining constantly about Japan from at least 2009 and you are saying that 1 in 4 Japanese have mental illness?

Who are allthese people wandering around with knives or knife like objects?

They are the Japanese people.

It would be nice to have a few METAL DETECTORS at all major train stations, you know, just to catch these fools before they do anything crazy in the trains!

Absurdly impractical. You would turn train stations into the security lines you see at airports. People would have to get in line two hours earlier than normal just to get on their usual train.

people must act quicker.. the guy obviously yelled out.. in pain.. if a man is stabbed.. if a woman has her purse taken.. -

Totally agree with this. Just yesterday a man passing by swung a bag at my 3 year old and hit him. I just saw what he was about to do a split second before he did it (I was holding his hand but it was too late to pull him out of the way). Luckily he wasnt hurt but I screamed and shouted after the guy and looked around me. THREE witnesses saw the whole thing, one deer-caught-in-the-headlights girl and two men. NONE of them lifted a finger - either to chase the guy or help me - they just stood there staring while I tried to comfort my son and scream after the guy who just sauntered out laughing. Sick people.

I wish I had been there for you, chibachick. I would have chased that guy down and put him in a headlock. Your child was lucky he wasn't hurt.

Thanks MrKobayashi

Remember, 1 in 3 Japanese adults have some kind of emotional or mental disorder and it could be the joker sitting next to you.

Disillusioned: A quick wiki on "Mental disorder" will tell you that according to WHO, "...over a third of people in most countries report problems at some time in their life which meet criteria for diagnosis of one or more of the common types of mental disorder."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_disorder

So thanks for telling us that we're in no more danger in Japan than any other country.

Now with that said, that doesn't account for how little help is available for those with mental disorders in Japan, on which I have no source for, but it seems to be a common conception for most foreigners in Japan. Yes, there is a so-called 'curtain' which seems to keep the reality of mental disorders separate from the 'normal world', but then again, I think that can be said with other countries as well. Afterall, who would be proud of a mental disorder?

Getting back to the article, I wonder why nobody followed the stabber...