crime

Shock as peaceful Japanese town wakes to knife rampage

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He had come to authorities’ attention after saying he was willing to kill severely disabled people, but was discharged on March 2 after a doctor deemed his condition had improved, the official said.

Please fire this doctor immediately. Again a person who announces an attack but is left free to roam around.

9 ( +11 / -2 )

Heartbreaking. The signs are there, he has a narcissistic personality disorder he thinks he can change the world by killing.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

“This kind of thing doesn’t happen in Japan."

Except it does, and has happened on a number of occasions since I have been here. The Akibahara and Osaka rampages come immediately to mind, and there are very often attempts, as with the library last week. It doesn't happen with GUNS, of course, which the man goes on to say, and if the guy had guns he might have achieved his 470 person target, but that's another issue. The point is it does indeed happen, despite the fact that "this is Japan". In fact, it's the kind of "this doesn't happen here" attitude that allowed the guy to be discharged to easy despite his threats, and for him to carry them out.

7 ( +11 / -4 )

@ Smith

*“This kind of thing doesn’t happen in Japan."

Except it does, and has happened on a number of occasions since I have been here. The Akibahara and Osaka rampages come immediately to mind, and there are very often attempts, as with the library last week. It doesn't happen with GUNS, of course, which the man goes on to say, and if the guy had guns he might have achieved his 470 person target, but that's another issue. The point is it does indeed happen, despite the fact that "this is Japan". In fact, it's the kind of "this doesn't happen here" attitude that allowed the guy to be discharged to easy despite his threats, and for him to carry them out.*

This is the kind of news that disturbs the " Wa" in the Wajin.

They'd rather the world didn't get a whiff of this " un-wa-ness, hence their going to great lengths to assure the world that "This kind of thing doesn’t happen in Japan." as if they are angels.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I hope episodes like this devilish act will not and will never cause any of our brothers or sisters, who disable in one way or the other to think otherwise of themselves. Disable persons are as important in all perspectives as non handicapped persons. We should not that many non handicap as well as handicappers are making news headlines every day around the world. I would really wish that this kind of senseless crimes against disables should serve as an encouragement to them to show heartless ones that they can do same things any other human being would. we wish never to have these type of people around us for ever. May the souls of our innocent departed ones in this sad incident, rest in perfect peace.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Mental health issues are tricky. It is entirely possible that this individual, when he was initially hospitalized, figured out exactly what he needed to say to the doctor to get released. It's also possible that the doctor was under pressure to authorize his release, either from his supervisors or the suspect's family (or both). I hope that investigations are able to determine what the underlying factors were.

There are a few folks here saying that drugs are to blame. There's no guarantee that Uematsu was medicated, and there's a possiblity that if he was, he stopped taking the medication and that's what led to this happening. Many folks with mental illnesses rely on medication to do fancy things the world takes for granted like:

getting out of bed in the morning falling asleep at night having the self control not to spend all of their money having the focus to work an 8-hour shift

There are a few big caveats here. First, when people with a mental illness are on a medication that truly works for them, they feel better. When they feel better, like every other sickness they've had in their lives, they often want to stop taking their medication. The underlying issue with their brain chemistry has not changed, though, so the problems come back, often very abruptly.

Second, brain chemistry is squirrely, so if someone is misdiagnosed, giving them the wrong medication can cause some serious problems. For example, a bipolar (manic-depressive) person vacillates between two extremes, like ends of a pendulum: extreme depression and mania. Extreme depression isn't usually where folks are suicidal -- this is how people end up going from bed to the bathroom back to bed for days, weeks, or months at a time, not showering, not shaving. There's just no will to do anything. On the other hand, mania is the will to do lots of things: stay up for three days straight working on a project, have an extravagant night out on the town, buy a car (regardless of your finances) to spite your spouse, get in a fight, play Russian Roulette. It's an absurdly heightened emotional state without a lot of self control. If the person is feeling good, it can be the best time ever; if not, this is when most bipolar folks kill themselves. (Think of the jilted lover who threatens to kill him/herself -- and whom you can believe would actually do it.)

Many people who can't get out of bed eventually find their way to the doctor, where they are given an antidepressant. This is great and helps them to function. If a bipolar person takes an antidepressant without another medication to balance the highs, though, it doesn't center the pendulum -- they just end up really manic, which sometimes results in violence.

I'm not a doctor, nor do I pretend to be one -- but I've seen mental illnesses destroy careers, marriages, and lives, and I've been close to enough people that I know they cannot function without their medication. It feels counterintuitive if you've never seen it because many people are fine without taking a drug. However, if you're willing to acknowledge that diseases like Alzheimer's, dementia, multiple sclerosis, sickle cell anemia, diabetes, cerebral palsy, and the like exist, it's not hard to imagine that people are born and live whose brains function pretty well, but don't produce or respond to certain chemicals like they should.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Horrific... I have a 32 years young Down Syndrome daughter and she has been and still is a light in my life!

But here is the thing... now that it's clear that this guy had been hospitalized you can be sure that he was on some kind of drugs. All the recent German attackers had been hospitalized and on some medication. And further... if you look deeper into the background of any mass killer the vast majority was medicated!

This is clear evidence what these drugs create, especially in people who are already desperate for one or another reason. Desensitized, Soul less people who loose any sense for themselves and others. And this has to stop!

1 ( +9 / -8 )

Been following this bizzare scenario on TV most of the day. He worked around handicapped people for several or more years ... and felt sorry for them and their families ... and even the institution people taking care of them. Something in his brain told him the handicapped patients must be eliminated to ease the burden on everyone involved. Being read over and over on TV is a letter he sent a top government official in which he said he would kill such patients. He said he would be proven insane ... and given two years in a mental institution. After being declared legally sane, he would ask the government for 500 million yen to help support him.

My brother-in-law worked in such an institution back in the U.S. ... and he described his work environment as being one of the strangest places around. And his description of the patients staying there was at times apalling. So, from what I gather, hearing his story and those of some other friends who worked in similar institutions, I know I wouldn't be cut out to work at such a place. And being already mentally unbalanced, Satoshi Uematsu must have gone even deeper into developiing severe mental problems. And, by the way, a TV station said he was on drugs ... what kind, I don't know. But it sounded like the kind that people tend to buy off the street.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Save the money and yen, surely there is a rope to put this clown out his misery.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Thanks for adding your views commanteer, a truly valuable addition to what I expressed earlier, arigato.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Monitors keep deleted my comment and I'm not sure why - the cause of this mass killing and others like it is totally relevant, don't you think? We all want to know WHY this kind of thing is happening.

What inspired this man to act a mass killing? There needs to be more control of the news media and how it reports on mass killings - evidence clearly points to most mass killers being heavily influenced by media coverage of such events. At the very least the names of perpetrators should not be revealed to prevent the desire for fame. The mass killing 'contagion effect' http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34385059

MASS SHOOTINGS AND NEWS MEDIA: A CONNECTION? http://www.newsweek.com/media-reporters-cover-mass-killings-umpqua-shooting-378866

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201809665/media-commentator-gavin-ellis

Moderator: The rules of the discussion board state quite clearly that the moderator's decision is final at all times. If you post this again, you will be suspended from the discussion board.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I pray for their families. This happens weekly here in the US. But with guns.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I don't know why Hotzenplotz and Commanteer got thumbs down, one thing the majority of these mass killers around the world have in common is not background, nationality, religion, social status, education, etc., it is that they are on prescribed medication.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

"The Sagamihara facility is located in a valley nestled between mountains, at the end of a street of modest houses interspersed with persimmon orchards and vegetable gardens.Also not far from ZAMA base

0 ( +0 / -0 )

What inspired this man to act a mass killing? There needs to be more control of the news media and how it reports on mass killings - evidence clearly points to most mass killers being heavily influenced by media coverage of such events. At the very least the names of perpetrators should not be revealed to prevent the desire for fame. The mass killing 'contagion effect' http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34385059

MASS SHOOTINGS AND NEWS MEDIA: A CONNECTION? http://www.newsweek.com/media-reporters-cover-mass-killings-umpqua-shooting-378866

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201809665/media-commentator-gavin-ellis

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Why did he have such hate for disabled people? Such a bizarre target and one with catastrophic results. I can't imagine the sort of grisly scene he left there

0 ( +0 / -0 )

How did he have time to stab all these people and then drive to a police station to hand himself in, before the police even arrived on the scene?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

A simply psychopath, or convinced criminal? In any case, it sounds like he believes only what he wants to believe. What a pain in the neck!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Really sad to think about the victims who could not even defend themselves. What an cowardly act!! What right does he have to to decide if those people wanted to live or not?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Shouldn't people take someone who says they're going to go out and kill lots of people, at least a bit seriously? Fire this doctor, and hold him to account with this nutjob.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Excuse me.. Why is the english version different ..? He was fired because he had a harmless tattoo and he wanted people to accept him and he got mentally crushed and yelled at by his boss... He felt unrightfully treated and he cried and raged on twitter but was attacked by people yet again that were telling him that body art is a sin (etc etc) and eventually after a very very very long time it led to him becoming this man that you write about in this article .

0 ( +1 / -1 )

From the NHK article it sounds like this guy was initially diagnosed with "cannabis psychosis" after a routine urine test at the hospital. Maybe the doctors figured after being off marijuana for a few days that the underlying symptoms had also disappeared making him no longer a threat to society.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

This man is vile, such a shocking and repulsive crime. I feel for the grief stricken families of the victims, they could never have expected anything like this to happen to their loved ones, truly sad indeed.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Knives are everywhere in Japan. Stabbing murders do happen sometimes. A few people are usually victimized most of times, but 19 people stabbed to death at the same time is the most unusual case after the war. I'm not sure whether Japan is no longer safe.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Please fire this doctor immediately. Again a person who announces an attack but is left free to roam around.

It seems a lot of people were aware of his negative feelings toward disabled patients, A Time.com article at http://time.com/4423484/japan-knife-attack-satoshi-uematsu/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Defense%20EBB%2007-26-16&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief states:

"Uematsu began to tell people around him that disabled people needed to be killed. In February, he tried to hand deliver a letter he wrote to Parliament’s lower house speaker demanding all disabled people be put to death through “a world that allows for mercy killing,” Kyodo news agency and TBS TV reported."

The article also reported that "Kanagawa Governor Yuji Kuroiwa apologized for having failed to act on the warning signs."

0 ( +0 / -0 )

" “My reasoning is that I may be able to revitalize the world economy and I thought it may be possible to prevent World War III,” the rambling letter says. "

What?? Clearly bat-shat crazy, but then again what do you do about such people before they have committed a crime?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Stickman. Did you read the article? Where does it say he tied up a member of staff? And I still fail to understand how dozens of people could be stabbed without any of them screaming (even though they were sleeping) and alerting staff (the ones not tied up, that is) who could have called the keystones.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

There is some serious blame to be passed around here and those people in that facility should still be alive.

The doctors that treated and released him, the ward office for not notifying the ward next door because the guy left the hospital and his address was in another ward and they had not responsibility to notify them. There is more, and as the story comes out some people's heads should roll, along with his.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

hotzenplotz is quite right about the drugs. I don't know about this case, but a good number of mass killings have been committed by people taking anti-depression medication prescribed by a doctor. This is almost never mentioned in news reports, even though many of these medications are known to sometimes produce violent episodes. With some 20% or more of the population on some form of anti-depression meds, it is a crime that this is being covered up.

Why? I would guess that news organizations don't want to be sued by drug companies. In the US, the focus on gun control by most media means they would prefer to ignore this aspect of mass killings, as it distracts from their primary desire to promote gun controls.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

@no ginger, didn't you read the article? killed people in thier sleep. he also tied up a staff member.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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