Woman stabbed to death by stalker on Osaka street

They advised Imura to change her address and job but she said she could not because she had two sons to support.

Classic. In other words, "We cops are so incompetent and our system is so broken, there is nothing we can do to intervene and help you. You'd better just take matters into your own hands, even if these means inconveniencing yourself to no end." I understand it's odd she declined to file a criminal complaint, but it's a shame a verbal plea for help to the officers wasn't enough for them to do anything other than "issue a written warning," which obviously doesn't deter folks like the cops think it will. I'm sure there are dozens of reasons a harassed woman, scared for her life and alone with 2 children, will decline to go through the probably cumbersome (and maybe even public) process if filing a criminal complaint.

"Matsumoto said he wanted to kill her and then himself so they could live together in heaven." Then why didn't he kill himself?

@combinibento

If police cannot do anything, why is mace and pepper spray illegal in Japan? Women should have some ways to protect themselves.

Ahh, this just sickens me. From a 57 year old man as well. Stalkers are just delusional, vile little self centred parasites who are devoid of any emotional resilience and empathy for their victims.

The old adage; 'If you truly love something, let it be free' is clearly something they are unable to understand.

Scum.

"Matsumoto said he wanted to kill her and then himself so they could live together in heaven." in the very first moment he had sent that message, the police should have done something and sent him to the psychiatric. Geez.. mad people everywhere :( RIP Imura-san.

My question is why he was not arrested under Japan's new 'anti-stalking' law that was enacted two years ago.

The new law makes it illegal to send phone calls, emails or texts to harrass or threaten. The stupid part of the law is that it does not cover social network messaging (such as Line, Facebook, etc), though.

Incompetent police. They had the email proving he made a death threat yet they did not arrest him, or put any surveillance on the deranged guy, just put the onus on the poor woman to move house and job( very difficult to do on her income) Great job once again J-cops.

The cops did all they could in this case because the woman wouldn't file charges against this loon. Instead of setting up anti-stalking laws they should be looking at why stalking is such a problem in Japan.

Very sad news again this morning. Two kids left motherless because of a nut case.

How true Jack.

Classic. In other words, "We cops are so incompetent and our system is so broken, there is nothing we can do to intervene and help you.

wow, either you're reading a different article or you have poor reading comprehension skills. what else could the police have done to protect her since she refused to file a formal complaint? the lunatic agreed not to contact her again in march, and he seemed to have kept his promise since the woman told police that she hadn't heard from him.

Police told media that they checked on Imura from time to time and called her to see if she was OK. On April 2, she thanked them for calling and said she hadn’t heard from Matsumoto.

@ DisillusionedMay.

"The cops did all they could in this case because the woman wouldn't file charges against this loon. Instead of setting up anti-stalking laws they should be looking at why stalking is such a problem in Japan." GREAT POINT!

on a side bar a while back...there was a situation a couple of years ago, found on another website where a nigerian was suspected of stalking a JNW , but the j-cops hand cuffed him, kept him for some time, redocumented him, even though the female did not press charges : she just dropped a dime...

go figure...

People just want to complain, it is really hard for cops to protect against stalkers, even if there is a restraining order, and the stalker is caught, he can claim he was just coincidentally in the same place as her. They can't really punish him unless he does something violent. Which all too often is when the girl is killed or very seriously hurt.

what else could the police have done to protect her since she refused to file a formal complaint?

Well, it seems that based on the article that Matsumoto had already broken the law in March.

In a 24-hour period between March 1 and 2, he sent 33 messages. In some of the messages, Matsumoto said he wanted to kill her and then himself so they could live together in heaven, police said. In another message, Matsumoto told Imura to contact police before he killed her.

So,I would think he should have been arrested under the anti-stalking law and not just warned in March. The police had evidence of criminal behavior that was consistent with the anti-stalking law and it seems to me that that should have been enough to arrest him.

If the police have evidence of a crime right in front of them, it should not be necessary for a citizen to file a complaint in order for them to arrest the suspect.

It's a tragedy that she was not able to defend herself meaningfully. Now, her children are motherless.

He wants to live together with her in heaven so he stabs her with a knife on the street? What a lowlife! How about trying to get your a** up, improve your life, try to win her, live together a long time and THEN. live together in heaven?! Now all you've caused is more misery and grief!

Sorry to say so, but its this baloney of police work that makes me glad I left Japan, especially for my wife's sake. A written warning? what's that? Seems not to have amounted to much since the person stabbed this mom of two to death and now two boys are with out their mother. Great work, police! And asking the lady to change houses and jobs? As if that's easy anywhere, let alone Japan.

At least in the USA, my wife can get firearms training so that the story is the other way around.

GOD rest this woman's soul, bless and comfort her family, especially her two boys, and may this man receive the justice he deserves, in Jesus Christ's Name, Amen.

As some have commented - He DID break the law by threatening her life more than once. If you are familiar with the anti-stalking law which was set into place with the sole intent & purpose of apprehending offenders before tragedy occurs, then you would know that the police failed in their response.

The law enables police to be pro-active in exactly such situations and it empowers them to arrest the person(s) who have committed the crime. Saying "there there be a good boy or else... " was negligent in duty.

Jason: "And asking the lady to change houses and jobs? As if that's easy anywhere, let alone Japan."

No kidding. I had a crazy guy living above me in my first year in Japan and he used to play electric guitar and drop books on the floor, etc. at 3:00 a.m. every morning. I went up to his place to kindly ask him to desist and he turned up the volume. Next day I found my door kicked in, though he didn't touch any stuff inside. What did the land-lady say? She suggested I move to avoid further conflict. When I asked her to call the police she laughed, knowing they would do nothing. When I later WENT to the police myself they started asking me if my bike was stolen (I bought it off my predecessor) and that I had committed a crime in not registering it instead of focussing on the ACTUAL crimes being committed. It is no surprise to me at all that they did not bother to do anything until the woman was dead, or that people insisted this woman uproot her entire life so that they could avoid dealing with the actual threat. The man had committed a number of crimes, and wrote some pretty explicit emails about what he planned to do, and the police? nothing but a "please cooperate" friendly chit-chat.

RIP to this woman, and shame on the J-cops.

"At least in the USA, my wife can get firearms training so that the story is the other way around."

US women are stronger than Japanese women...the Japanese would get beat down with the quickness...tell me if I'm lying?

"At least in the USA, my wife can get firearms training so that the story is the other way around." Maybe in your state, in other states, she wouldn't been able to carry around concealed to begin with. Not withstanding in the USA the perp might be packing heat instead of a knife as well.

Too many armchair generals/police around. We don't know what would of happened and it's easy to sit back and say in hindsight X or Y could happen if Z.

Now that you mention the USA, even in the US, it is hard for police to do anything if the victim refuses to press charges. This is one major reason domestic violence continues, even if the police see the woman with a busted up face "she just fell down the stairs" and if she refuses to press charges the police have their hands tied.

Matsumoto was divorced, unemployed and living on social assistance (welfare) and a frequent customer at the 'snack' bar. He planned the crime and rented a car in advance.

Crazy many woman everywhere why this guy such a stupid? Jobless or desperate maybe?

I have a female friend right now who is stalking someone (not in Japan). Another friend and I are trying to make sense of it between us and help her but the insight into the mindset of a stalker is truly unnerving. They truly dont believe they is doing anything wrong, and my friend cannot even entertain the possibility that maybe this guy isnt interested in her - it iust doesnt compute. They make very excuse in the book as to why their feelings are not being reciprocated, except for the most obvious one.

Stalkers just seem to have an inability to understand the feelings of their victims or empathize with them, along with what seems to be an extremely overinflated opinion of themselves, often delusional. In my friends case, she is an attractive, successful woman, so she just cant understand why the two guys arent interested (yes! Two of them!)

The other day a 3rd friend tried to lay it all out for her and told her she was embarrassing herself and had no self respect and was living in Crazy Town. It was pretty harsh. It sent her absolutely crazy, screaming, shouting, throwing things and she has vowed never to speak to that person again. She just CANNOT see that it is her with the problem. Extremely frustrating and just dont know how to help her. Its like a failure to "get" one of these men means complete failure of herself, and she just cant let that happen.

Dont really know what the police can do in cases such as these, where of the thousands of cases that get reported, only one will turn out to be like this. I dont think my friend is capable of violence (I hope not) but being on "this" side and trying to make a stalker see sense is just impossible.

In early March, police issued a written warning to Matsumoto and he promised not to contact Imura again.

Again with this "written warning" BS....when are the jpolice going to get it through their thick sculls that THIS DOESN'T WORK!!!!

This is crazy...stalking is getting worse in Japan. The reported cases in Japan in 2013 were 21,089. The police issued warnings to 2,452 of the 21,089 stalkers. That is just 7% of the cases. You would think that the police could take these matters a little more seriously.

I hope there is family to give some comfort to the children. RIP Mother.....

Written and verbal warnings don't work? They do work, just not 100 percent. If they did not work the number of stalking murders would be much, much more than one or two a year.

Just what are some of you proposing? That instead of written and verbal warnings, the police arrest all people accused of stalking? Okay, then hold them for how long? When they get out, what do you think will happen? Or, jail all people accused of stalking for some years? We do that and we would probably save some money by just turning some mid-sized city in Japan into a prison camp, but it would still cost a bundle. And we would need 3 times more police at least. You want to foot that bill?

Maybe when you finally perfect that clairavoyance device you have been working on in your basement could we tackle stalking in a way that would be realistic.

SFJP330

Pepper spray or OC Spray is not illegal in Japan, in fact it can be bought in stores or online. It can cause people to be uneasy if they see you carrying it openly but they make small and subtle canisters so that it's easy for people to carry without them flaunting that they have it.

It is illegal to ship to or from Japan but that's with all pressured aerosol cans.

This is a sad story and though the police seemed to do something, it's still not enough and I wish they'd start taking stalker cases more seriously.