A mature couple who live separately went back to their “home” by taxi to tell the media about their 25-year-old son, Tomohiro Kato, who killed seven people and injured 10 others in a rampage at Akihabara on June 8.
“They didn't talk at all in the taxi. They didn't even cry or hold hands. They just looked very exhausted and the atmosphere was 'cold,'” said the taxi driver who took them to their house where they no longer live together for the press conference two days after the murders.
Kato's father repeatedly said “I'm sorry,” while his wife couldn't even stand up. She just went down on her knees as if she was begging forgiveness.
“My parents' egos destroyed my dreams when I was a kid,” Kato wrote on his blog, one of many entries that showed hostility toward his parents. “When I became a junior high school student, they became powerless to control me, so they gave up on me.”
The one thing that emerges from Kato's blog is his feelings of inferiority. “I don't have a girlfriend or any friends at all.” He indicates his antagonism toward women and girls by saying, “A woman on the train wouldn't sit next to me even though there was space for her. I'm a loser even on a train.” In another entry, he writes: “It is raining today. Couples are walking together under the same umbrella. I'm just playing sex video games alone.”
A neighbor says Kato was a very smart boy until he went on to high school which his parents were proud of. “When I asked him if he liked studying, he said 'Not at all. That's because I already know everything.' His young brother was also regarded as being smart. He was nicknamed the 'human calculator.'” The neighbor says Kato's father was a disciplinarian and his mother obsessed with education.
Kato went to the top high school in Aomori Prefecture. But it was soon revealed that he wasn't that good a student. “He wanted to go to Hokkaido University when he was a first-year student. But soon he became crazy about video games. He couldn't get along with his parents,” says a relative.
Kato finally gave up on going to the university but decided to study mechanical engineering at a two-year college. He tried to transfer to a university but he couldn't. He couldn't even obtain any qualifications as an engineer at the college. Changing jobs several times, he got a job at a car parts factory in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Kato's colleague at the factory, to whom he gave some music CDs before the rampage, seems to be one of his few close friends. The colleague says, “When I visited his apartment, I found beer cans, anime and game DVDs all over the floor. He is really a 'Akiba guy.'” He adds, “I think he has a strong interest in sex. He said to me, 'I'm now interested in real women, not anime ones. I prefer small girls with cute voices like anime characters and who look good in cosplay costumes.' He seems interested in photo books of 12- to 13-year-old girls at bookshops.” (Translated by Taro Fujimoto)
© Japan Today
16 Comments
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KaptainKichigai
Typical...so typical. Who says stereotyped dont exist?
capone
just a loser...jail's the best place for him
DenshaDeGO
Welcome to life as a gaijin in Japan. With it's not just women it's EVERYONE.
Rigs83
" He seems interested in photo books of 12- to 13-year-old girls at bookshops.” Creepy, creepy, creepy!!!
bushlover
And some here say that suicide is bad. Which is better suicide or homicide? I'd say he'd be a good candidate for one of those big car sleeps in the forest. He could have found true love and so could some nerdy girl and they'd be the classic tragedy characters of japan in their Romeo and Julliette style love.
tkoind2
"Just a loser" This is the kind of dismissal that society gives these lonely people. And that is exactly why they snap and lash out. You just cannot dismiss an entire generation of alienated people and not expect them to respond in some way. Look at the rising number of attacks, at the rising suicide numbers and the uncounted other incidents that go on here now.
If we dismiss this guy as a one off nut we do ourselves a great disservice. These people exist in the tens of thousands and they need society to find ways of reaching and investing them. We've already seen the alternative. So we should not dismiss them so easily. We have to do something to help them. Period.
chardk1
I guess, but the bitter, angry, lazy, socially awkward young men of low income are kind of a tough bunch to reach or sympathize with. If anything Japanese society coddles such people much more than the U.S. (my other point of reference), what with the tolerance of NEETs and hikikomoris and the ready supply of soaplands and porn and video games and instant foods and doting mothers, etc. What they need is MORE of a kick in the pants, if you ask me.
bighandedtwat
damn right. these people don't need any more mollycoddling by society. that's part of the reason why they are so infirm in the mind already. they need to stop navel-gazing and do something constructive with their lives
bighandedtwat
damn right. these people don't need any more mollycoddling by society. that's part of the reason why they are so infirm in the mind already. they need to stop navel-gazing and do something constructive with their lives
NeoJamal
Will Otakus become a menace to Japan as Al-Qaeda is to the west?
Stay tuned!
JoiceRojo
It is curious how the "nerds" or "geeks" are becoming a threat to society
kaoken
There are plenty of nerds and geeks that don't go on murderous rampages. One bad apple doesn't make the whole batch rotten, so to speak.
reddragonguy
That was known as 'the samurai spirit'!
ALHQQ
...are there many men in Japan interested in this type of sex fantasy stuff? sounds as if it is readily available in stores?
as_the_crow_flies
Just a thought - I wonder if Kato and maybe his brother too, has Asperger's Syndrome. The article suggests that he was mathematically smart. At the same time, children with autism syndrome disabilities like Asperger's typically have real difficulty learning to get along with others, leading to increasing isolation. I can imagine how having a disciplinarian father and an education mama on his case, and noone recongising his relationship problems from early on, or understanding enough to help him to learn to get along with classmates, could lead to such a isolated and enraged individual.
GreatDane
tkoind2 : You're absolutely right (Just wanted to mention it)