Osaka school massacre
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| Osaka School Massacre | |
|---|---|
| Location | Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, Japan |
| Date | June 8, 2001 |
| Attack type | mass murder, stabbing |
| Weapon(s) | kitchen knife |
| Deaths | 8 |
| Injured | 15 |
| Perpetrator | Mamoru Takuma |
The Osaka School Massacre took place on June 8, 2001, at Ikeda Elementary School, an elite primary school affiliated with Osaka Kyoiku University in Osaka Prefecture, Japan.
Contents |
[edit] The attack
At 10:15 that morning, 37-year-old former janitor Mamoru Takuma entered the school armed with a kitchen knife and began stabbing numerous school children and teachers. He killed eight children, mostly between the ages of seven and eight, and seriously wounded thirteen other children and two teachers. Takuma was later convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. The sentence was carried out on September 14, 2004. [1]
The Osaka School Massacre was the second largest mass murder in recent Japanese history, exceeded only by the fatalities caused in the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. This incident, however, was set apart by the young age of the victims, by its occurrence at a school, and by the murderer's history of mental illness.[2] Because of these factors, the Osaka School Massacre raised questions in Japan about the country's social policies regarding the treatment of mental illness, the rights of criminals and victims, and the accessibility and security of Japanese schools. [3] [4]
[edit] Aftermath
After the attack, Yoshio Yamane, the principal administrator of the school, announced that it would receive a security guard, an at-the-time unheard of feature of Japanese schools. [5] Additionally, J-Pop artist Hikaru Utada rearranged her song Distance in honor of Rena Yamashita, one of the murdered schoolgirls (because of an essay contest she had won, talking about how she respected and wanted to become like Hikaru), retitling it Final Distance. Exactly seven years later, a similar stabbing massacre called the Akihabara massacre took place[6].
[edit] Deceased victims
The boy was in the first year and the girls were in the second year.[7]
- Yuki Hongo (本郷優希 Hongō Yūki)
- Mayuko Isaka (猪阪真宥子 Isaka Mayuko)
- Yuka Kiso (木曽友香 Kiso Yūka)
- Ayano Moriwaki (森脇綾乃 Moriwaki Ayano)
- Maki Sakai (酒井麻希 Sakai Maki)
- Takahiro Totsuka (戸塚健大 Totsuta Takahiro) (the only male student to die in the attack) [8]
- Hana Tsukamoto (塚本花菜 Tsukamoto Hana)
- Rena Yamashita (山下玲奈 Yamashita Rena)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ The Japan Times Online Articles
- ^ CNN.com - Japan mourns school victims - June 10, 2001
- ^ Human Rights in Japan - Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions
- ^ Watts, Jonathan (July 2001). "Japan reviews policy on mental illness and crime" (fee required). The Lancet 358 (9278): 305.
- ^ CNN.com - Japan mourns school victims - June 10, 2001
- ^ Masters, Coco (2008-06-09). Japan Reeling from Stabbing Spree. Time (Magazine). Retrieved on 2008-06-09.
- ^ "Knife-Wielding Man Kills 8 Children at Japanese School." The New York Times. 2.
- ^ CNN.com - Japan mourns school victims - June 10, 2001
