Killing of Students

[Gaijinian]

Students killed in Japan. VERY scary.

CNN.com:
A spate of grisly crimes targeting schoolchildren has horrified Japan and dealt a serious blow to its image as a safe country for children. The killings -- one girl's corpse was stuffed into a box, another victim was stabbed a dozen times in the chest a third also stabbed, allegedly by one of her teachers Saturday -- have put authorities on alert and worried parents on edge.

This relatively peaceful country is reassessing such traditions as letting young children walk long distances to school on their own. Along with the school uniform and first book bag, the walk to school -- sometimes taking 40 minutes in rural areas -- has long been a rite of passage for children entering the first grade.

"I would never let my son go out alone. I like to have him around where I can keep an eye on him," said Naoko Ishibashi, a Tokyo housewife and mother of a 5-year-old. "These days, I feel worried when I see any child walking alone in the streets."

Education authorities and police are examining the routes children take to school, warning students about talking to strangers and establishing neighborhood "safe-houses" where kids can flee if they feel threatened.

Technology also is playing a part. Authorities are stepping up plans to provide children with special alarms and tracking devices, and to establish cell-phone networks to alert parents and children in an area when a threat is spotted.

The issue has attracted attention from the highest levels of Japanese government.

"Distressful and regrettable incidents have been occurring, and it's a problem that we need to take seriously," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said this week. "We need to strengthen cooperation between police, officials ... and families."

Crime in general has increased in Japan during the past decade of economic malaise, but the recent string of child-killings has been especially disturbing.

On November 22, the strangled body of 7-year-old Airi Kinoshita was discovered taped inside a box on a parking lot in Hiroshima in southwestern Japan.

On December 2, Yuki Yoshida, also 7, was found stabbed to death in a forest northeast of Tokyo.

The latest killing came Saturday when a teacher in western Japan allegedly stabbed a 12-year-old student, news reports said.

The first killing generated fevered coverage in Japanese media when a Peruvian immigrant was arrested, fanning growing fears that increasing numbers of foreigners are responsible for rising crime.

No arrests have been made in the second killing.

The number of crimes against children in Japan edged up 2 percent from 2000 to 2004, but the number of murders increased 50 percent -- from 20 in 2000 to 30 in 2004. The number of other serious crimes also is up.

In 2001, a man with a history of mental illness stabbed eight children at an elementary school near Osaka. Last year, an 11-year-old girl slashed a 12-year-old friend to death with a box-cutter during lunchtime.

Until the Osaka attack, schools prided themselves on being open to the community, with anyone able to enter the grounds. But that changed after the killings -- educators locked campus gates, posted guards and set up round-the-clock surveillance.

The recent attacks have come outside of school grounds, meaning educators, police and parent groups have to work together to develop countermeasures, officials said.

But some authorities feel a sense of helplessness in trying to find ways to foil criminals intent on attacking young children.

"Even if you are going home in a group, there will be a child in the end who will need to go home alone," said Masumi Takeuchi, leader of Hiroshima's campaign against violence targeting children.

"Who will protect you in the end? It is not others, but only you that can protect yourself. This is the kind of awareness we need to develop."

[advigilo]

In the modern days things are getting more and more dangerous,
in japan also according to the article.
I think its time that japan realises that, cause with flee houses(?)
the wont come far i predict.

My condoleances too the famillies who had to go through this :-(
its discussting killing children like that....

[Kinsao]

The number of crimes against children in Japan edged up 2 percent from 2000 to 2004, but the number of murders increased 50 percent -- from 20 in 2000 to 30 in 2004.

ohhh... that's a very big increase. It's very worrying. I wonder is it one person responsible, or a number of people? I hope that they can catch the one person... but if it is a number of people, well, I think that would be even more worrying... so difficult to stop it.

[Carlson]

what gets me is why... why children whats the point?

[Kinsao]

Originally Posted by Carlson

what gets me is why... why children whats the point?

I guess someone have a sick mind.
Or maybe that children, cannot defend themselves. :

[Gaijinian]

Yeah, the fact that it is such young children is... really... sick.

I hope it is only one psychopath.

[Doc]

Look at Japan's culture for a second, and it's view with children. I think a lot of it might have to do with cultural and social issues on the matter. Whoever this psychopathic killer is there is probably a socialital issue that has caused them to be the way they are. It is the same with any serial killer in the end.

Doc

[Kinsao]

Originally Posted by Doc

Look at Japan's culture for a second, and it's view with children. I think a lot of it might have to do with cultural and social issues on the matter.

Care to expand?

I'm not being sarcastic - I'm genuinely curious. Not knowing a lot about Japan's culture etc. etc...

[Elizabeth]

Originally Posted by Doc

Look at Japan's culture for a second, and it's view with children. I think a lot of it might have to do with cultural and social issues on the matter. Whoever this psychopathic killer is there is probably a socialital issue that has caused them to be the way they are. It is the same with any serial killer in the end.

Doc

I don't know where the notion of a single psychopathic killer came from but the three latest cases discussed in this article are in no way related. The only point of commonality being that the kids were going from, to, or at school. Things very similar happen everyday and in every advanced culture.

Specifically, the guy arrested for the first one, a Peruvian immigrant who claimed an evil spirit forced the act on him, may have serious psychotic tendancies. The third one was a part time cram-school teacher/college student with a tumulteous relationship with this sixth grade student over grades and testing and other issues. The second murder is still under investigation although any parent allowing their child to walk through that stretch of wooded area alone for whatever reason in my view should probably be questioned themselves.