Akihabara knifing spree
Seven people were killed by a man wielding a knife today in Akihabara, a district in Tokyo. Eighteen total were stabbed. Imagine how much worse this killing spree would’ve been if guns were as readily available in Japan as they are here. I’m just saying.
June 8th, 2008 at 19:40
In Akihabara? The mecca of otaku? He would’ve gotten just enough people for others to identify what was going on. Then he would’ve put down like a rabid dog. Except, y’know, with more lead.
Though I wonder how he managed to stab 18 people.
June 8th, 2008 at 22:07
“how much worse this killing spree would’ve been if guns were as readily available in Japan” … As far as we can tell it might be no worse, or even much better. Sure, guns are faster but in most people’s hands handguns aren’t especially accurate/fatal except at very close range, and it’s sure a lot more obvious from a distance that a shooting spree is going on vs a stabbing one giving people an increased chance to flee.
I think this has a strong parallel with the debate we had over guns and suicide. You argued that guns enabled successful suicides which wouldn’t have happened otherwise. I pointed out that the UK had a much higher suicide rate than the US. … While a large portion of the successful suicides in the US are with guns, in the UK they poison themselves much much more often. You countered that they have worse weather in the UK. I discovered that the UK’s suicide rate is worse than the worst of the US states which have permissive gun laws, including places with miserable weather. You countered that there must be other factors we’re failing to control for…. and you’re right. It’s hard to know. But we can say that there isn’t a smoking gun there, so to speak.
I concede that there is probably some net increase of premature death which wouldn’t be there without readily available firearms. … But it’s not more death than results just as directly from having alcohol available to the general public… and compared to automotive accidents, the incremental increase in death due to guns is insignificant. Irresponsible (or insane…) gun ownership can cause death just like drug use or automotive ownership. Were I a murderous madman I bet I could kill more people using a car than you could with a gun in any case. I’m just saying.
June 8th, 2008 at 23:05
Considering that this fellow did start his killing spree by running his car into the crowd, perhaps we should make cars illegal.
Oddly enough, as soon as I saw the CNN story, I thought, “I bet it was Akihabara, and I bet it was some hikkikomori gone mad.” So far, I think I’ve been right on both counts (details are unclear about the assailant as yet, but he fits the demographic). There’s some crazy people out there, and in a crowded place one of them can do a lot of destruction with all sorts of objects.
June 8th, 2008 at 23:52
hikkikomori = people who have withdrawn themselves to their rooms. I understand there are people in excess of 40 years old who never leave their room and are supported by their parents.
June 9th, 2008 at 08:18
Incidentally, I was watching this video by chance and it says he’s a factory worker.
I’m curious to know which caused more injuries: the truck or the knife?
Also curious about the type of knife. Given that he was able to stab 17 people apparently with no serious damage to his weapon, it’s unlikely it was just some random kitchen knife.
On that note, I was disappointed that you can’t go on the roofs to anywhere anymore. I was hoping to go up on the roof of some tall buildings and get some good panoramas, but the only building whose roof I’ve been on is my apartment’s, and then only supervised by the building manager. He apparently goes up there to take his own pictures fairly frequently.
June 9th, 2008 at 19:43
As far as roof access goes, … your mistake is in *asking*. With liability hysteria the way it is the chances of anyone saying yes to that kind of request is not terribly great.
There are a multitude of ways to get roof access to a facility without resorting to shimmying/picking/forcing the lock.
The most ’straight and narrow’ of which, though the least effective, is to find someone with access (though not necessarily much authority) and politely but confidently *tell them* you need access to the roof. Don’t *ask*. Asking invites a no, telling establishes a presumption of authority … people who *need* to be on roof don’t have a choice in the matter, they must get up there… people who are out to cause trouble, OTOH, can cause trouble elseware. So long as you can pull off being both assertive and polite this approach is never a loss vs asking and quite often seems to be a win.
Along these lines, simply having an excess of equipment is enough of a credential at times. I’ve been *invited* to photograph from roofs, from onstage and backstage of concerts simply by carrying a metric crapload of a equipment. Two cameras, a monopod or tripod, and some additional bags or pouches of equipment is usually enough. :) People like it when other people fit into nice little boxes. So do your best to fit into the photographer box and they’ll have a much easier time when you want to do things that a photographer might want to do.
Another approach is to simply hang a tidy sign on the door asking that it be left ajar. “Do not close door”. Eventually someone will come along and helpfully follow your instructions. … though you’re very much at the mercy of the coming and goings of others.
One thing to avoid is offering money or other consideration in exchange for access: In almost all cases whatever you’d offer would be perceived as a poor trade vs the trouble or ‘risk’ of granting access, as soon as you make an offer you’ve encouraged thinking along cost/benefit lines, rather than making use of peoples inherent helpfulness or curiosity.
June 10th, 2008 at 04:24
I’m familiar with this technique, but the Japanese are obsessed with paperwork, and I suspect that anybody that actually needs to be on the roof would have three different forms that say as much, signed and stamped from four different offices. It seems silly, but I really wouldn’t put it past them. As far as a metric crapload is concerned, all my photography gear fits in my Tamrac Velocity 7x, which is a small slingpack and doesn’t look photographic much at all. And as I said, my building’s manager let me up on the roof to take pictures, and I suspect he’ll actually invite me to come up if there’s a particularly cool day later in the year.
I thought there was roof access through the fire escape, but I went out there and checked once, and the roof is locked up just like my building’s is.
Nonetheless, I’ll work on acquiring more photo gear. Strictly so I can look the part, of course.