NationStates Jolt Archive

TOKYO (AP) - The suspect in a deadly stabbing rampage had an arsenal of knives with him during the attack, police said Wednesday, as an electronics maker canceled a launch event promoting a game that features a character armed with a huge dagger.

Tomohiro Kato, a 25-year-old factory worker who was spattered with blood when police arrested him after Sunday's assault, was carrying two knives and had two more stashed in his knapsack in a nearby truck, a police official said. Kato apparently dropped another knife during the attack, said the official, a spokesman for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing protocol,

The official said it appears Kato only used one knife to stab more than a dozen people in Tokyo's trendy Akihabara electronics district, the center of Japan's comic book and anime culture.

Police conducted a search of Kato's apartment Tuesday and confiscated empty packages that had contained knives and a club. They also found catalogues and receipts for the weapons.

No charges have been filed against Kato. Under Japanese law, prosecutors have 20 days after receiving suspects to either file charges or release them.

The assault began when a driver crashed a rental truck into a group of pedestrians, killing three of them. He then jumped out of the truck and slashed his way through the crowd, fatally stabbing four people. Another 10 were injured.

The attack horrified Japan, where news reports and talk shows have focused on what may have prompted the assault, Kato's troubled personality and a string of messages he sent to an Internet bulletin board warning he was planning to kill.

Amid rising concerns about street violence, gamemaker Konami canceled three launch events scheduled in Tokyo - including one in Akihabara - on Thursday for "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots," an action game in which a grizzled commando shoots and stabs his way through enemy lines.

Konami canceled the events with the "safety of participants in mind," though similar events in the U.S. were to proceed as planned, a spokesman said on condition of anonymity, citing company rules. The game is stamped with a "mature" rating due to graphic blood and violence.

Well this is just plain sick, guy attempts a massacre and kills 4 people before being caught by police. Now 4 dead and 10 injured... Another horrible act of violence in the world.

...and because of this Konami pulls their games citing safety factors.

And the media implies that they are pulling it because the game encouraged the guy.

Real smart Konami, way to make you look guilty.

Err pretty sure we had this a few days ago.

Oh, and this just in, the Media doesn't know what it's talking about! Wow, there's some breaking news for ya.

ZOMG! TEH EBIL VIDEO GAMES IZ CORRUPTING THE MINDS OF ADULTS AND TURNING THEM INTO TEH KILLERZ!!!11!!1!11

Can the media get any dumber? *Iz glad he doesn't have cable. Or satellite*

Thanks to video games I've crushed dozens, if not hundreds, of mushrooms and turtles.

Thanks to video games I've crushed dozens, if not hundreds, of mushrooms and turtles.

Get this menace off the streets!!!!!! :mp5: :mp5: :mp5: :mp5:

People dont mess with me because they know I play a lot of violent videogames and I may snap at any moment.... its true.

:mp5: :mp5: :mp5: :mp5: :mp5: :mp5: :mp5: :mp5:

ZOMG! TEH EBIL VIDEO GAMES IZ CORRUPTING THE MINDS OF ADULTS AND TURNING THEM INTO TEH KILLERZ!!!11!!1!11

Can the media get any dumber? *Iz glad he doesn't have cable. Or satellite*

Answer: Yes, but it'll take some effort. I think that we should put the blame where it belongs here and specify that TV media is the worst perpetrator of this dumbing down business.

Oh, and this just in, the Media doesn't know what it's talking about! Wow, there's some breaking news for ya.
Yeah, no shit, squire.

Thanks to video games I've crushed dozens, if not hundreds, of mushrooms and turtles.
I can't stop picking up bushes to see if rupees are under them. :(

Also, I can do an ollie off of rooftops.





Oh, and if MGS 4 is delayed or cut because of any of this, I will be pissed.

I
Oh, and if MGS 4 is delayed or cut because of any of this, I will be pissed.

It seems that it will be... Let me guess you're getting your cardboard box out and you're going to go break into a military base now because you are so CRAZY!!!1

Oh, and if MGS 4 is delayed or cut because of any of this, I will be pissed.

Im going to start stabbing people and shooting children....

:mp5: :mp5: :mp5: :mp5: :mp5: :mp5: :mp5:

ZOMG! THE EBIL MEDIA IZ BASHIN VIEDOGAMURS!!1!!!

I watch porn, so I became a porn star. I mean, it was inevitable.

I watch porn, so I became a porn star. I mean, it was inevitable.

you too?

Mentally disturbed man goes on a stabbing spree in a heavily crowded area.

You'd think the media would have blamed the [NOUN] Warriors games for that.

you too?

I know, right?

w00t, I've made 9000 for the second time!

*sprays Neesika with champagne*

w00t, I've made 9000 for the second time!
What was the first time?

*sprays Neesika with champagne*

*is wearing a white t-shirt and no bra. Also white pants and a pink thong*

What was the first time?

As Sinuhue. I was up to like, 11,000? 12,000? Can't remember.

As Sinuhue. I was up to like, 11,000? 12,000? Can't remember.
Nice. 20k-ish it is, then. Gratz and all that.

See... Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is perfect practice for such actions! I've always known it! It has taught me how to rampage (http://blog.demodulated.com/2008/01/05/the-art-of-rampaging/) through cities using my sword and magic! Proof was in the games all this time!! :p

Seriously though... how can a video game make someone do anything? What the hell ever happened to free will?

Quote:
... Kato apparently dropped another knife during the attack...

Is this the Kato that was Inspector Clouseau's houseboy, or the Kato who was OJ Simpson's housemate?

hmmmm the nation is in mourning over the loss of life from a stabbing spree. konami elects to not have a gala event publicizing its new game that features stabbing sprees.

seems like a good move to me. no sense giving the public the impression that you dont give a damn about the feelings of those who are grieving now.

"Controversy and the games industry go hand-in-hand like Ico and Yorda, if you'll forgive the incredibly nerdy analogy, and like Yorda, the controversy tends to stay focused for an average of about eight nanoseconds before getting bored and drifting off to do something else, but when it does get focused, it can get very exasperating, such as when youthful paragons of self-control are called nasty names and decide that murder would be the wittiest comeback, and then is found to have stood next to a video game at some point in the past. Then the media generally start drooling the usual uninformed questions as to whether wholesome, boyish pretend violence has any correlation with the real world. Short answer: No. Long answer: No, and go fuck yourselves, you ignorant, scaremongering cockbags I consider your argument misinformed." Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, weighing in on the issue

*is wearing a white t-shirt and no bra. Also white pants and a pink thong*

She's a porn star all right.

*is wearing a white t-shirt and no bra. Also white pants and a pink thong*


yummm

I'm ready for you to visit again

Konami at least is adhering to Japanese social protocols and not publishing the game in the wake of such a tragic event.

Rockstar Games probably would have spliced news footage into new commercials if this had happened in the U.S. just before GTA IV was to have been released.

I like how they basically summed up all of Metal Gear Solid into a game where players "shoot and stab" people, and somehow related this to it based on circumstantial evidence. I love the sensationalist logic of the media, it's awesome.

I like how they basically summed up all of Metal Gear Solid into a game where players "shoot and stab" people, and somehow related this to it based on circumstantial evidence. I love the sensationalist logic of the media, it's awesome.

It's the principle of yellow journalism. The more attention the better.

hmmmm the nation is in mourning over the loss of life from a stabbing spree. konami elects to not have a gala event publicizing its new game that features stabbing sprees.

seems like a good move to me. no sense giving the public the impression that you dont give a damn about the feelings of those who are grieving now.

Yes but it also gives the public the impression that you are somehow at fault. It's a lose\lose situation.

Oh, and if MGS 4 is delayed or cut because of any of this, I will be pissed.

What if the man went on rampage specifically because MGS4 was delayed so long and couldn't wait anymore? :eek:

I thought they were going to blame GTAIV, which you must admit does have a similar resemblance to what happened.

It's not video games we need to be worried about. It's Dungeons and Dragons!

Better watch out for those people who are chaotic good 12th level rogues in RL.

It's not video games we need to be worried about. It's Dungeons and Dragons!

Better watch out for those people who are chaotic good 12th level rogues in RL.

<.<

>.>

*is wearing a white t-shirt and no bra. Also white pants and a pink thong*

:eek:
...
:)

Well this is just plain sick, guy attempts a massacre and kills 4 people before being caught by police. Now 4 dead and 10 injured... Another horrible act of violence in the world.

1) There's already a thread for this (see below).

2) Link your article please.

3) Three plus four is seven, not four. Back to first grade arithmatic for you. :p

[QUOTE=The Lone Alliance]...and because of this Konami pulls their games citing safety factors.

And the media implies that they are pulling it because the game encouraged the guy.

Real smart Konami, way to make you look guilty.

Hmmm... I haven't been following this story on J TV, but the media here doesn't seem to be blaiming video games. The fuse seems to have been lit by some trouble at work.

Missing work clothes at factory may have sparked Akihabara stabbing rampage

SUSONO, Shizuoka -- The man who killed seven people and injured 10 others in a stabbing rampage in Tokyo's Akihabara district on Sunday became furious after his work clothes were missing at the factory he worked at earlier this month, colleagues say.

"My work clothes are missing!" the suspect, 25-year-old Tomohiro Kato, shouted at the Higashi-Fuji factory of Kanto Auto Works, Ltd. at around 6 a.m. on Thursday, shortly before his shift began, prompting a colleague to alert their boss. He had disappeared by the time the boss arrived at the scene.

Later in the day, he put up several messages on a mobile phone site complaining about what happened at the factory.

"When I went to my workplace, I found my work clothes were missing. Does it mean I should quit my job?" one of the entries read.

"I guess the company is happy about expelling me," another messages said.

Investigators suspect that Kato thought that he had been dismissed from the factory.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080609p2a00m0na020000c.html

Err pretty sure we had this a few days ago.

Indeed.
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=558436

hmmmm the nation is in mourning over the loss of life from a stabbing spree. konami elects to not have a gala event publicizing its new game that features stabbing sprees.

seems like a good move to me. no sense giving the public the impression that you dont give a damn about the feelings of those who are grieving now.

Konami at least is adhering to Japanese social protocols and not publishing the game in the wake of such a tragic event.

Rockstar Games probably would have spliced news footage into new commercials if this had happened in the U.S. just before GTA IV was to have been released.

Just checked one of my regular news sources, and the company is citing saftey concerns.

Violent game launch canceled after Akihabara rampage; gov't discusses regulations on knives

Thursday 12th June, 05:55 AM JST

TOKYO —

An electronics maker on Wednesday canceled a launch event for a game featuring a character armed with a huge dagger. Amid rising concerns about street violence, gamemaker Konami canceled three launch events scheduled in Tokyo—including one in Akihabara—on Thursday for “Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots,” an action game in which a grizzled commando shoots and stabs his way through enemy lines.

Konami canceled the events with the “safety of participants in mind,” though similar events in the U.S. were to proceed as planned, a spokesman said on condition of anonymity, citing company rules. The game is stamped with a “mature” rating due to graphic blood and violence.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/violent-game-launch-canceled-after-akihabara-rampage-govt-discusses-regulations-on-knives

It's never anyone's personal responsibility in today's world.

It's the fault of video games, or knives, or the lack of laws, or there weren't enough policemen, or the education system failed him, or the mental health system failed...

Never, ever is it the fault of the actual perpetrator.

Never, ever is it the fault of the actual perpetrator.

Says the guy who accuses Muslims of being hive mind terror group, points to any instance of cultural incompatibility as proof that all Muslims can't integrate into modern society and advocated sterilizing them all.

Says the guy who accuses Muslims of being hive mind terror group, points to any instance of cultural incompatibility as proof that all Muslims can't integrate into modern society and advocated sterilizing them all.

Anyone who ever prayed that they want to be a martyr for Allah should be given the opportunity at the soonest possible moment.

I don't have to point out "any" instance - there are statistically too many for you to refute.

Anyone who ever prayed that they want to be a martyr for Allah should be given the opportunity at the soonest possible moment.

I don't have to point out "any" instance - there are statistically too many for you to refute.

So you admit to once again, applying double standards when it comes to bashing Muslims. Bravo.

Statistically, there are thousands of Christian murderers. By your logic, should we assume that all Christians are murderers then?

So you admit to once again, applying double standards when it comes to bashing Muslims. Bravo.

Statistically, there are thousands of Christian murderers. By your logic, should we assume that all Christians are murderers then?

We're talking many orders of magnitude difference here. I guess you missed that.

We're talking many orders of magnitude difference here. I guess you missed that.

And either you're going to prove that difference with reliable facts and figures, or you're going to be a liar.

Of course by continuing with your stance, you are only proving what a bigoted hypocrite you are. Please, vindicate me some more.

And either you're going to prove that difference with reliable facts and figures, or you're going to be a liar.

Of course by continuing with your stance, you are only proving what a bigoted hypocrite you are. Please, vindicate me some more.

Being vindicated by Kimchi's constant Fallacy Fiesta is like being seen on a "Reality Show." The only way you can't is if you choose not to out of personal integrity or whatever reason you have. Just too easy.

*Snip*
Grow up.

We're talking many orders of magnitude difference here. I guess you missed that.

Actually, its pretty similar. I mean, come ON dude, some Muslims blow some stuff up(yeah, a lot of it), but not all of them.

Of course, if we had the same situation here as they do in the Middle East, which is predominantly Muslim, then it would be Baptist Christians blowing up Lutherans, and Catholics killing Methodists.

Also, not all Muslims are terrorists. My friend is a Muslim. She doesn't want to be a martyr to Allah(who is, in fact, the same God that us Christians worship.)

Islam does not dictate that members should kill non-believers.

But guys, Hotwife is also right...I mean, in today's world, people are slow to blame the perpetrator. its always "Video games, school, his job" and not "that sick bastard"

He was just off his damn rocker folks.

Grow up.

You couldn't be assed to post your article in the existing thread, link it, or properly relate the facts of the matter. When corrected, you say "grow up". Who's being childish here? :rolleyes:

If you give your population easy access to guns, youll clear this knife problem right up ;)

If you give your population easy access to guns, youll clear this knife problem right up ;)

if he really wanted to, he could have used one. Obviously, the truck and the knives worked just fine for him.