Ian Lewis' Blog

Today a man drove into a crowded group of people in Akihabara and then got out of his car and started stabbing and slashing people with a knife. 7 people were killed and 11 people injured/wounded. Akihabara is the electronics shopping district in Tokyo and was closed to cars today so the road was full of pedestrians. From what I gather from the news is that the man drove his car into a pedestrian only area and hit several people. Then he got out of his car and stood over one of the people he hit and started stabbing him several times, He then came towards the station, stabbing and slashing people indiscriminately.

Kern, an English teacher in Osaka mentioned the incident on his blog. He also mentioned the trend of killers who say things like "I just wanted to kill people. Anyone would do" which has been said by several killers in the recent past so it's an interesting observation. The fact that this also occurred on the 7th anniversary of an incedent where a man killed 8 children and injured 15 other people at Ikeda Elementary School in Osaka Prefecture seems like more than a coincidence.

Akihabara is about 20 minutes by train from where I live. This apparently happened very close to the station so it's a bit hard to believe that something like this happened in an area that I have been to many times.  It's alarming to think that I could have been there. I wonder what kind of answers can be gleaned from such indiscriminate killers.

The story is also mentioned on Reuters and Japan Today. BBC videos here and here.

Update! You can see pictures of me eating canned Oden on Chris and Lisa's blog. It was pretty gross but it was an experience. No one wanted to try it so I had to

Last Saturday Reiko and I went on a tour of Akihabara with the Tokyo Japanese-English Language and Culture Meetup. The assistant organizer for the meetup, Asako, planned out a pretty interesting trip for everyone. I guess she wanted us to see all the fantastic, and strange places in Akihabara, so we went to two maid cafes, a cosplay costume shop, and and finally an adult department shop. They were some pretty strange destinations but all in all it was pretty fun.

Well this Sunday is my birthday and my friend Emily is coming from the 'States so I imagine I'll be pretty busy this weekend. Though, I don't know if someone is coming to meet Emily or not...