The "Sasebo slashing" (Japanese:
Sasebo slashing | |
---|---|
Okubo Elementary School; the site of the murder (pictured on March 11, 2011) | |
Location | Okubo Elementary School, Higashiokubocho, Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan |
Date | June 1, 2004 |
Attack type | Murder |
Weapon | Utility knife |
Deaths | 1 |
Victim | Satomi Mitarai, 12 |
Perpetrator | Girl A, 11 |
Reactions to the incident included Internet memes[specify] and a discussion of lowering the age of criminal responsibility in Japan. The killer's name was not released to the press, as per Japanese legal procedures prohibiting the identification of juvenile offenders;[4] the Nagasaki District Legal Affairs Bureau cautioned Internet users against revealing her photos.[5] However, members of the Japanese Internet community 2channel read a name on a classroom drawing believed to be made by Girl A, and publicized the name on June 18, 2004.[5][6]
Murder
editOn June 1, 2004, Girl A murdered her 12-year-old classmate, Satomi Mitarai, in an empty classroom during the lunch hour at Okubo Elementary School in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture.[7] Girl A returned to her classroom, her clothes covered in blood.[8] The girls' teacher, who had noticed that both girls were missing, stumbled upon the body and called the police.[9]
After being taken into custody, Girl A was reported to have confessed to the crime, saying "I am sorry, I am sorry" to police officers.[10] She spent the night at the police station, often crying, and refusing to eat or drink. Girl A initially mentioned no motive for the killing.[11] Shortly afterward, she confessed to police that she and Mitarai had quarreled as a result of messages left on the Internet.[12] Girl A claimed that Mitarai slandered her[13] by commenting on her weight and calling her a "goody-goody".
On September 15, 2004, a Japanese Family Court ruled to institutionalize Girl A, putting aside her young age because of the severity of the crime.[14] She was sent to a reformatory in Tochigi Prefecture.[15] The Nagasaki family court originally sentenced Girl A to two years of involuntary commitment, but the sentence was extended by two years in September 2006, following a psychological evaluation.[16] On May 29, 2008, local authorities announced that they did not seek an additional sentence.[17]
Because of her issues with communication and obsessive interests, Girl A was diagnosed after the murder with Asperger syndrome.[18]
Reaction
editThe killing provoked a debate in Japan whether the age of criminal responsibility, lowered from 16 to 14 in 2000 due to the 1997 Kobe child murders, needed to be lowered again.[19] Girl A was considered to be a normal and well-adjusted child before the incident,[20] which made the public more anxious.[21]
Members of the Japanese Diet, such as Kiichi Inoue and Sadakazu Tanigaki, came under criticism for comments made in the wake of the killing.[22] Inoue was criticized for referring to Girl A as genki (vigorous, lively), a word with positive connotations.[23] Tanigaki was criticized for referring to the method of killing, slitting of the throat, as a "manly" act.[24]
Girl A became the subject of an Internet meme on Japanese web communities such as 2channel. She was nicknamed "Nevada-tan" because a class photograph showed a young girl believed to be her wearing a University of Nevada, Reno sweatshirt,[25] with "-tan" being a childlike pronunciation of the Japanese honorific suffix "-chan", generally used to refer to young girls.
Akio Mori cited this case in support of his controversial "game brain" theory,[26] which has been criticized as pseudoscience.[27] Girl A was reported to be a fan of the death-themed flash animation "Red Room",[28] a claim used in support of the theory. It was also known that Girl A had read the controversial novel Battle Royale and had seen its film adaptation, which centers on young students fighting to the death.[29]
On March 18, 2005, during the Okubo Elementary graduation ceremony, students were given a graduation album with a blank page in honor of Mitarai's death on which they could put pictures of Mitarai, Girl A, or class pictures containing both girls.[30] Mitarai was posthumously awarded a graduation certificate, which her father accepted on her behalf. Girl A was also awarded a certificate, as one is required in Japan in order to enter a junior high school and the school believed it would aid her "reintegration into society".[31]
See also
edit- Murder of Aiwa Matsuo, a 2014 murder in Sasebo
- 2007 Sasebo shooting, a 2007 mass homicide in Sasebo
References
edit- ^ "Japanese schoolgirl kills classmate". The Sydney Morning Herald. June 2, 2004. Retrieved June 6, 2008.
- ^ Yamaguchi, Mari (June 2, 2004). "Japanese girl accused of killing classmate". The Independent. London. Retrieved June 24, 2008.
- ^ "Girl says internet spat prompted slaying". China Daily. June 4, 2004. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
- ^ "Japanese girl stabbed to death in school". China Daily. June 2, 2004. Retrieved June 6, 2008.
- ^ a b "ネットに
加害 女児 の顔 、名前 長崎 地方 法務局 が削除 要請 " [Nagasaki District Legal Affairs Bureau requests that the face and name of the perpetrator girl be removed from the internet]. Nagasaki Shimbun (in Japanese). June 3, 2004. Archived from the original on June 5, 2004. - ^ Satō, Haruto (2005). Hanzai Kogal. pp. 11, 46, 29.
- ^ "Sixth-grader kills her classmate, 12". The Japan Times. June 2, 2004. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
- ^ "Japanese girl, 11, cuts friend's throat". The Age. June 2, 2004. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
- ^ "Japanese Girl Fatally Stabs A Classmate". The New York Times. June 2, 2004. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
- ^ "Japan stunned by schoolgirl crime". CNN. June 2, 2004. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
- ^ "Japanese girl, 11, kills classmate by slitting her throat". Scotland on Sunday. June 2, 2004. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved June 24, 2008.
- ^ "Japan in shock at school murder". BBC News. June 2, 2004. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
- ^ Brooke, James (June 3, 2004). "Internet Messages Cited In Girl's Killing". The New York Times. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
- ^ "An 11-year-old Japanese girl to be placed in juvenile center over classmate's slaying". Boston Herald. Associated Press. September 15, 2004. Archived from the original on May 4, 2006. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
- ^ "11-year-old killer institutionalized". The Japan Times. September 25, 2004. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
- ^ "Girl who fatally stabbed classmate to have freedom restrictions lifted". Mainichi Daily News. May 29, 2008. Retrieved June 6, 2008. [dead link]
- ^ "Father of murdered Sasebo girl speaks on lifting of attacker's freedom restrictions". Mainichi Daily News. May 30, 2008. Retrieved June 6, 2008. [dead link]
- ^ Kusanagi, Atsuko (November 24, 2005).
第 七 章 「コミュニケーション能力 」と「エピローグ」 [Chapter 7: "Communication Ability" and "Epilogue"].追跡 !「佐世保 小 六 女児 同級生 殺害 事件 」 [Tracked down! The case of the homicide committed by a Sasebo Elementary Grade 6 girl against her classmate] (in Japanese). Japan: Kodansha. pp. 93–110, 214–228. ISBN 4-06-213041-6. - ^ Watson, Nicholas (June 21, 2004). "Violent crime prompts debate over age of legal responsibility in Japan". Publique!. Archived from the original on February 24, 2008. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
- ^ "Japan stunned by schoolgirl stabbing". The Daily Telegraph. London. June 2, 2004. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
- ^ Faiola, Anthony (August 9, 2004). "Youth Violence Has Japan Struggling for Answers - 11-Year-Old's Killing of Classmate Puts Spotlight on Sudden Acts of Rage". The Washington Post. p. A01. Archived from the original on May 3, 2013. Retrieved June 22, 2012.
- ^ "Japan killing comments spark row". BBC News. June 4, 2004. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
- ^ "School slaying a sign of gender equality: minister". Taipei Times. June 5, 2004. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
- ^ "Ministers told to watch their mouths". The Japan Times. June 12, 2004. Retrieved June 6, 2008.
- ^ "Nevada-tan". Know Your Meme[unreliable source?]. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
- ^ "Using computers for long hours may prompt children to behave violently, neurologists says". Medical News Today. June 23, 2004. Retrieved February 7, 2008[dead link]
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ "
脳 のメカニズムに迫 る川島 隆太 東北大学 加 齢 医学 研究所 教授 " [Approaching the mechanisms of the brain: Professor Ryuta Kawashima, Institute of Aging and Aging, Tohoku University]. Science Portal (in Japanese). Retrieved May 31, 2008. - ^
殺害 手口 、参考 の可能 性 ネットの物語 掲載 サイト. Nagasaki Shimbun (in Japanese). June 9, 2004. Archived from the original on June 18, 2004. Retrieved June 23, 2008. Wayback Machine copy. - ^ "Japan schoolgirl killer 'sorry'". BBC News. June 3, 2004. Archived from the original on February 13, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2007.
- ^ "Murdered girl's classmates get blank page for killer in graduation album". Mainichi Daily News. March 18, 2005. Archived from the original on April 12, 2005. Retrieved March 25, 2006.
- ^ "Slain Sasebo girl awarded posthumous graduation". The Japan Times. March 18, 2005. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
External links
edit- "Japan schoolgirl killer 'sorry'" – BBC News, June 3, 2004
- "
現代 リスクの基礎 知識 第 62回 〜長崎 佐世保 女児 同級生 殺害 事件 " – Nikkei Business Publications June 10, 2004 article on the murder (in Japanese)