Another armed attack on an educational facility occurred in Japan. A woman armed with two sharp knives burst into the school. She didn't have time to hurt anyone because class had ended and the children were urgently evacuated. The motive for her actions remains unclear. But this is not the first attack with edged weapons on schools and universities in the country. In the 2020s, they became so frequent that they became a serious problem.
The incident occurred at a high school in Yamagata city: a woman holding a traditional Japanese knife entered the school after class. Fortunately, teachers quickly evacuated students from the classroom and no one was injured. When police arrested the suspect, they found two small knives in her possession, often used to cut meat and poultry.
The attacker admitted that she had violated weapons laws. However, she refused to explain the reasons for her actions; an investigation is underway.
In 2024, in Fukuoka Prefecture, an unknown man used a knife to attack a group of students in a fast food restaurant. A girl standing in line to get food was stabbed and did not survive; A boy who ran to help her injured his lower back.
In March 2023, there was a knife attack from Toda city (Saitama prefecture). A 17-year-old high school student broke into a classroom and the teenager was arrested on suspicion of murdering a 60-year-old teacher. The aggressor also could not explain the motive for his actions, saying: “I just wanted to kill someone.” According to information from law enforcement, the student began arguing with the teacher who was supervising the completion of the test. The investigation found that the detained teenager had previously hinted on social networks that he was involved in the murder of several cats whose bodies were found in this city.
In 2022, during the entrance exam for the University of Tokyo, a 17-year-old senior student of Nagoya City High School was attacked with a knife. He injured three people, all of whom were lucky to survive.
In Japan, there is widespread talk of a “violence epidemic” that causes adults to attack children and adolescents whom the aggressor has never previously known. This happens not only at schools but also in shopping centers, on vehicles and right on the streets.
So, in the city of Kawasaki, a criminal used a knife to attack a group of schoolgirls and passengers at a bus stop, but it was the teenage girls that made him angry. As a result of the attack, an 11-year-old girl and a 49-year-old man died, and a 40-year-old woman was seriously injured. A total of 15 people were killed in the attack, and the impact was so great that the Prime Minister had to speak to relatives of the victims.
On the other hand, attacks by teenagers with kitchen knives are also becoming more frequent. The most common age for aggression is 15-16 years old and police say these attacks often occur in series.
