EP02 - The Akihabara Massacre

Summary: We’re back with a new episode of the True Crime Japan Podcast. Tokyo’s Akihabara neighborhood has become a mecca for Japan’s Otaku (geek) and Cosplay cultures. On any given weekend the streets are crowded with people streaming in and out of the area’s many manga shops, game centers, and electronics stores. In 2008, however, these same streets were the scene of terror as rampage killer, Tomohiro Katō, mowed down five people with a rented moving truck. This was only the beginning, in the chaos that followed Katō began to indiscriminately stab the people nearby, many of whom had come to help those injured by the truck. Katō was quickly apprehended at the scene, but the Japanese public was about to be shocked even more as details of his actions before the attack were revealed in the subsequent investigation. An avid user of internet messaging sites, Katō had described his intention to kill beforehand online. Live posting from his mobile phone, he revealed his plan for the bloody massacre piece-by-piece on his way to the scene of the crime. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihabara_massacre#The_incident http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/02/02/national/crime-legal/death-sentence-confirmed-akihabara-rampage-killer/ http://www.ibtimes.com/japan-denies-appeal-tomohiro-kato-who-was-sentenced-death-stabbing-7-2008-1802194 http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2010/01/29/national/kato-sorry-for-akihabara-massacre/#.Vx3oxBgdzq0 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-12844673 http://www.japansubculture.com/akihabara-massacre-preventable-tragedy/ http://murderpedia.org/male.K/k/kato-tomohiro.htm