From "Stabbing of 17 Children Shocks Japan, Where Parents Trust Streets Are Safe"
New York Times (05/28/19) Rich, Motoko; Ueno, Hisako; Inoue, Maikiko
A man wielding two long-blade knives stabbed 17 schoolgirls and two adults on Tuesday at a bus stop in a suburb southwest of Tokyo, according to the police. It was a shocking event for a country where violent crime is rare and the kinds of mass shootings that have devastated schools across the United States have never occurred because of strict gun-control laws.
Officials at Caritas, the Roman Catholic school in Kawasaki that the children attended, said they had received no warning and did not know the attacker, who was identified by NHK, the public broadcaster, as Ryuichi Iwasaki, 51. Teiko Naito, the elementary school principal at Caritas, a private institution with students in kindergarten through 12th grade, said that parents just wanted to be able to send their children to school and know they would be safe. “But today, after such a tragic incident, I am extremely saddened and feel such pain,” she said. Parents returned to the school Tuesday evening for a briefing with administrators to hear about plans for counseling for students and upgraded security measures.
Although violent crimes, particularly mass killings, are rare in Japan, they tend to involve knives, rather than guns, when they do occur. In Kawasaki, residents were stunned by the stabbings in this community of commuters, who have the option of two train lines that can take them either to central Tokyo or to Yokohama, Japan’s second-largest city.
To view the full story click this link. Web Link
New York Times (05/28/19) Rich, Motoko; Ueno, Hisako; Inoue, Maikiko
A man wielding two long-blade knives stabbed 17 schoolgirls and two adults on Tuesday at a bus stop in a suburb southwest of Tokyo, according to the police. It was a shocking event for a country where violent crime is rare and the kinds of mass shootings that have devastated schools across the United States have never occurred because of strict gun-control laws.
Officials at Caritas, the Roman Catholic school in Kawasaki that the children attended, said they had received no warning and did not know the attacker, who was identified by NHK, the public broadcaster, as Ryuichi Iwasaki, 51. Teiko Naito, the elementary school principal at Caritas, a private institution with students in kindergarten through 12th grade, said that parents just wanted to be able to send their children to school and know they would be safe. “But today, after such a tragic incident, I am extremely saddened and feel such pain,” she said. Parents returned to the school Tuesday evening for a briefing with administrators to hear about plans for counseling for students and upgraded security measures.
Although violent crimes, particularly mass killings, are rare in Japan, they tend to involve knives, rather than guns, when they do occur. In Kawasaki, residents were stunned by the stabbings in this community of commuters, who have the option of two train lines that can take them either to central Tokyo or to Yokohama, Japan’s second-largest city.
To view the full story click this link. Web Link
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