Victims of a fatal rampage in Tokyo’s busy Akihabara district in 2008 were remembered Saturday, the 16th anniversary of the indiscriminate attack, which left seven people dead and 10 others injured.
Prayers and flowers were offered at the intersection where the incident occurred.
“I feel uneasy if I don’t come here on this day,” said a 45-year-old from Koga, Ibaraki Prefecture, who witnessed the incident 16 years ago and visits the scene almost every year.
“There was a tense atmosphere,” a 54-year-old from Yokohama said of the scene he saw soon after the incident. “Although the death penalty was carried out (on the attacker), it didn’t make any difference.”
A woman, 72, who works near the site said that those killed must have had a future, such as getting married and having a family. “It was a terrible incident, and I don’t want it to be forgotten.”
In the incident on June 8, 2008, the attacker, Tomohiro Kato, rammed a truck into the pedestrian zone near Akihabara Station, hitting passersby. He then got out and started stabbing others at random with a knife.
His death penalty became final at the Supreme Court in February 2015. He was executed in July 2022 at age 39.
The incident shook Japan as it was believed he was motivated by a feeling of dissatisfaction with those around him and a deep sense of loneliness.