A few days earlier, on May 7, a 43-year-old man allegedly attacked a random student at a subway station near the University of Tokyo, Japan’s most prestigious university, because he reportedly wanted to show that overbearing parents with excessive expectations for their children to perform academically can push them into crime.
There was also a case in December in which a teenage girl was killed after a man she didn’t know allegedly stabbed her in the back at a fast-food restaurant in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture.
And a man in his 40s was arrested in January for allegedly stabbing a man to death at Nagano Station and injuring two others — another apparently random attack.
A 2024 survey of 5,000 people over the age of 15 by the National Police Agency showed only 56.4% of respondents felt Japan is a safe place. This is the first time the percentage has fallen below 60%.
The survey also showed that 76.6% of respondents felt Japan’s safety had deteriorated over the last 10 years.
However, the number of criminal cases involving knives in the country has actually been steadily declining in the past decade or so.
According to the latest data compiled by the NPA, there were 3,896 criminal cases involving knives in 2023, down from 4,978 in 2013.
The number of cases of heinous crimes — defined as offenses involving violence such as murder, robbery, arson and rape — involving the use of knives was 734 in 2023, down from 1,583 a decade earlier.
Kazuaki Hashimoto, a criminal psychology professor at the International University of Health and Welfare, said public concern often spikes following high-profile cases, even if the data doesn’t point to a growing trend.
“Every time a major incident occurs, people worry that society is becoming more dangerous,” he said.
“But statistically, serious violent crimes have actually declined. While recent cases may give the impression that such attacks are increasing, it’s not yet clear whether that reflects a real upward trend.”
Still, questions remain about what’s driving the pattern of seemingly random violence.
According to the NPA, 13.5% of murders and attempted murders committed in 2023 involved suspects who didn’t know the victims. This is up from 10.3% in 2013.
Experts say such incidents often reflect a deeper issue at the societal level.
In the Chiba stabbing case, for example, the teenage suspect reportedly told police he just wanted to kill someone and didn’t care who it was.
Hashimoto, who has 23 years of experience as a family court investigator and has had encounters with such individuals, suggested such crimes might be a desperate attempt to draw attention to underlying suffering.
However, the individuals often lack the ability to articulate their struggles effectively, which causes them to lash out violently instead.
“After speaking with them (youngsters who resorted to violence) through multiple interviews, it often became clear that it wasn’t really about (killing people). What emerged, instead, was a desire to be understood — a deep need for someone to recognize their inner feelings,” he said.
In such situations, parents are often unaware of their children’s struggles until much later, partly because the children aren’t good at expressing their feelings verbally, which can stem from a range of underlying factors, such as their environment, school life and parenting styles, he added.
Hashimoto said people around such youngsters, including family members, often do not notice how they feel since their ability to verbalize those feelings is still underdeveloped. The gap between what others perceive and what the youngsters are actually feeling becomes a source of deep suffering.
Another criminal psychologist points out that the perpetrators of such crimes tend to be isolated, lacking human connection or engagement within society.
“The development of social media may seem like it’s fostering communication, but in reality, it often results in superficial interactions. It doesn’t always amount to genuine communication in a meaningful sense,” said Yasuyuki Deguchi, a criminal psychologist at Tokyo Future University and a former employee of the Justice Ministry’s correctional bureau.
While there are no simple solutions, experts believe that building a society in which people do not become isolated is crucial to preventing such incidents. But that’s easier said than done.
According to news reports on the stabbing case in Chiba, the suspect’s guardians had consulted with police prior to the incident due to his concerning behavior. They had even enrolled in a police program in which all of them met regularly with an officer in charge of juveniles for counseling sessions in response to instances of the teenager acting out.
“That’s why it’s important to now carefully examine these aspects as the case moves through family court. Investigating what led him to this point and thoroughly unpacking it is essential,” Hashimoto said.
“Not just for the court, but also as a responsibility of the country,” he added.
A recent spate of random stabbings has raised fears among the public, leading many to wonder: Are they increasing? Why would people attack at random? Could the next victim be me, or someone I care about?
On May 11, a 15-year-old boy was arrested for allegedly stabbing an 84-year-old woman to death in Chiba Prefecture, reportedly because he “just wanted to kill someone” so that he could be sent to a juvenile detention center to escape his troubled home life.
