If I can’t become a doctor, I’ll commit seppuku”…A man from a prestigious school in Aichi, Japan, said and did very strange things immediately after stabbing three people in front of the University of Tokyo.

A man dressed in a black suit took the witness stand with firm steps. When asked by the presiding judge if there was anything wrong with the indictment, he replied, “Nothing in particular,” and then apologized, saying, “I am sorry.

I am very sorry for the emotional and physical trauma I have caused the victims.

On October 12, the Tokyo District Court heard the first trial of A, 19, a man from Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, who is accused of attempted murder for stabbing three men and a woman. A had never met the three men.

A was a graduate of a prestigious school in Aichi Prefecture with a high rate of students going on to medical school, and he had applied to the University of Tokyo’s Science Department, the most difficult of the university entrance examinations, to become a doctor. However, his grades did not improve, and his teachers and father asked him to change his career path. He told the police that he had lost confidence because his grades were not improving. He was losing confidence because his grades were not improving, and he thought he could commit suicide if he committed a serious crime and felt guilty about it.

In an article distributed on January 16, 2010, FRIDAY Digital reported in detail on the incident involving A, a 17-year-old high school sophomore at the time. We would like to reproduce the article and look back on A’s shuddering behavior immediately after the incident and his motive for committing the crime (some of the contents have been changed).

The “Strangely noisy ……”

Where did you come from?

Shortly after 8:30 in the morning of January 15, a liquor store owner in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, heard police officers shouting in front of his store and saw a strange scene. The scene was the street in front of the main gate of the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Tokyo’s Yayoi Campus, which houses the Faculty of Agriculture. A young man dressed in a black school uniform was huddled near the gate, and four or five police officers were questioning him vigorously.

At the time, the shopkeeper recalled, “The fire trucks and ambulances were sirens.

I heard the sirens of fire engines and ambulances blaring, so I went outside to see what was going on. It was the first day of the entrance examination (for the National University Entrance Test), and I felt that it was strangely noisy, so I went to …… and found one person lying behind the gate and one in front, and a police officer calling out to them.”

An unprecedented stabbing incident occurred on a street in front of the University of Tokyo, the highest academic institution in Japan. A, a second-year high school student at that time attending a preparatory school in Aichi Prefecture, slashed three passersby one after another in the back with a kitchen knife with a blade of about 14 cm in length, exclaiming, “I’m going to apply to the University of Tokyo next year! He exclaimed, “I’m applying to the University of Tokyo next year! The victims were a 72-year-old man, a 17-year-old female student and an 18-year-old male student.

A attended one of Nagoya’s leading private preparatory schools. A said about his motive for the crime: “I wanted to go to Tokyo University to become a doctor. I was studying to become a doctor at the University of Tokyo, but my grades started slipping a year ago and I lost confidence. If I couldn’t become a doctor, I thought I would commit seppuku (ritual suicide) by killing a person and carrying the guilt on my shoulders.

A had been missing since the previous day, the 14th, and his father had reported him missing to the Aichi Prefectural Police. A, who had gone out without his parents’ permission, said, ‘I took an express bus from Nagoya to Tokyo at 6:00 a.m. on the morning of the 15th.

In addition to a kitchen knife, A was in possession of a folding saw and a knife.

‘Several plastic bottles containing flammable liquid were found in the bag he was carrying. He also stated, ‘Before the incident, I set a fire at a station near Todai. It is believed that A committed this crime. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has arrested A for planning to commit indiscriminate murder.

A police officer became angry and said, “Where did you come from?

What was bizarre was A’s behavior immediately after the crime. When a nearby security guard told him to “calm down, calm down,” he threw the knife to the ground and slumped to the ground. He also put down the bag and other items he was carrying. A liquor store owner who witnessed the whole thing from across the street testified, “The man was wearing glasses and had no face.

The man was wearing glasses and had no expression on his face. He didn’t answer any questions from the police officers who rushed to the scene, as if he had lost his mind. The police officer, who had lost his patience, asked him, “Where did you come from? I heard the police officer’s voice, “Where did you come from? Still, the man did not reply. The officers had no choice but to take the man by both arms and drag him to a nearby police box.

What was behind the incident?

There have been cases in the past of students from prestigious high schools who, in despair due to poor grades, have committed crimes. However, in many cases, the focus is on themselves and their families. We have never heard of indiscriminate attempts to murder strangers.

I believe that the Internet society and the new coronavirus have had an impact on this incident. What students from prestigious schools who face stiff competition for entrance examinations see on the Internet are extreme academic theories. They are invaded by the idea that the only way to succeed in life is to enter the University of Tokyo, and medical school at that, and become a doctor. They are unable to understand the fact that “Tokyo University is not everything” and “there are other ways to live a happy life without becoming a doctor.

Normally, they should be able to resolve these prejudices by confiding their concerns to their school teachers and friends. However, with the COVID-19 crisis, online classes became more and more common, and the opportunity to discuss these issues face-to-face disappeared. Even though his grades were down, he could have recovered as much as he wanted if he was still a sophomore in high school. ……” (education journalist)

At the upcoming trial, the detailed background of the incident will be revealed.