satsujin yokoku

Bulletin boards in Japan are hot with rumour and speculation today after videos recorded by an as yet unidentified Japanese male threaten random knife attacks on members of the public at stations in Japan, with Fukuoka’s Hakata Station ultimately named as the spot where the attack will take place.

Although neither the following article nor the videos within it contain any graphic imagery, some readers may nevertheless find their content disturbing.

A series of videos uploaded by user YouTube user narunaru793 has caught the attention of Japanese internet users recently after word spread of an open declaration that passersby at one of Japan’s largest stations would be indsicriminately attacked at around 6:30 p.m. on Friday, June 14.

The three videos, simply titled “Satsujin yokoku” (lit. “advance notice of murder”) have already been viewed thousands of times, with the most recent receiving the most hits as the uploader calmly announces the exact time and place where he plans to launch the attack.

  • The same person who threatened attack in 2011?

In the first of the videos, published on June 5, the man hints at having been behind threats of a slasher attack in Shinjuku Station in February of 2011. The man also describes having been arrested and spending a year and three months in a juvenile reform school.

  • Three possible stations named

Next, in a video titled “satsujin yokoku 4”, the same male voice mentions three stations at which he says he is considering carrying out the attack, listing Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station, Osaka Station and Hakata Station in Fukuoka.

With his (possibly concealed) camera running, the man walks around the interior of Osaka station among crowds of commuters, casually identifying potentially viable places to attack people. There is no evidence to suggest, however, that the video was recorded on the date on which it was uploaded. He then promises to release another video when he has made his final decision.

  • “I think I’ll do it at Hakata Station”

Finally, in a video uploaded on June 7, evidently discreetly shot inside a McDonald’s restaurant, the same male voice announces that he has decided to carry out the attack at Hakata Station. Using reasonably polite Japanese throughout, the man’s tone in the video is calm when he announces his plan, which perhaps only adds to the sinister nature of the recording.

“Hello everyone, how are you doing? So, I’ve decided do it at Hakata Station. Yes. Hakata. I’ll do it at the place where the passageway cuts through the building from left to right. There are ticket gates and stores on either side. I don’t know the name of the store, but…  it’ll be Hakata Station. Anyway, I’d like to upload another video soon. The next video will probably be, well, I suppose you could say ‘interesting’… I’ll be doing something quite wonderful. So, until the next time.”

Although there have yet to be any official announcements from the authorities on the subject of these videos, and it is quite probable that they were recorded simply with the intention of alarming the public, we would nevertheless like to urge those using Hakata Station tomorrow evening to be vigilant. Whether they would rather believe that these videos are little more than a distasteful prank, following the tragic events of June 8, 2008 wherein 12 shoppers were attacked in a busy street in Akihabara by a man wielding a survival knife, many Japanese net users are understandably concerned.

Reference: 予告in (Japanese) YouTube

You can view the three videos released by this individual below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yFvJbJgqyV8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ncN5Ef7dAZo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SY5mvXu-IuY#!
[ Read in Japanese ]