A friend to the friendless.

On 11 July, Toyama Prefectural police knocked on the door of an apartment in the city of Namerikawa. They informed the 53-year-old resident that he was under arrest for plotting to kill multiple people in Tokyo. Inside the apartment, they found that he had reserved a bus to Tokyo and placed a knife in his backpack.

The man admitted to the plan during questioning, telling police that the rising cost of living had driven him to want to die. He decided to accomplish this by going on a killing spree in the hopes that either the police would shoot him dead or he would be arrested and receive the death penalty.

Earlier that day, Toyama and Tokyo police received a tip that the man might be planning to commit murders. A few days later, the man who provided the tip came forward and revealed himself to be Shuitsu Otomo, a former close friend and co-worker of Tomohiro Kato, the man sentenced to death for killing seven people and injuring 11 by driving his truck into a crowded part of Akihabara, Tokyo, and randomly attacking people with a knife.

▼ A news report from 2008, when the Akihabara incident occurred.

Since then, Otomo has devoted himself to both speaking openly about his relationship with Kato to help shed light on what might drive people to do such things and working as a volunteer probation officer to help rehabilitate former violent offenders.

His very public work also occasionally causes potential violent offenders to reach out to him, as was the case in this instance. The Toyama suspect also contacted Otomo on Twitter, saying he had gotten sick of living and was considering “going out with a bang, like what happened in Akihabara.”

▼ “These interactions usually start with an email from the other person, so in my first reply, I let them know that any matter involving the risk of life will be reported.
In this case, they were hinting at an incident, so I clearly asked if they intended to do it, but they neither denied nor confirmed it. Based on my 15 years of experience with similar interactions, I judged it as an emergency and reported it.”

This not being the first time Otomo received such a message, he knew to neither dismiss nor confront the poster. The two began a conversation in direct messages, where the man explained his plan in more detail to take a bus to Tokyo. Otomo invited the man to dinner as a way to get his mind off such thoughts, but the man shrugged off discussion about the meal and continued to talk about going to Tokyo.

Otomo grew increasingly concerned and asked the man directly if he was going to go through with his plan. The man said he’d rather not comment on that, which alarmed Otomo. In all the people he talked to before, he’d never heard a reply like that and decided to contact the police.

Thanks to his sharp instincts, Otomo may have stopped another Akihabara massacre from occurring, but he feels far from relieved about it. He said that he feels he did little more than act as a “snitch” and denied this man his desire to die, adding that the matter may only be momentarily postponed rather than resolved. He hopes to be able to follow up with the man and see how he’s doing, “as one human being to another.”

Online comments about the story express a range of emotions, from amazement at Otomo’s selfless work and concern that this type of violence will increase under these economic conditions to anger at a person attempting to kill themselves by first killing others.

“The friend of a murderer stopping another murderer. That is truly incredible. Like something from an alternate universe.”
“Thank you to the person who contacted the police. It must have been a tense situation.”
“I was shocked to see Otomo in the news. Even after all these years, he’s still trying to prevent it from happening again. I’m utterly in awe.”
“The police did a good job, but I think the number of people like this is on the rise.”
“Without the basics like a stable income or social security, this will keep happening.”
“I feel like that man wanted to be stopped, and is probably relieved he got caught.”
“If you feel that way, why not go into the woods with a knife and try to help with the bear situation?”
“If you want to die, that’s your business. Just don’t drag innocent people into it.”

While understanding the emotions behind those last two comments, Otomo insists saying such things to such would-be mass murderers achieves nothing. If anything, it only drives them further into isolation, where they become more absorbed in their own violent thoughts. As he demonstrated by inviting this person to dinner, he feels that sometimes just helping get someone’s mind onto a more positive track can make the difference.

It’s been 18 years since Tomohiro Kato decided to drive a rental truck from Shizuoka to Akihabara, and four years since he was executed for his crimes. And all that time, Otomo, now 50 years old, has dedicated his life to finding answers, while repeatedly putting himself at risk by engaging with others who felt the same murderous rage that Kato had. This is all to try and prevent something like that from happening again, but also likely at least a little out of guilt for not having been able to stop his friend at the time.

It’s probably worth noting that Shuitsu Otomo has a rather rare first name in Japanese, written and pronounced exactly the same as the word for “excellence.” Therefore, his full name would literally translate to “Excellent Great Friend,” a bitter irony that probably isn’t lost on him. He is also more aware than most about how these incidents have a way of claiming the lives of people beyond those listed in the headlines and statistics.

If you or someone you know is in Japan and having suicidal thoughts, there are people here to help. Click here for more info.

Source: FNN Online Prime, Bengoshi.com, Hachima Kiko, Yahoo! Japan News, Twitter/@hogotaro
Image: Pakutaso
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