Usually I don’t like to write about bad news, but this is about my favourite district on Earth, so I’ll make an exception.

The bastard in the suit above is Tomohiro Kato. Noon today, he drove a truck into the middle of a crowd in Akihabara, Tokyo. He then walked out and randomly stabbed those people with a knife. 7 people have died and at least 11 others have been injured.

His motive? “I’m tired of life. I came to Akihabara to kill people. It didn’t matter whom I’d kill”.

In case you didn’t know, Akihabara (nicknamed Akiba to attract locals and tourists) is the “electric town” of Tokyo, where people can buy electronic products and anime-related goods. As you can already guess, the place is super-crowded on a Sunday.

The story doesn’t end there though:

• A week and a half ago, someone posted a thread in 2channel (a popular japanese forum) under the title “[News] In Akihabara, an Xbot ninja will be involved in a tragic slashing spree” with the text “Soon after 5th June, this is guaranteed to happen, so I thought I’d post ahead of time”. Whether the killer is the poster himself is yet to be determined.

• A similar stabbing spree happened 2 months ago in another district, killing 1 person. Coincidence or not, the stabbing was done by a Dead or Alive runner up champion. Because of the “Xbot ninja” thread, the killing today was attributed by some to the Ninja Gaiden 2 launch, also by the same company.

• Today is also the seven-year anniversary of the Ikeda elementary school killings in Osaka, where 8 children were killed.

Looks like the reputation for being one of the safest country in the world is being tarnished. I truly hate the killing of innocent people. May the victims rest in peace and my sincere condolences to the families and friends involved.

Here’s CNN’s early coverage of the incident:

Be careful, Daim. Take care of yourself.