Police Officer Recounts Akihabara Fatal Rampage 17 Years On

   Tokyo, June 8 (Jiji Press)--With Sunday marking the 17th anniversary of the rampage in Tokyo's Akihabara district that killed seven people and injured 10 others, Akihiro Okuda, a Tokyo police officer, says, "It was an event that made me think deeply about the post-incident lives of surviving victims."
   When the incident occurred shortly after 12:30 p.m. on June 8, 2008, Okuda, now a superintendent at Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department, was playing soccer with his son near his home because the day was a Sunday. Upon learning of the incident from a phone call from his boss at the time, he rushed to the MPD's Manseibashi police station, where the investigation headquarters over the rampage was set up.
   In the incident, the culprit, Tomohiro Kato, rammed a truck into a holiday pedestrian zone near East Japan Railway Co.'s Akihabara Station, hitting passersby before stabbing others randomly with a knife. Kato's death sentence was finalized by the Supreme Court in February 2015, and he was executed in July 2022.
   After the deadly rampage, the MPD established for the first time a task force dedicated to supporting bereaved families of crime victims and survivors. The task force comprised a total of 44 police officers.
   Okuda stayed at the police station for three days after the incident, working to set up a waiting room for bereaved families and transporting them to and from hospitals.

(2025/06/08-09:09)