Otaku Murderer Executed
In the late Bubble era, the chilling case of “otaku” serial killer Miyazaki Tsutomu firmly established the supposed link between anime-loving social outcasts and sex criminals. The witch-hunt was kicked off by the (now disputed) discovery of his collection of over 5,000 videotapes — many of them pornography and anime — after his arrest in 1989. The resulting moral outrage at the otaku subculture lasted close to a decade and is almost difficult to fathom in this era of otaku symbolizing “Cool Japan.”
After nearly twenty years on death row, Miyazaki was finally executed yesterday. Given the opacity of the Japanese justice system, it’s hard to speculate, but one can’t help but wonder if the recent Akiba massacre had any impact on the timing.
June 18, 2008 at 1:11 am
I think the conventional wisdom on Kato is he is a think the conventional wisdom on Kato is,he was a haken.Him being an otaku is now a backgroung story.
http://ascii.jp/elem/000/000/142/142739/
June 18, 2008 at 1:53 am
I was in elementary school when he was killing children, and he scared every child and parent in the country. His face is forever etched in my mind, and I can still remember the pictures of the little girls he chopped up. If I remember correctly, he collected very violent and fetish-style videos, not cutesy akiba stuff.
June 18, 2008 at 7:23 am
Him being an otaku is now a backgroung story.
I meant to write this the other day, but I think the Kato episode has reinforced that Akiba-kei is “makegumi culture.”