The largest mass killing in Japan since World War II targeted people with disabilities
Japanese society often prides itself in being homogeneous. Although the country appears to be slowly becoming less traditional, residents of Japan still maintain their rigorous education system and an aspect of familial closeness. Japan is also considered one of the safest countries in the world due to its strict gun control laws, low tolerance for drug abuse and limited immigration policy. In fact, statistics on firearm homicides per 100,000 show Mexico at the top with 23.69 whereas Japan is marked at 0.01. Despite having one of the lowest homicide rates in the world, the nature of a recent attack has drawn attention to the country’s ableism.
The residents at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en Center For The Disabled, as it happens, were far from safe. Tskui Yamayuri-en was where, sorrowfully, the largest mass killing in Japan since World War II occurred. This killing was fuelled by cold-heartedness and hatred towards those who are disabled.
The attack took place in late July and was carried out by Satoshi Uematsu: a man who used to work at the facility. A neighbour described Uematsu as polite and pleasant. “We didn’t know the darkness of his heart,” Akihiro Hasegawa, 73, expressed to reporters. Apparently, Umeatsu was able to conceal his hatred well, but the night he broke into the facility could be likened to something from a horror movie with incessant barbarous killing. Due to Japan’s strict gun laws, this man brought a knife with him instead, cutting open throats and stabbing patients who were unable to mount a defence. By the time he was stopped, one third of the residents had been killed and more were seriously injured.
Prior to the attack, Uematsu mailed letters to politicians in which he threatened to kill as many disabled civilians as possible during a night shift, but these letters were wrongfully disregarded by the Japanese government. Uematsu referred to his killing as “a revolution”, and proudly announced his hatred. Politically, Japan is different in its approach to equal opportunities in comparison to Britain and the United States. For example, where job-related discrimination is not tolerated abroad (at least openly), Japan does not afford the same respect to its disabled community.
Although he concealed it most of the time, sources stated that Uematsu wanted all disabled people to die and his end goal was to rid the world of those who he defined as having a disability. Japan’s total population is 126 million with 5.9 per cent of them registered as handicapped. The visibility of the handicapped in the country is astonishingly low, which may be an important contribution to the motive of this killing. Uematsu tried to plead ‘not guilty’ to the murder on the grounds of insanity. But writing an entire letter to parliament laying out his plan and calmly turning himself in an hour after the attack, indicates some level of agency. This attack does not appear to be a random killing spree, but a carefully executed plan fuelled by an individual’s hatred.
Formerly someone who cared for and helped the disabled, Uematsu’s hatred is quite surprising. But his hostility can be found anywhere in the world and is not being recognised as the major issue that it is. Ableism is a much wider cultural issue that goes beyond Japan, and that’s why people must be made aware to pointed brutality, like this case, in order to combat regressive attitudes.
The question still remains as to why the case has largely gone unnoticed. Where are the #DisabledLivesMatter #PrayForJapan or #AbleismExists posts? Even the larger media organisations are not recognising that ableism is a crucial problem that, at the present time, is failing to be solved. Commentary on the hairstyles of politicians seems to draw more attention than a recent mass killing fuelled by antipathy. The world is in need of change, but let us at least acknowledge that ableism is destructing societies.
Image from: http://bit.ly/2cfkRM1