Takeshi Koizumi,

Police arrest man in knife attacks

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

2008/11/24

Takeshi Koizumi is transported to the Metropolitan Police Department early Sunday.(TERUO KASHIYAMA/ THE ASAHI SHIMBUN)

Police are questioning a 46-year-old unemployed man in connection with knife attacks at the homes of two former vice welfare ministers that left two dead, after he turned himself in Saturday night.

Takeshi Koizumi, from Saitama's Kita Ward, admitted his involvement in the stabbing deaths of former vice welfare minister Takehiko Yamaguchi, 66, and his wife Michiko, 61, in Saitama's Minami Ward, police said.

He also indicated that he stabbed Yasuko Yoshihara, 72, the wife of another former vice welfare minister, Kenji Yoshihara, 76, in Tokyo's Nakano Ward, police said.

Koizumi told police that he was angry because his pet dog had been put to death at a public health center.

Police investigators searched his apartment in Saitama on Sunday.

Koizumi drove a car to the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district at 9:20 p.m. Saturday and told a guard he had killed the former vice welfare minister.

Several knives, including a blood-stained survival knife with a 20-centimeter blade, were found inside the rental car, which was carrying a number plate from Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture.

He was arrested for alleged violation of the swords and firearms control law at 2:45 a.m. Sunday.

Also found inside the car were cardboard boxes, with a destination address attached, pairs of sneakers and a rucksack.

Yasuko Yoshihara told police that she was attacked around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday by a man disguised as a home-delivery person and carrying what appeared to be a parcel.

In the Saitama attack, Yamaguchi's family seal was found at the entrance of the couple's home, suggesting that the assailant may have also posed as a home-delivery person.

Police believe that the Yamaguchis were attacked late Monday afternoon.

Bloody footprints were left around both attack sites, with what appeared to be prints from a pair of sneakers found near Yamaguchi's home.

A message apparently written by Koizumi was posted on the website of Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. around 7 p.m. Saturday.

Titled "Attacks on homes of former vice welfare ministers," the message said the attacks were in revenge for a "family member" killed by a public health center 34 years ago.

Koizumi's father, 77, said the family adopted a stray dog when Koizumi was in elementary school, but had it put to death because the dog barked at neighbors and customers at the family's candy store.

"My son probably told us not to take the dog to the health center," he said. "He might have borne grudges to this day."

The Internet message, meanwhile, denied the link to the pension issue, which was suspected because Yoshihara and Yamaguchi both spent much of their careers working on the pension system at the former Health and Welfare Ministry.

Koizumi's father, who lives in Yanai, Yamaguchi Prefecture, apologized for his son's alleged actions, adding that he believed Koizumi should atone for the killings by taking his own life.

He had not heard from Koizumi for about 10 years until he received a call before 5 p.m. Saturday. Koizumi asked his father to read a letter he had sent that day.

A 20-year-old man who lives in an apartment building next to Koizumi's said Koizumi gave the impression of being rude and violent.

The man said he had seen Koizumi angrily yelling at postal delivery persons on five or six occasions.

A homemaker who lives nearby also said Koizumi looked like a yakuza gangster and many local residents were afraid of him.

Prime Minister Taro Aso, who had been briefed about Koizumi, told reporters in Lima that he had instructed law enforcement authorities to conduct thorough investigations about Koizumi's alleged involvement.(IHT/Asahi: November 24,2008)

Brutal crimes dash hopes of winter warmth

As northern parts of the nation are dusted with snow, even warmer regions are starting to feel the chill. In the cold air blowing from the Asian continent, we can hear the approaching footsteps of Old Man Winter. I am reminded of the following haiku by the poet Takahama Kyoshi (1874-1959): "I only hope for the country to be peaceful and the winter to be warm." Rather than wishing for a literally warm winter, I think the poet meant "warmth" in the sense of freedom from hunger or insecurity.

What about this winter? Dark clouds of recession are hanging over the Japanese archipelago. Consumption is shrinking, employment is unstable and small and mid-sized businesses are strapped for cash. Meanwhile, the political scene remains uncertain. Amid such circumstances, ominous black clouds have emerged; stabbing incidents apparently targeted at two retired vice welfare ministers that left two people dead and one seriously wounded.

Both former top bureaucrats devoted much of their careers to pension policies and, as high-ranking officials, they helped create the framework of the current pension systems. Apparently, the attacker stabbed the victims at the entrance of their homes without giving them a chance to escape. The scenes of the crimes in Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture are only 10 kilometers apart. The common factors suggest the "successive" incidents were not random.

But that's all we know now. Were they acts of terrorism over the pension debacle or did the attacker(s) have a different purpose? Were they carried out by the same person or different ones? With so many unanswered questions, the crux of the incidents remains unclear. But no matter what reason, they are brutal acts that cannot be tolerated under any circumstances.

I hear that the winds of recession sweeping across the nation have something in common with those in 1929, the year the Great Depression started. It was the year that "Kanikosen" (The Factory Ship) by Takiji Kobayashi (1903-1933) was published. The title of a movie, "Daigaku wa Deta-keredo" (Although I graduated from university), which depicted a man having difficulty in finding a job after graduating from university, became a buzz phrase. The book that depicted the hardships of the crew of a crab-canning ship struggling under capitalist exploitation is attracting renewed interest these days. As the sense of stagnation overshadowed the country, terrorism began to spread.

Kyoshi composed the abovementioned haiku before World War II. Even though times are bleak, in any time, it is the people's right to seek happiness and hope for a warm winter. I strongly condemn the antisocial nature of the crime that denied people this right.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 20(IHT/Asahi: November 21,2008)