: Another 'mentally disturbed' man who decides to go out and
: kill children...Mental illness or mind control? I wonder
: what "anti-depressant" he was taking (Prozac?,
: Luvox?) and whether these medications *enhanced* the
: effects of mind control:
: ---------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday August 8 5:54 AM ET

Japan Man Kills Two Children in Latest Stabbing

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters) - Two young children were killed and one seriously wounded Wednesday when an unidentified man stabbed them in a house on Japan's northern Hokkaido island, the latest tragedy to tarnish the nation's image as a safe society.

The incident took place two months to the day after a June attack in which eight young children were killed by a man who burst into their elementary school and started stabbing at random, sending shockwaves through a nation renowned for its safety.

``A bald man in black clothing suddenly walked in, told me to be quiet and started stabbing,'' public broadcaster NHK quoted six-year-old Kazumi Kikuchi, now in serious condition with knife wounds, as telling her grandmother. The three children were alone in their home in the town of Hiroo, about 560 miles north of Tokyo, when the attack took place, domestic media said. Their mother had gone shopping a few minutes earlier.

``We have confirmed that two children have died and one is injured,'' a Hokkaido police spokesman said.

Bleeding from her knife wounds, six-year-old Kazumi ran to neighbors for help. Her two-year-old brother Tetsuya and five-year-old sister Masami were killed.

``Kazumi came running to our house, and my daughter carried her inside,'' a neighbor told NHK. ``She said an unknown man had walked in and attacked them. She was covered with blood.'' The man turned himself in to police about an hour after the attack and was being questioned, NHK said, adding that he had made vague statements alluding to the attack but was not in possession of a knife.

FADING IMAGE OF SAFETY

The Hokkaido attack is likely to prompt further soul-searching in Japan, which once prided itself on its safety and security but has been forced to deal with a string of high-profile, violent crimes in recent months.

The worst of these was the June stabbing spree at Ikeda elementary school in a suburb of Japan's second-largest metropolis, Osaka.

Mamoru Takuma, a 37-year-old former janitor with a history of mental illness, walked through the front gate of the school unimpeded, entered several classrooms and without a word began stabbing almost two dozen children.

The eight who died were aged between six to eight. Thirteen other children and two teachers were wounded before Takuma was subdued and arrested.

The incident sparked debate about how to tighten security at schools without turning them into fortresses. Japanese schools have traditionally prided themselves on their openness to the surrounding community.

However, school attacks have been increasing. In 1999, a seven-year-old boy was murdered in his schoolyard by a young man who dashed in and stabbed him with a kitchen knife.

In the weeks since the Ikeda attack, schools nationwide have run police-sponsored training sessions showing teachers how to apprehend possible attackers, and children have been coached on what to do if an intruder enters their classroom.

RISING CRIME

Japan's crime rate, still low by international standards, has been on the rise, and a series of violent crimes by minors in particular has shocked the nation.

Tokyo's crowded trains have also seen violence, including one incident in which a man was killed by a fellow passenger enraged at his request for people to step back so he could board.

Experts blame a complex mix of factors for the rising numbers of crimes, including a breakdown of traditional values, stress from a decade of economic malaise and an increasingly fast-paced lifestyle.

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