Children Killing Children and Life in Japan

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Children Killing Children and Life in Japan
By: Kenichi Onishi
The UMJ Volume 2.4 (Opinion)

What an awful situation! I don't know what to say. Actually life sometimes just seems terrible. As you know, a 14 year old junior high school student was arrested on suspicion of the murder. According to the newspapers, he killed a handicapped 6th grade elementary school boy. He murdered not only the 6th grade boy but 2 grade school girls. The 14 year old boy seems normal except for his addiction to horror movies. What made him kill the children?

Article 25 of the Japanese Constitution stipulates the right to life and the social mission of the State in the following terms: "All people shall have the right to maintain the minimum standards of wholesome and cultured living" and "In all spheres of life, the State shall use its endeavors for the promotion and extension of social welfare and security, and of public health."

Nevertheless, although the economic power of Japan has risen to second in the world, and sufficient conditions actually exist for guaranteeing the peoples' Freedom of Existence, this freedom has been oppressed in various ways. Our abnormal dependence on other countries for food and energy such as oil and atomic power, and the serious drop in our self sufficiency rate have cast a pall of gloom over the future existence of the Japanese people. In addition, increasing military spending at the cost of welfare and education, combined with tax increases, is threatening the life and living standards of the people.

In Japan, only a very small number of people, monopoly capital and big capitalists, have free control over tremendous wealth. In contrast, there are 10 million families in the low-income strata (with an annual income of not more than 3 million yen), and many are left to subsist at a low-income level. Social welfare benefits for the handicapped, the sick, fatherless families, and the elderly are being reduced one after another, and there are endless tragic cases of suicides, including double or whole-family suicides, death by starvation, and family disruption, due to hardships in living. Aid measures provided by the government for war victims, including the Hibakusha (atomic bomb victims), are far from sufficient. Long working hours and excessively intensified labor, price hikes, economic depression and unemployment, in addition to the low standard of wages characteristic of Japan, have forced many people to reduce their living standards. The crisis of agricultural management, due to the liberalization of imports of agricultural products, has sharpened, and difficulties in the management of small- and medium-sized enterprises are constantly increasing.

Abnormally high land prices continue to confront the working people, making it difficult for them to purchase their own homes. Although the government ended its official recognition of air-pollution affected patients in 1988, the number of patients hitherto recognized by the State and municipalities totals well over 100,000, and the annual death toll is around 2,000. Traffic accidents are quite frequent due to the profit-oriented mass production and sale of automobiles and the backward traffic infrastructure, with some 10,000 deaths and 700,000 to 800,000 injuries annually. The problem of the large number of AIDS infections caused by contaminated blood products has brought to light the criminality of reactionary government In Japan, only a very small number of people, monopoly capital and big capitalists, have free control over tremendous wealth. In contrast, there are 10 million families in the low-income strata (with an annual income of not more than 3 million yen), and many are left to subsist at a low-income level. Social welfare benefits for the handicapped, the sick, fatherless families, and the elderly are being reduced one after another, and there are endless tragic cases of suicides, including double or whole-family suicides, death by starvation, and family disruption, due to hardships in living. Aid measures provided by the government for war victims, including the Hibakusha (atomic bomb victims), are far from sufficient. Long working hours and excessively intensified labor, price hikes, economic depression and unemployment, in addition to the low standard of wages characteristic of Japan, have forced many people to reduce their living standards. The crisis of agricultural management, due to the liberalization of imports of agricultural products, has sharpened, and difficulties in the management of small- and medium-sized enterprises are constantly increasing.

The above-mentioned environment of life is showing a gross worsening. It makes Japanese children feel anxious about their own future. As a result, most of Japanese students are supposed to attend private schools to acquire too many skills to enter better schools. Unfortunately a lot of Japanese people are forced to take it for granted that those who graduate a famous university will be able to get good jobs and good reputations. Whereas, some people look down on those who failed to enter famous schools.

Many young Japanese students have a lot of their friends' photos. But I guess they usually feel lonely. They are supposed to defeat friends at examinations. Otherwise, they will fail to enter better schools and to get better jobs. "Competition" - this is the key word that sums up the abnormal situation in Japan.