Japan and Knives

Are knife related crimes on the rise in Japan? There seems to be a lot of it going on of late.

Although terrible to have happen... on the bright side at least its mainly just knife crimes and not gun related. Here in US, at least where I work, a lot of crimes are done via guns, sometimes will be a knife involved and very rarely will it be only fists.

Britain has just had a week of bringing our 'knife epidemic' into the public eye. I wish it was only us, but alas it seems to have spread.
Btw, no-one bothers to stand up for themselves around here, so kudos to the 51 year old!

Wow, my respects to the lady. What was she thinking to keep a knife under the counter 0_0

LOL we need more of those shop assistants to protect us!

Good for her. Since cops can't be around every corner it's up to you to protect yourself and your family. The other week a drunk driver chased some people down and was waving a gun around threatening people but was taken into custody by another armed civilian. Not a shot was fired either. I carry a knife but don't think I'd use it to defend myself with it unless it was an absolute last option, that being said I wouldn't hesitate for a second to mace the crap out of someone if I or someone else was threatened.

Knife crime are better IMO.. At least they harm less..

And good way of self-defense, shop assistant oba-san :D

No stories about knives please. I always remember the episode from GITS:SAC when a man skinned girls...

Not trying to make it sound less serious than it really is but... at least he's using a knife to rob people and not just going around killing innocent bystanders just for the hell of it.

Here we have kids stabbing other kids just because they gave the a "dirty look".

Knives? Remember the immortal words of the Joker?

thats not a very scary yandere picture

Thankfully I never need to go outside since Danny gives me all the relivant news.

p.s. I am now going though the Neta archives.

@I didn't have a pic of a 51 year old woman with a kitchen knife so here is the next best I could do --> You could replace it with this now:
http://image.blog.livedoor.jp/jyouhou83/imgs/4/4/44b8e6da.jpg

Now that's what I call a man with guts and honor something that societies of today are forgetting, of course you can only fight back "IF" you can fight back

You go granny! But still, really sad to see these incidents on the rise

I don't carry a knife on me, or any kind of lethal weapon for that matter. The only form of self defense I have is pepper spray and a stun gun. just the stuff needed to get away fast

shop assistant wins ^^
same here i dont carry a knife but i do cary a swiss-army thingy all the time.
Guess that may count as carrying one.

I think it is kinda funny that he ran away after the store clerk pulled a knife as well. Though knives can be just as deadly as a gun so I'm not sure that it is better that he pulled a knife or not.

there arent many armed roberies here. normally people use their fist to bash others XD
not sure whether thats good or not.... but beats getting attacked by a knife or gun

It's official, Japanese have higher Melee Stats.... Hmmm...

This is why I have a S&W 637 Airweight with Crimson Trace laser grips in my desk drawer. Not my gun but a pic of one identical to it.
http://flickr.com/photos/confederateyankee/2536144504/

You missed out the fact that the lady went on to hit the robber with the back of the knife and chased him out the shop. LOL

http://www.alafista.com/2008/08/28/robber-flees-store-after-female-employee-beats-him/

that oba-san must be saluted....^.^

In my country, it's only guns.
Never see a hold up with knifes (very rare).

If you read what is going on in here, you would freak out. The most astonishing one was a assault on a value truck(this ones collect the money on big enterprises) with military equipment, they even used C4 and heavy artillery. Seems that knives are quit useless in here.

We're definitely a gun society around here. I hear about shooting deaths pretty much every day on the news here. It's disgusting. When you think about yourself shooting a person over something as petty as someone's wallet, it really puts it into perspective just how utterly insane that is.

guns should be removed from people with malice. I live in an exclusive village where power climbing is apparent because of social class. Got guns, you're king. Load it up with money, you're literally emperor.

Some inventions were not meant to be. However, it seems japanese do prefer a knife..is this culturally and historically connected or simply because it's the easiest to carry?

Pretty odd situation, nice choice of pictures, Danny

what series is that?(the picture)

that shop assistant is just awesome, way to point the knife^^
anyway, we don't use knife here in indonesia
we use axe, parang, and machete(golok in indonesia)

Kudos for the elderly, they still know the morals of the society. Though rising numbers of knife attacks/threats in Japan makes us sad, still if we look at the bright side we can assume that the Japanese government still has the control of the illegal arms traffic within their country thus making guns inaccesible to common folks.

Haha, that will teach the bugger to... well, bugger off. I bet he wasn't expecting that.

Nippon and Katanas (well, shorter versions in this case) always go together. :)

wow. she really said that? that's pretty awesome just like a hero from a comic book. i hope i could be like that when I'm old. then I'd make cool phrases to say.

Given the choice between guns or knives, I always prefer a bladed weopon.

Unbelievable:P

Wow, that is really freaky. o.0

Yes, guns are pretty popular here, but I think knife crimes are also becoming more popular lately...

the 51 year old woman pawnes!~!

cute but scary school girl O_o;

The old lady rocks... good for her. Too bad she didn't slice him up.

Recently in a city called Oakland (go google it), there have been idiots teen doing armed robbery at restaurants, taking cash from the register and the patrons. If I had it my way, these stupid teens would be shot on site.

In San Francisco, there have been strong-arm robberies (where you rob someone with excessive force, like punching the person, or throwing them down), against the elderly. Yes, I do have times when I think the elderly population are stuck up, and high and mighty, but common...

I really do think that the local teen population has either turned emo or thug.

We don't get many gun robberies around here, but I guess it's because guns aren't as readily available as knives. You can just go out and buy a kitchen knife and it'll work just fine for anything you want to use it for. A knife can be as lethal and threatening as a gun in certain situations, I guess only when the "knife-wielder" is within "stabbing-range" of the target.

Man I am hearing a lot of japanese related Stabbing and knife what not news lately.

good for the old lady i say; she stood up and defended herself. that crook will have to rethink his strategies if he ever goes robbing again. *"old ladies are dangerous"

dude~ my mom kitchen knife is huge that scared the hell out of me... I never want to bother her when shes busy...

well it's practically impossible to own a gun in Japan, so the weapon of choice is clearly a blade I.E. knives. So im not surprised

Err, I hope peeps here are not inspired by the news to hold weapons for self-defense. Sure I admire the obachan bravery but remember things can turn out very differently. A criminal confronting a victim that is armed can turn even more violent, desperation drives pple mad. So stay safe, try not to provoke the assailant or you might regret it. -_-"

eh i guess knife violence is better then gun violence... at least theres not as many "accidental" killings

I feel a bit bad for laughing out loud after reading that. I've always said to my friends that there's nothing more scary than a little Asian lady with a cleaver. ><

Perhaps this is some indirect way of using swords again. Maybe this is proof that they never really left, they only got smaller.

E^D

Maybe you run faster with a knife? Just a thought o.o

is there going to be a knife ban soon in japan then?? xD

here... its usually random gun hold up or knife... more so car and drunk ppl driving cars into shops :S

I personally believe a knife society is safer. Guns have a MUCH longer reach, and that's just scary. lol

It seems like the assailant only had the knife for show. He probably didn't have any intention to use it, considering he ran from a 51-year old woman who put a little resistance.

Not bad for a 51 year old. There's a lot of stories like that here and sometimes a shoot out occurs...

If katana is not forbidden in public, i think they will use katana instead.

LOL if that 51 year old try and pull the same act here, he would have been shot without hesitation by the police! XD

It's times like this that you wish you had something to protect yourself... like a gun!

As far as I know, guns are banned from Japan, so the tendency of bringing knife is for self-defense. That 51-y/o woman is courageous, I hope all citizens are like that.

Three letters, CCW--Carry, Conceal Weapon--is a permit easily obtainable in most of the US. Learn how to properly use, respect and maintain a firearm is the best last line of defense. Best case, you will never have to draw down on anyone; however, should the need arise, you can fend for yourself.

we need more swords!

I'd totally defend my counter with a set of sai.

the only thing which keeps me safe is my steering wheel lock.
if i feel unsafe, its always next to my car seat near the door.
last time i nearly got mugged and raising my right arm low to where the steering wheel lock was since he asked for money, i got hold of it, opened the door violently and gave him a good hit on the head. needless to say he ran while i stood there thinking how desperate people are these days.
and im not fit enough to chase the guy, even if i was it be too much effort

Pull a knife here in Philadelphia and you might get laughed at. Japan has always been a bladed weapons society. The Japanese even raised it to an art form!