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At least 18 people injured in Kawasaki stabbing incidents in Japan, majority of them were children. (Update: 2 dead. Suspect died in the hospital.)

guru-guru

guru-guru

Member
Oct 25, 2017
831
Mendinso said:
Fucking hell.. Children, specifically, like... My god.

I'll note since someone asked about mental health in Japan: It's really, REALLY, hard to get or find clinics that offer support in Japan. While things are a little better than they are in the past, it's still a really difficult place to find help. People in the mental health field have talked about their frustrations about this. Also, there's all sorts of medications that are banned that are notably for treating (or helping specifically) certain conditions that result in certain mental health problems. People who've gone into Japan have ran into issues bringing prescriptions because of this.
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Do you speak Japanese and/or live in a medium or large city? It's pretty hard to find clinics that offer psychiatry/counselling in English (and the ones that do are very expensive), but I found it incredibly easy to find good care as someone proficient in Japanese. There were at least 10 clinics within a 20 minute radius of where I lived (granted, that's in central Tokyo). However, when I lived in a small town of 35k or so, it wasn't hard for me to get to a mental health clinic to get my prescriptions. The town nearby of 150k people also had multiple mental health clinics too. Getting support in English is hard, Japanese isn't.

Out of curiosity, what medications are you referring to? Japan does ban a ton of narcotics/benzodiazepines, etc. (I'd argue that nobody should ever go on benzos for longer than a couple weeks, but that's a different discussion..), but quite a few medications that are banned can be legally obtained from a Japanese doctor once in the country.

I personally had a great experience with Japanese mental health clinics/doctors, but maybe that's just my experience.
 
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DarthSpider

DarthSpider

The Fallen
Nov 15, 2017
2,966
Hiroshima, Japan
guru-guru said:
Do you speak Japanese and/or live in a medium or large city? It's pretty hard to find clinics that offer psychiatry/counseling in English (and the ones that do are very expensive), but I found it incredibly easy to find good care as someone proficient in Japanese. There were at least 10 clinics within a 20 minute radius of where I lived (granted, that's in central Tokyo). However, when I lived in a small town of 35k or so, it wasn't hard for me to get to a mental health clinic to get my prescriptions. The town nearby of 150k people also had multiple mental health clinics too. Getting support in English is hard, Japanese isn't.

Out of curiosity, what medications are you referring to? Japan does ban a ton of narcotics/benzodiazepines, etc. (I'd argue that nobody should ever go on benzos for longer than a couple weeks, but that's a different discussion..), but quite a few medications that are banned can be legally obtained from a Japanese doctor once in the country.

I personally had a great experience with Japanese mental health clinics/doctors, but maybe that's just my experience.
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I can back this up. I'm in Hiroshima. I've got a good buddy here from the US whose work situation is causing him all kinds of grief. He ended up getting diagnosed with depression and anxiety and is currently in counseling. His Japanese is really good so he does the counseling in Japanese, and he says it's been lifesaving. He's also on meds but I don't know which ones. I have another Japanese friend who suffered from severe postpartum after giving birth to her first son. She also went to counseling and it helped her out immensely. Neither of them say they feel any kind of stigma in their day to day, although I'm not sure how open they are to others about their situation. People in Japan tend to be kinda reserved about that stuff regardless.
 
kmfdmpig

kmfdmpig

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
19,452
That's awful. People who seek to harm children are the absolute worst of society.

Tagyhag said:
Horrible, hope all make it out OK.

How does Japan handle mental illness?
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Tons of obviously mentally ill people are just out and about in Japan. It's not unusual to see someone on a train or in a supermarket who is obviously better suited for an institution.

With that said, the crime rates in Japan are shockingly low, so this is an outlier, not a sign of a systemic issue, IMO.
 
guru-guru

guru-guru

Member
Oct 25, 2017
831
kmfdmpig said:
Tons of obviously mentally ill people are just out and about in Japan. It's not unusual to see someone on a train or in a supermarket who is obviously better suited for an institution.

With that said, the crime rates in Japan are shockingly low, so this is an outlier, not a sign of a systemic issue, IMO.
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One of the problems of the Japanese mental healthcare system is the exact opposite, actually: too many patients are institutionalized when they clearly shouldn't be. There are a lot of private clinics that make big money because they bring in patients and keep them "locked up" for a long time. These institutions make money per day that a patient stays there. I can probably find the source (if anyone is interested), but the average stays in Japan's mental institutions are drastically higher than any other developed country, and further, the total institutionalized population at any given time is extremely high. Of course, this isn't (usually) for patients with depression and/or anxiety, but people with schizophrenia, etc.
 
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StarStorm

StarStorm

"This guy are sick"
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
7,625
kmfdmpig said:
That's awful. People who seek to harm children are the absolute worst of society.


Tons of obviously mentally ill people are just out and about in Japan. It's not unusual to see someone on a train or in a supermarket who is obviously better suited for an institution.

With that said, the crime rates in Japan are shockingly low, so this is an outlier, not a sign of a systemic issue, IMO.
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This is true. I ran into a few during my trip.
 
kmfdmpig

kmfdmpig

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
19,452
guru-guru said:
One of the problems of the Japanese mental healthcare system is the exact opposite, actually: too many patients are institutionalized when they clearly shouldn't be. There are a lot of private clinics that make big money because they bring in patients and keep them "locked up" for a long time. These institutions make money per day that a patients stays there. I can probably find the source (if anyone is interested), but the average stays in Japan's mental institutions are drastically higher than any other developed country, and further, the total institutionalized population at any given time is extremely high. Of course, this isn't (usually) for patients with depression and/or anxiety, but people with schizophrenia, etc.
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I wonder if it's a family issue in that case. In 3.5 years in Japan I saw more clearly mentally ill people than I did in 30+ years in the US. Maybe in the US those who are not institutionalized are kept home and off the streets by family members taking care of them while in Japan they're out and about more often? That doesn't seem to fit with the norm of taking care of elderly/sick that is so common in Japan, however.
 

Deleted member 5334

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,815
guru-guru said:
Do you speak Japanese and/or live in a medium or large city? It's pretty hard to find clinics that offer psychiatry/counseling in English (and the ones that do are very expensive), but I found it incredibly easy to find good care as someone proficient in Japanese. There were at least 10 clinics within a 20 minute radius of where I lived (granted, that's in central Tokyo). However, when I lived in a small town of 35k or so, it wasn't hard for me to get to a mental health clinic to get my prescriptions. The town nearby of 150k people also had multiple mental health clinics too. Getting support in English is hard, Japanese isn't.

Out of curiosity, what medications are you referring to? Japan does ban a ton of narcotics/benzodiazepines, etc. (I'd argue that nobody should ever go on benzos for longer than a couple weeks, but that's a different discussion..), but quite a few medications that are banned can be legally obtained from a Japanese doctor once in the country.

I personally had a great experience with Japanese mental health clinics/doctors, but maybe that's just my experience.
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I don't live in Japan, but I'd been following a number of discussions on the Japanese side of things from people living there over the years. And most of the comments seemed to be mixed about the mental health care, even among therapists and stuff living there. So if your experience has been good, that's good to hear. I wanna say most of the comments were regarding outside of the Tokyo (Kanto probably as a whole), but I can't recall everything. But that might be the main difference between your experience and what I had heard.

As for the medications, I wasn't aware on the medications being imported were available legally from Japanese doctors. I wanna say it was some of the things you mentioned, but there was other stuff I know people had trouble bringing in. So if that's available, that's good, though I do wonder how good the resources for foreigners are for knowing where to go for that sorta thing. Japan's usually good about providing things (such as information itself) in English, but as you mentioned, getting help in these areas specifically in English is probably a bit more difficult.

Either way, I'm glad things are going good for you.

EDIT: Huh, saw some other conversations about the experience being good for others, so that's good. So I wonder if it's just an area issue or more of a societal thing then...
 
tadaima

tadaima

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,844
Tokyo, Japan
kmfdmpig said:
With that said, the crime rates in Japan are shockingly low, so this is an outlier, not a sign of a systemic issue, IMO.
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It is not a coincidence that the crime rate is low and conviction rate is high.

While Japan is on the whole a relatively safe country, there is a lot of number fiddling that goes on behind the scenes.

The crime rate is low because of what goes unreported; is recorded incorrectly (e.g. "lost" rather than "stolen"); or is simply ignored by the police. Japanese police will file a crime report or make an arrest only when they are confident there is a good chance of conviction. And once you are arrested, you will be held for weeks and manipulated into writing a letter of confession.

Gotta keep that image squeaky clean.
 
andymcc

andymcc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,414
Columbus, OH
kmfdmpig said:
I wonder if it's a family issue in that case. In 3.5 years in Japan I saw more clearly mentally ill people than I did in 30+ years in the US. Maybe in the US those who are not institutionalized are kept home and off the streets by family members taking care of them while in Japan they're out and about more often? That doesn't seem to fit with the norm of taking care of elderly/sick that is so common in Japan, however.
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Where do you live in the US if you don't mind me asking?

I've had my encounters with unwell people in a lot of places in the US, but, while visible in Japan, there weren't any interactions to speak of.
 
kmfdmpig

kmfdmpig

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
19,452
andymcc said:
Where do you live in the US if you don't mind me asking?

I've had my encounters with unwell people in a lot of places in the US, but, while visible in Japan, there weren't any interactions to speak of.
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Phoenix, AZ now. Lived in a NYC suburb as a child and in Buffalo, NY in college. While in Tokyo I would see unwell people on an almost daily basis even when not being near major city centers. In downtown Phoenix (if it can really be called that) I occasionally see people like that, but it's fairly rare.
 
AdamE

AdamE

3D Character Artist
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
1,051
Japan
Yeah this is the kinda stuff you'll get more often in areas with very low crime. It's horrific but rare and if this guy had mental illnesses then that should be the focus.

Unfortunately there's pretty much very little you can do if some random dude is insistent on killing a bunch of people.
 
andymcc

andymcc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,414
Columbus, OH
kmfdmpig said:
Phoenix, AZ now. Lived in a NYC suburb as a child and in Buffalo, NY in college. While in Tokyo I would see unwell people on an almost daily basis even when not being near major city centers. In downtown Phoenix (if it can really be called that) I occasionally see people like that, but it's fairly rare.
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Man, I live in a good neighborhood in Columbus, OH-- right on the cusp of the main street to downtown-- and I see shit on at least a weekly basis. Had my fair share of strange interactions.
 
Itsuki

Itsuki

Member
Oct 26, 2017
427
kmfdmpig said:
That's awful. People who seek to harm children are the absolute worst of society.


Tons of obviously mentally ill people are just out and about in Japan. It's not unusual to see someone on a train or in a supermarket who is obviously better suited for an institution.

With that said, the crime rates in Japan are shockingly low, so this is an outlier, not a sign of a systemic issue, IMO.
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This is true. Had a problem with one back in March where he started asking me for money on the subway train and he ended up following me because I made eye contact with him. Went to search to the train station staff and after he saw me talking with them, he disappeared. That person wasn't drunk.
I have also seen people talking alone (I don't know if this is normal in Japan) and unwell people almost every day. I was surprised the first time to see how people treat this as if it's something normal.
 
Jintor

Jintor

Saw the truth behind the copied door
Member
Oct 25, 2017
32,573
gutter_trash said:
15?
Why weren't there any adults tackling the madman?

Where were the adults?
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also generally speaking the only adult around would've been the bus driver. primary school kids in japan routinely go to and from school by themselves (usually in big groups though)
 
Korigama

Korigama

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,614
LiK said:
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Bastard would get to take the easy way out after what he did...
tadaima said:
It is not a coincidence that the crime rate is low and conviction rate is high.

While Japan is on the whole a relatively safe country, there is a lot of number fiddling that goes on behind the scenes.

The crime rate is low because of what goes unreported; is recorded incorrectly (e.g. "lost" rather than "stolen"); or is simply ignored by the police. Japanese police will file a crime report or make an arrest only when they are confident there is a good chance of conviction. And once you are arrested, you will be held for weeks and manipulated into writing a letter of confession.

Gotta keep that image squeaky clean.
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Indeed, pretty much the reason for the 99% conviction rate there.
 
Shaneus

Shaneus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,920
"In 2016, 19 people at a care centre for people with mental disabilities were stabbed by a former worker. He reportedly said he wanted those with disabilities to "disappear"."

Oh, the irony.
 
Bubble Metropolis

Bubble Metropolis

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,032
gutter_trash said:
15?
Why weren't there any adults tackling the madman?

Where were the adults?
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Two adults were also stabbed (not including the attacker who stabbed himself in the neck) and one of them died.

But as someone else pointed out, children in Japan almost always live within walking distance of school and go to and from school in large packs of students without any supervision.
 
DarthSpider

DarthSpider

The Fallen
Nov 15, 2017
2,966
Hiroshima, Japan
andymcc said:
Where do you live in the US if you don't mind me asking?

I've had my encounters with unwell people in a lot of places in the US, but, while visible in Japan, there weren't any interactions to speak of.
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I'm originally from Central Florida, but I've been in Japan for 13+ years now, and my experience is the same as kmfdmpig's. 13 years in Japan vs. 24 years in Florida and I've seen way more mentally ill people here in Japan by a very, very wide margin (unless we're lumping Trumpers into the mix). Purely anecdotal, but it is very noticeable and it's something my wife, who is from Japan, comments on every time we go back to the US.
 
andymcc

andymcc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,414
Columbus, OH
DarthSpider said:
I'm originally from Central Florida, but I've been in Japan for 13+ years now, and my experience is the same as kmfdmpig's. 13 years in Japan vs. 24 years in Florida and I've seen way more mentally ill people here in Japan by a very, very wide margin (unless we're lumping Trumpers into the mix). Purely anecdotal, but it is very noticeable and it's something my wife, who is from Japan, comments on every time we go back to the US.
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Weird. I've spent a ton of time in Japan, and I've actually seen what you mean, but it seems it varies depending on where you are in the US nowadays. Maybe it's because a rambling, mentally ill dude kicked my dog in the head that has altered my perspective but idk.
 
Bung Hole

Bung Hole

Banned
Jan 9, 2018
2,169
Auckland, New Zealand
I never hear such things happening in Japan. Sorry i don't mean to offend anyone with my comment but i honestly am not used to hearing such things happen there. Its bizarre. RIP to the victims.
 
Wheatly

Wheatly

Member
Nov 18, 2017
492
DarthSpider said:
I'm originally from Central Florida, but I've been in Japan for 13+ years now, and my experience is the same as kmfdmpig's. 13 years in Japan vs. 24 years in Florida and I've seen way more mentally ill people here in Japan by a very, very wide margin (unless we're lumping Trumpers into the mix). Purely anecdotal, but it is very noticeable and it's something my wife, who is from Japan, comments on every time we go back to the US.
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Why are you guys comparing suburbs in Florida and Arizona to Tokyo?

Compare it to San Francisco or NY
 
Bubble Metropolis

Bubble Metropolis

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,032
I live in a small Japanese city of only 50,000 people that surely no one has ever heard of and I still get accosted by mentally unwell people frequently. It's usually harmless and they just want to talk, but sometimes they want to yell and follow you around. My hometown in the US isn't San Fran or NYC, but it still has more than a million people and I never encountered similar situations there. Granted, back home you just drive everywhere and can more easily avoid everyone..
 
Cheesecakebobby

Cheesecakebobby

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,865
I live/ work just a few km from here. It's an affluent area and considered a very safe place to raise children. I taught some kids the same age as these last year, and the thought that kids just like them a couple train stations away could go through something like this is horrifying. I hope that the nation will take to heart the same ideas people have raised in this thread, that mental health needs to be addressed far more seriously.
 
Maneil99

Maneil99

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
5,252
I think I'd rather get shot once then stabbed once, atleast if I was going to survive. Something about being stabbed horrifies me far more.
 
Tokyo_Funk

Tokyo_Funk

Banned
Dec 10, 2018
10,053
I just contacted my friend in Yokohama, none of his daughters were there, but his friends daughter suffered a wound.

Just awful.
 
kittens

kittens

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,237
Oh no... this is disgusting and so sad...

The article says he mostly targeted school girls, I wonder if this was somehow a gender motivated attack?
 
Harry Potter Obama

Harry Potter Obama

Member
Feb 13, 2018
3,849
Japan
OsakaDon said:
What are you talking about, there is no such thing as mental illness in Japan.

Thats how they handle it.
Its embarrassingly outdated when it comes to mental health. The idea of going to a psychiatrist in Japan is a frowned apon thing. "oh you are crazy" kind of thinking, as if it was 1950.

Japan's technique is to just burry your pain, sorrow and suffering into a little ball.

It's very sad, because there are so so many people that could use help dealing with depression and other shit and there is just little to no support for them.
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Things are apparently getting better nowadays. It's still far from the level of most western countries but I've met people who aren't ashamed to admit they have depression etc. and I've seen a decent amount of mental clinics in Kanto at least.
 
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