photo gallery

Mamoru Takuma (宅間 守, Takuma Mamoru, November 23, 1963 – September 14, 2004) was a Japanese janitor who committed mass murder of 8 people and wounded 15 others in the 2001 Osaka school massacre. He had been convicted and imprisoned for rape before the massacre.

Early life

Takuma dropped out of high school and was disowned by his father. He entered the Japan Air Self Defense Force but was soon discharged due to having sexual intercourse with a minor. In 1984, Takuma lived with his mother secretly. His father was very angry and took back his wife.

Criminal history

In November 1984, he was arrested for raping a woman and sentenced to three years in prison. He had been arrested at least eleven times and had married four times before the massacre. After his release from jail, he moved to Ikeda and found work as a bus and garbage truck driver. He was described by coworkers as a quiet and unremarkable man, but a bit of a loner who did not like dealing with customers and preferred working alone.

After assaulting a passenger over the smell of her perfume in 1998, he was fired and got a new job as maintenance man at Itami Elementary School, 6 kilometers away from Ikeda. In October of the same year, he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting his former wife.

On March 3, 1999, he dissolved some of his own tranquilizer, temazepam, into the tea served in the teachers' room, sending 4 people to the hospital. He was arrested and sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but after one month's treatment was judged to be "capable of taking care of himself" and released.

In November 1999, he was arrested on suspicion of entering into a private home, but charges were dropped. He managed to get a job as a taxi driver in September 2000, but was fired on October 16th after he assaulted a hotel bellhop in Osaka and broke his nose. He was also kicked out of several apartments for, among other things, throwing his garbage out from the balcony. On May 23, 2001, he was again committed to the hospital, but he left after one day and did not return.

Massacre

On June 8, 2001, the day of his court hearing for the bellboy assault case, he went on a murderous rampage in the Ikeda Elementary School. Wrestled down by staff within minutes, he was described as being in an extremely confused state when arrested, at first repeating "I went to the elementary school", and then saying "I went to the train station and stabbed 100 people with my knife. I did not go to the elementary school."

He also stated:

「何もかも嫌になった。何回も自殺を図ったが死にきれない。捕まえて死刑にしてほしかった。」

Nani mo kamo iya ni natta. Nankai mo jisatsu wo hakatta ga shi ni kirenai. Tsukamaete shikei ni shite hoshikatta.

"I've become disgusted with everything. I've tried to kill myself several times, but couldn't. Give me a death sentence."

Takuma also hated "elite" children, who attended the school he attacked.

Decesased victims

The boy was in the first year and the girls were in the second year.

• Yuki Hongo (本郷優希 Hongō Yūki)
• Mayuko Isaka (猪阪真宥子 Isaka Mayuko)
• Yuka Kiso (木曽友香 Kiso Yūka)
• Ayano Moriwaki (森脇綾乃 Moriwaki Ayano)
• Maki Sakai (酒井麻希 Sakai Maki)
• Takahiro Totsuka (戸塚健大 Totsuta Takahiro) (the only male student to die in the attack)
• Hana Tsukamoto (塚本花菜 Tsukamoto Hana)
• Rena Yamashita (山下玲奈 Yamashita Rena

Trial and death

He seemed to be regarded as insane at first, but his illness was eventually diagnosed as paranoid personality disorder, borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. At first, he claimed that he took a 10× overdose of his psychiatric drugs on the day, but medical analysis found no trace of them in his body. His psychiatrist denied that he suffered from schizophrenia.

On August 28, 2003, Takuma was found guilty of multiple counts of murder and sentenced to death. He was ejected from the court before the sentence because he continued to verbally insult the victims and the victims' parents. Takuma remained unrepentant, refusing to apologize to the families of the victims, and only asked for the sentence to be fulfilled as fast as possible. His statement was, "I should have used gasoline, so I could have killed more than I did." Takuma insisted his execution to take place as soon as possible. The sentence was carried out with unusual speed, and Takuma was executed by hanging on September 14, 2004.

Aftermath

He has had an influence on Japanese murderers. For example, Kaoru Kobayashi, who had sexually assaulted and murdered seven-year-old girl Kaede Ariyama, considered Takuma as a charismatic murderer and sought speedy execution.

Wikipedia.org

Mamoru Takuma

Armed with a kitchen knife, on June 8, 2001, Mamoru Takuma burst into an elementary school in Osaka, Japan, slashing eight children to death and wounding 18 other children and three adults.

Takuma, 37, was subdued by a vice principal and a teacher before police arrived. He was arrested at the scene, but was taken to a hospital, reportedly with self-inflicted injuries.

The victims -- six girls and two boys -- were first- or second-grade students, ranging in age from 6 to 8. Two children were killed immediately and another six died at hospitals after the attack. Six more victims were in serious condition.

Police said the suspect, who had a long history of metal illness, worked as a janitor at an elementary school in a nearby city about two years ago but was fired after he spiking the tea of four teachers with tranquilizers. He was arrested at the time but was never prosecuted because he was mentally unstable.

Takuma told police he had taken 10 times his daily dose of an unspecified anti-depressant before heading out to the school. He allegedly said he was "sick of everything" and "wanted to be caught and executed." He told police he had attempted suicide several times but failed to kill himself

The stabbings occurred shortly after classes began at the elementary school. The attacker allegedly climbed into a first-grade classroom during a recess and began slashing children in the back of the room, and then moved into a hallway.

Several children were slashed in their sides and arms as he moved into other classrooms. As the attacker tussled with two teachers, school officials called police and rushed the children out to the playground.

Within minutes after the attack, a cashier at a nearby grocery said a group of terrified, bloodied children ran into the store. "I saw one of them, a boy, with blood all over his body," said Ikiyo Iriye, 23. "He had been stabbed in the back."

On December 19, 2001, Takuma pleaded guilty in the Osaka District Court to stabbing eight children to death. Though he had a history of schizophrenia, but psychiatrists reportedly determined he could tell right from wrong and was fit to stand trial. The attack led to calls for greater security at schools. Takuma allegedly entered the school unopposed and went from classroom to classroom knifing children.

Osaka school killer says he targeted elite kids

2002.07.11

OSAKA -- A school mass murderer said Thursday that he fatally stabbed his victims last year because he wanted the public to know that even the "clever children of rich families" can instantly be murdered.

Mamoru Takuma, 38, is standing trial for killing eight children in June last year at Ikeda Elementary School in Osaka Prefecture.

Takuma admitted he targeted the school, attached to Osaka Kyoiku University, because of its elite status.

"I had a variety of reasons for targeting the school," he told a hearing at the Osaka District Court on Thursday. "One of them is that I wanted the public to know that even clever children of wealthy families can be killed in five or six seconds."

In describing his motives, Takuma mentioned his hate of a society that places too much emphasis on education.

"I don't think scholastic studies are everything in the world," he said.

Days after the brutal attack, Takuma said he targeted the school out of "envy at elite people."

Takuma said that he also planned to attack a woman's high school with a gun and ram a truck into a shopping street.

He added that he decided the day before to attack the school and can't recall exactly what happened.

"I don't remember how many children I stabbed," he said.

(Compiled from Mainichi and wire stories, July 11, 2002)

Mamoru Takuma (November 23, 1963–September 14, 2004) stabbed 8 first- and second-grade students to death and wounded 15 others in the Osaka school massacre of 2001.

Takuma dropped out of high school and was disowned by his father. He entered the Japan Air Self Defense Force but was soon discharged due to undisclosed problems. He moved to Ikeda and found work as a bus and garbage truck driver. He was described by coworkers as a quiet and unremarkable man, but a bit of a loner who did not like dealing with customers and preferred working alone.

However, after assaulting a passenger over the smell of their perfume in 1998, he was fired and got a new job as maintenance man at Itami Elementary School, 6 kilometers away from Ikeda. In October of the same year, he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting his former wife.

On March 3, 1999, he dissolved some of his own drugs into the tea served in the teachers' room, sending 4 people to the hospital. He was arrested and packed off to a psychiatric hospital, where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but after one month's treatment was judged to be "capable of taking care of himself" and released.

The assessment proved to be overly optimistic. Takuma was in and out of the hospital. In November 1999, he was arrested on suspicion of entering into a private home, but charges were dropped. He managed to get a job as a taxi driver in September 2000, but was fired on October 16th after he assaulted a hotel bellboy in Osaka and broke his nose. He was also kicked out of several apartments for, among other things, throwing his garbage out from the balcony. On May 23, 2001, he was again committed to the hospital, but he left after one day and did not return.

On June 8, 2001, the day of his court hearing for the bellboy assault case, he intentionally took a 10× overdose of his psychiatric drugs and went on a murderous rampage in the Ikeda Elementary School. Wrestled down by staff within minutes, he was described as being in an extremely confused state when arrested, at first repeating "I went to the elementary school", and then saying "I went to the train station and stabbed 100 people with my knife. I did not go to the elementary school." Later, when interrogated, he stated:

"Anything and everything has become unbearable. Time and time again I tried kill myself but I could not do it. I wanted to be arrested and get the death sentence."

On August 28, 2003, Takuma was found guilty of multiple counts of murder and sentenced to death. Takuma remained unrepentant, refusing to apologize to the families of the victims, and only asked for the sentence to be fulfilled as fast as possible. He was executed by hanging on September 14, 2004.

Perversely enough, the name "Takuma Mamoru" can be translated as "protect" (mamoru) "the home" (takuma).

Mamoru Takuma, who killed eight children and injured two teachers and thirteen children in June 2001 at Ikeda Primary School in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, received the death penalty. He was executed on September 14, 2004

JAPAN TIMES WEEKLY EDITORIAL
Sept. 6, 2003

Justice served in Osaka

On June 8, 2001, a disgruntled jobless man stormed into an Osaka elementary school, wielding a kitchen knife, and killed eight children and wounded 13 others and two teachers. "This is an unprecedented case of atrocity in the nation's criminal history," the Osaka District Court stated in its death sentence Aug. 28. "The grief and anger of the bereaved families is profound. There is no alternative but the death penalty." It is impossible to argue against this ruling.

During the 20-month trial, Mamoru Takuma, 39, showed himself to be a coldblooded man with a twisted mentality. He showed no signs of remorse for the murders. He hurled insults at relatives of the victims. He showed contempt for the court. And he effectively boycotted the session Aug. 28; he was not there when the judge read out the sentence.

"Let me say my last words. I'm going to die anyway." The presiding judge refused to listen and ordered the defendant to be removed from the courtroom. That was the right decision. Yet it was extremely unusual and very unfortunate that the ruling was handed down without the presence of the defendant.

Takuma has only himself to blame. During the trial he was offered a chance to state his view again and again, yet each time he refused to speak presumably because he did not want to reveal his "weaknesses." Indeed, it is likely that he was afraid to listen to his death sentence.

The saving grace is that he admitted all charges, though it remains unclear why he acted as he did. The trial focused on the question of whether he was sane enough to tell right from wrong. The court has reasonably concluded that he was, citing what it calls "highly credible" psychiatric evaluations. "The case reveals a self-centered and exceedingly distorted personality," the ruling states. "He showed no effects of any mental illness and therefore possessed sufficient mental capacity to be held criminally responsible for his actions."

The Takuma case has turned a spotlight on two major defects in our society: lack of security at schools and inadequacy of crime-prevention measures for mentally disabled people.

As for the first problem, an increasing number of schools have taken a variety of safety measures, such as setting up alarms against intruders and monitoring cameras, as well as requiring students to bear name patches on their uniforms. Many schools have tried to limit contacts with outsiders. Meanwhile, the education ministry has prepared manuals on crime prevention and crisis management.

In practice, however, it may be difficult to keep out all trespassers at all times. Perhaps the best deterrent would be to promote residents' participation in school management or create a self-policing environment with the cooperation of communities. In that kind of situation it should be easier to work out more specific safety measures.

Regarding the second problem, the Diet has passed legislation mandating the medical observation of mentally ill people who have committed serious offenses. The law applies to those who, although exempted from prosecution or declared innocent, have been found by judges and psychiatrists to be liable to repeat offenses. If so determined, such people may be ordered to visit or enter hospitals.

That is a step in the right direction. The question that remains is what to do about criminals, such as Takuma, who are mentally fit but have serious personality disorders. As yet there seems to be no adequate measures in place to deal with such "borderline" offenders. Takuma has admitted entering a hospital by feigning mental illness. This suggests that the existing legal system is not perfect. Dealing with cases like Takuma's requires closer cooperation between psychiatric medicine and criminal justice.

In a nutshell, the accused comes across as a selfish man trying to shift all his troubles to other people and to society in general. Yet, on the first day of the trial, he offered an apology, saying he wanted to "make amends" by accepting capital punishment. After that, however, he became defiant and remorseless.

Finally, the trial has left a soothing precedent for the victims' relatives: for the first time they were allowed to watch the proceedings via monitors in a separate room. It was a thoughtful measure to spare family members the pain of sharing the same space with the defendant. They certainly deserved such consideration given the beastly crime he had committed.

The Japan Times Weekly
Sept. 6, 2003

Death for Japanese school killer

August 28, 2003

A Japanese court has sentenced a man to death for stabbing and killing eight children during a rampage through a primary school two years ago.

Thirteen other children and two teachers were injured when Mamoru Takuma stormed Ikeda elementary school near Osaka in western Japan with a kitchen knife.

The 39-year-old former janitor has a history of mental illness, but the judge at Osaka District Court ruled that he was responsible for his actions.

The killings in June 2001 shocked a nation already anxious about a series of apparently senseless crimes, and sparked a debate about security in schools.

Seven girls and a boy between the ages of six and eight were killed as Takuma went from classroom to classroom.

Statement attempt

Takuma admitted the killings and is said to have shown little remorse, reportedly telling the court in June that he could have killed more children if he had attacked a kindergarten.

Psychiatrists reportedly testified that Takuma - who has a history of schizophrenia - was fit to stand trial.

When the judgement was handed down, Takuma was said to have tried to make a statement, but was ordered to be removed from the courtroom.

"I'm going to get death anyway, so let me say what I have to say," he was quoted by public broadcaster NHK as saying before being dragged away by guards.

More than 2,000 people had queued outside the court to get one of 30 seats available for the verdict, according to NHK.

The Japan Times Weekly: Sept. 18, 2004

Mamoru Takuma, who murdered eight schoolchildren in Osaka in 2001, was executed Sept. 14, media said.

Takuma, who told a court hearing he wanted to pay for the crime with his life, had withdrawn an appeal filed by his defense lawyers.

Takuma sentenced to death for killing 8 schoolchildren

Friday, August 29, 2003

OSAKA — The Osaka District Court on Thursday sentenced Mamoru Takuma, 39, to death for murdering eight children and injuring 13 others and two teachers in a stabbing rampage with a butcher's knife at an Osaka elementary school in June 2001.

Prior to handing down the ruling, Presiding judge Masayuki Kawaai ordered Takuma to be removed from the courtroom after he demanded to make a final statement.

"Let me say something as I'll be sentenced to death anyway," public Japan Broadcasting Corp (NHK) quoted Takuma as saying before the judge turned the demand down and ordered him to leave.

Nontheless Takuma made abusive remarks on bereaved families before leaving.

On June 8, 2001, armed with a long-bladed kitchen knife he had just bought, Takuma walked into the elementary school and killed seven girls and one boy in Ikeda City, some 400 kilometers west of Tokyo.

Thirteen other children and two teachers were injured. The stabbing shocked Japan, triggering calls for tighter security in schools.

Takuma pleaded guilty when his trial opened in December 2001. He has showed no regret over the crime, saying: "I could have killed more if it had been at a kindergarten."

The judge ruled Thursday that Takuma was mentally fit enough to face punishment although he had been a psychiatric patient formerly diagnosed with schizophrenia.

"He has a self-centered, very warped personality. But there is no influence of any mental illness and he had sufficient mental competency to be held responsible for the crime," the judge said.

The judge said the two psychiatric evaluations that found Takuma to be mentally competent were "highly dependable." In the mental tests, experts concluded that Takuma suffers from a personality disorder but not schizophrenia.

"The defendant was fully aware of the illegality and gravity of his conduct," the judge said, describing the crime as "one of the most heinous and grave cases in Japan's criminal history."

Takuma carried out the murders as a means to divert his economic and social frustration, the judge said.

Most of relatives of the killed children were in the court room for the sentencing.

Two mothers, accompanied by a therapist, were allowed to watch the ruling through a television monitor in a separate room as they said they could not bear being in the room as the killer, Jiji Press said.

Takuma's lawyers said they would like to appeal against the death sentence after consulting with their client, but Takuma has reportedly told them that he would withdraw an appeal if they lodged one.

The crime caused many schools in Japan to boost safety measures and led to legislation authorizing the creation of panels of judges and doctors to deal with people with mental disorders who commit serious crimes.