There is also a new dark side to the Japanese Internet emerging- The Suicide Club.
Concern has also been raised over other violent trends on Japanese websites, including suicide guides and violent games.
The Tragedy of Internet Gamers in Japan : "HIKIKOMORI"
The rise and rise of the reclusive internet gamer is becomming a trend worldwide, not just in Japan. However, Japan's model of the gamer is almost existentialistic.
We all know one. They call themselves 'gamers' and lock themselves away from society, semmingly discontent with the competitiveness of the educational system, workplace or just life in general. They submerge themselves in violent games, magazines and other media that seems dark and despondent to outsiders.
Similarities between the Akihabara killings and the gaming culture might seem a stretch of the imagination to some, but to others the connection is as plain as day.
The UK Telegraph produced an article that will be poignant to any parent who has lost sleep over their child who seems lost in an alternate universe of games and dark heroes.
Telegraph Artilce : Japan's Recluses Emerge and Start Killing
A decade ago, the Japanese public was gradually becoming aware of the term "hikikomori". Coined by a psychologist, Tamaki Saito, it referred to the individuals - usually male adolescents - who opted to lock themselves away from society and refused to communicate with the outside world.
Saito estimated that there could be as many as a million such social recluses across the country, choosing computer games, reading "manga" comics and surfing the internet rather than undergoing Japan's notoriously demanding education system, followed by unswerving loyalty to an employer.
And while parents may have wrung their hands with worry as they left another meal on a tray outside the bedroom door of their son, there was at least little concern that he was going to get into much trouble...
READ THE FULL TELEGRAPH ARTICLE BY CLICKING HERE
BBC Article : Japan's Internet Suicide Clubs
In Japan, the internet has been blamed for a spate of group suicides which appear to have been arranged in online chat rooms.
Andrew Harding talked to one young man searching for someone to die with.
Naoki Tachiwana opened his apartment door with a surprisingly warm smile, and beckoned us in to a neat living room. His computer was switched on - the screen facing out towards Naoki's eleventh floor balcony, and the night sky above Tokyo's eastern suburbs...
Read the Full BBC Article by Clicking Here
Japan Times Article:Akihabara Killings
Killer posted warnings on Internet'I will kill . . . in Akihabara
The nation was still reeling Monday from the deadly mayhem waged the day before by a 25-year-old man who ran down several people with a truck and then proceeded to fatally stab others in Tokyo's densely crowded Akihabara electronics district, killing seven.
Prayers offered: Visitors pray Monday in Akihabara, Tokyo, for seven people who were killed during a random knife attack the previous day. It was learned that several posts on a mobile phone Web site foretold the deadly stabbing spree.
The descriptions and the time-stamps of the messages, which were apparently posted starting early Sunday and continued until minutes before the stabbing spree, closely followed the developments.
The suspect, Tomohiro Kato, 25, a temp staff worker from Shizuoka Prefecture, has admitted to investigators that he posted the messages on the Web site, and the Metropolitan Police Department was trying to confirm the link between the crime and the posts, police sources said...
Japan Times-Click Here to Read the Full 'Akihabara Killings' Article
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