The "Sasebo slashing" was the murder of a 12-year-old Japanese schoolgirl, Satomi Mitarai, by an 11-year-old female classmate referred to as "Girl A". The murder occurred on June 1, 2004, at an elementary school in the city of Sasebo in Nagasaki Prefecture. The murderer slit Mitarai's throat and arms with a box cutter. Reactions to the incident included Internet memes and a discussion of lowering the age of criminal responsibility in Japan. The killer's real name has not been released to the press, as per Japanese legal procedures prohibiting the identification of juvenile offenders. Japanese police referred to her as Girl A. The Nagasaki District Legal Affairs Bureau cautioned Internet users against revealing her photos. However, the girl's real name was accidentally revealed on a Fuji TV broadcast and members of Japanese internet community 2channel further publicized her identity on June 18, 2004, based on analysis of a picture broadcast on television.
Murder
On June 1, 2004, an 11-year-old schoolgirl, later dubbed "Girl A", murdered her 12-year-old classmate, Satomi Mitarai, in an empty classroom during the lunch hour at Okubo Elementary School in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture. Girl A then left Mitarai's body and returned to her own classroom, her clothes covered in blood. The girls' teacher, who had noticed that both girls were missing, stumbled upon the body and called the police. After being taken into custody, Girl A was reported to have confessed to the crime, saying "I am sorry, I am sorry" to police. She spent the night at the police station, often crying, and refused to eat snacks she was offered. Girl A initially mentioned no motive for the killing. Shortly afterward, she confessed to police that she and Mitarai had quarreled as a result of messages left on the Internet. Girl A claimed that Mitarai slandered her by commenting on her weight and calling her a "goody-goody". On September 15, 2004, a Japanese Family Court ruled to institutionalize Girl A, putting aside her young age because of the severity of the crime. She was sent to a reformatory in Tochigi Prefecture. The Nagasaki family court originally sentenced Girl A to two years of involuntary commitment, but the sentence was extended by two years in September 2006, following a psychological evaluation. On May 29, 2008, local authorities announced that they did not seek an additional sentence. Because of issues with communication ability and obsessive interests, Girl A was diagnosed after the murder with Asperger syndrome.
Reaction
The killing provoked a debate in Japan whether the age of criminal responsibility, lowered from 16 to 14 in 2000 due to the 1997 Kobe child murders, needed to be lowered again. Girl A was considered to be a normal and well-adjusted child before the incident, which made the public more anxious. Members of the Japanese Diet, such as Kiichi Inoue and Sadakazu Tanigaki, came under criticism for comments made in the wake of the killing. Inoue was criticized for referring to Girl A as genki, a word with positive connotations. Tanigaki was criticized for referring to the method of killing, slitting of the throat, as a "manly" act. Girl A became the subject of an Internet meme on Japanese web communities such as 2channel. She was nicknamed "Nevada-tan" because a class photograph showed a girl believed to be her wearing a University of Nevada, Reno sweatshirt. Akio Mori cited this case in support of his controversial "game brain" theory, which has been criticized as being nothing more than superstition. Girl A was reported to be a fan of the death-themed flash animation "Red Room", a claim used in support of the theory. It was also known that Girl A had read the controversial novel Battle Royale and had seen its film adaptation, which centers on young students fighting to the death. At the March 18, 2005, Okubo Elementary graduation, students were given a graduation album with a blank page in honor of Mitarai's death on which they could put pictures of Mitarai, Girl A, or class pictures containing both girls. Mitarai was posthumously awarded a graduation certificate, which her father accepted on her behalf. Girl A was also awarded a certificate, as one is required in Japan in order to enter junior high school and the school believed it would aid her "reintegration into society".
