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Victims mourned 17 years after Akihabara indiscriminate attack
Mourners visited Tokyo's Akihabara district Sunday, marking the 17th anniversary of an indiscriminate attack there that left 17 people dead or injured.
Some voiced concerns that memories of the tragic incident may be fading.
Shinichiro Murase, 55, a civil servant from the city of Yokohama, said that he was visiting Akihabara on the day of the incident in 2008.
The sounds of helicopters made him aware that something had happened, Murase recalled. He then saw crowds of people as well as fire engines and ambulances, but still did not exactly know what was going on.
Murase comes to Akihabara and lays flowers for the victims almost every year on June 8. "I hope an indiscriminate attack will never happen again. It's truly senseless."
Shinya Todama, a 32-year-old corporate worker from the city of Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture, visits Akihabara every year on the memorial day to pay tributes to those who lost their lives in the attack.
Todama said he feels the incident is gradually being forgotten, noting that the number of bouquets laid at the site of the tragedy is decreasing year after year.
He said: "No matter how many years pass, the wounds of the bereaved relatives will not heal. It is important that even a single person continues to remember the incident."
In the incident, which happened shortly after 12:30 p.m. on June 8, 2008, the attacker, Tomohiro Kato, plowed a truck into a holiday pedestrian zone in Akihabara, hitting passersby one after another. He then randomly attacked others with a knife. Seven people, age between 19 and 74, were killed in the attack, and 10 other people suffered injuries.
Kato was immediately arrested on the scene on suspicion of attempted murder.
He was indicted in October 2008 on charges including murder.
Kato's death sentence was finalized by the Supreme Court in February 2015, and he was executed in July 2022.
