‘Unable to handle rejection’: the forces driving Japan’s knife crime wave

The day that Taiki Hirokawa stabbed his former girlfriend to death in a Pokemon store in Tokyo had started like any other, his mother told police. She and her son had breakfast together and nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

Hours later, security camera footage caught 26-year-old Hirokawa walking straight into the store, pulling out a knife, going behind the counter where Moe Harukawa, 21, was serving customers, and repeatedly slashing her in the neck and chest before turning the knife on himself.

Horrified onlookers – including children – told investigators that Hirokawa never hesitated, ignored his victim’s screams, and that the entire incident “was over in a minute”.

For mental health experts, the gruesome incident points to a clear decline in the mental well-being of young Japanese struggling with soaring stress levels, stunted emotional development and an inability to communicate their problems.

“There are always a variety of reasons for incidents of domestic violence, but in a case like this, when one partner kills the other, the reason is often that the attacker does not want to be separated,” said Vickie Skorji, a mental health specialist and senior adviser to the Tokyo-based TELL Lifeline.