Ein willkürlicher Amoklauf in Tokio wurde von einem Mann gestoppt, der sich an die Polizei von Tokio wandte, nur um ihn abzuschütteln. Erst als er die Polizei in der Heimatstadt des Verdächtigen in Toyama kontaktierte, stoppten die Behörden die Verschwörung: „Man sagte mir, ich solle nicht kommen, aber ich drang gewaltsam in die Polizeiwache ein.“

Typical Japanese police. They don’t want to investigate or prevent crimes. They just want to report and document it after it happens. Everything else is not their job.

Remember when one of the Aum Shinrikyo cult members on the most wanted list tried to turn himself in at one police station and then was sent away because the police didn’t want to be bothered. So he turned himself into a larger Tokyo police station because he thought they would take it seriously (which they did, fortunately).

 I can already tell people are taking the article headline and running with it. Here is the Gemini translation to provide context:

This article from *Daily Shincho*, published on July 18, 2026, reports on a prevented mass stabbing incident.
Here is a summary of the article’s contents:
On July 12, 2026, Toyama Prefectural Police arrested a 53-year-old unemployed man living in Namerikawa City, Toyama, on suspicion of preparation for murder. The man had planned a random mass killing and had made preparations, such as reserving a highway bus to Tokyo and placing a knife in his backpack. During questioning, the man admitted to the charges, stating, „I wanted to die due to the hardships of living caused by high prices. I thought if I caused a random stabbing incident in Tokyo, I could die by being shot or getting the death penalty.“
The incident was prevented because the suspect sent a direct message (DM) on X (formerly Twitter) to Hidekatsu Otomo. Otomo, who is currently active as a probation officer, is known as a former colleague of Tomohiro Kato, the man who committed the 2008 Akihabara stabbing incident (he was 25 at the time).
The interaction began on July 1. The suspect, who saw a program on ABEMA featuring Otomo, sent him a message. The message used an old internet slang term for „die.“ Initially, Otomo thought the man was joking. However, as the conversation moved to DMs, the man expressed his daily frustrations and the hardships of his life, adding that he intended to „cause an incident like Akihabara, kill 7 or more people, and get the death penalty.“
Sensing the urgency and believing it wasn’t a joke, Otomo did not flatly deny the man’s feelings but instead suggested, „Let’s meet and eat together.“ On the night of July 10, the man contacted Otomo, saying, „I’m going to Tokyo on a one-way ticket to put an end to this.“ When Otomo asked directly, „Are you planning to cause an incident?“, the man replied, „I’ll refrain from commenting.“ For Otomo, who had been receiving similar consultations for 15 years, this was the first time someone had reserved their answer rather than confirming or denying it. Combined with the logical writing style, Otomo became convinced that the man was seriously preparing for random mass murder.
On the morning of Saturday, July 11, Otomo called a nearby police station within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police Department to consult with them. The station instructed him to call 110 (the police emergency number) to be connected to the Toyama Prefectural Police and report the situation. Through 110, he conveyed the man’s estimated residence and date of birth, which he had inferred from the man’s account.
Shortly after hanging up, he received six missed calls from the police station he had originally called. When he returned the call, an official from the crime prevention division told him they wanted to hear the details and would come to him. Otomo offered to go to the station instead, as it was a consultation for an incident that hadn’t yet occurred. However, just before boarding a train to go there, he received another call telling him he didn’t need to come. Despite this, he insisted on going.

Here is the continuation and translation of the second page of the article:
**Only One Day from Consultation to Arrest**
Otomo reflected on the Toyama Prefectural Police’s response, saying, „They really moved at full speed.“ It was a rapid response, taking only one day from his consultation on the 11th to the arrest.
Since making it public that he was acquainted with the death row inmate Tomohiro Kato, Otomo receives messages almost daily from people saying things like „I want to die“ or „I feel like I might do the same thing.“ Most of these messages express an inward-facing sense of despair, often mentioning complicated family environments such as having toxic parents. He notes that the number of cases where people actually speak of harming others remains a very small fraction of the total—in Otomo’s estimation, about „one in a hundred.“ However, as the frequency of communication increases, there are rare individuals whose frustration turns outward rather than inward. Otomo reflects that this recent case was right on that borderline.
**“What If It Really Happens?“**
When faced with people hinting at suicide or murder, Otomo deliberately tries to offer the option of „meeting and talking.“ His reasoning is that „if words can reach them, I can at least push the day of execution back by even one day.“ In this case as well, he had made an appointment to meet the man on the 15th, following the man’s scheduled arrival in Shinjuku on the morning of July 14th.
However, did the man really intend to cause an incident? Was he serious…? In such a situation, anyone would hesitate to consult the police. But Otomo says he acted by thinking, „What if it really happens?“
„Once I knew about it and got involved, I just couldn’t ignore it. If I had optimistically thought, ‚It’ll probably be fine,‘ and an incident actually occurred, I wonder what would happen to me—I think the shock would be so great that I wouldn’t be able to recover.“
**The Difficulty of Consulting the Police**
What Otomo keenly realized again this time was the reality that police responses vary greatly depending on the officer in charge. He recounted an instance in the past where an officer unilaterally hung up on him, saying, „A crazy guy like you listening to a crazy guy’s stories just makes things crazier.“ Given the situation where he was told „you don’t need to come“ even after identifying himself as a probation officer, he spoke of the difficulty of consulting the police beforehand, noting, „If it were an ordinary person, they probably wouldn’t have even consulted them.“
On the other hand, he understands that the police handle many cases daily, and it’s somewhat unavoidable that priority is given to incidents that have actually occurred over consultations at the „might occur“ stage. From the perspective of those receiving the consultations, the vast majority of reported information ultimately does not escalate into an incident, and he understands the practical difficulty of allocating personnel to take detailed statements for every single one.
„It is asking too much of them to distinguish the truly dangerous cases mixed in every so often,“ Otomo says. Still, addressing the current reality where delayed responses in stalking and other cases continually lead to actual harm, he warns, „Unless we change the fundamental system, the same things will be repeated.“ In this particular case, it was largely successful because Otomo happened to hold the title of „probation officer“ and had cultivated an intuition for assessing danger through 15 years of experience in handling consultations. He points out, „If an ordinary person were in the same position, I think they would have backed down at the first ‚you don’t need to come.‘ The hurdle to seeking consultation is just too high to begin with.“
Regarding the arrested man, Otomo says, „It shouldn’t just end with ‚I’m glad the incident was prevented.'“
„Basically, because I tipped them off, it’s been reported on such a massive scale. I feel I need to support him.“
He expressed his intention to contact the man through a lawyer and meet with him on a regular basis.