Culture & Lifestyle

Suspected killer Tomohiro Kato is taken into custody by police after the stabbing spree in Tokyo's Akihabara district on June 8, 2008. (Photo courtesy of a Mainichi reader)

Commit a sensational crime in Japan and you can be absolutely certain your entire life story -- your family, your educational background, your love life, the color of your undershorts and any other minutiae the media can possibly dig up -- will be shamelessly exposed, usually within 72 hours, maximum.

As proof of this, I give you the example of Mr. Tomohiro Kato, age 25, formerly of Aomori Prefecture, and currently residing in a holding cell at Manseibashi Police Station in Tokyo's Chiyoda-ku.

Kato, acting out of motives that will be transcribed during his interrogation and presented at his trial, is the one who went on a rampage in Akihabara last Sunday, running down three people with a rented truck and stabbing another 14 with a dagger before he could be disarmed and arrested.

But this is not about Kato -- there's really been quite enough about him in the media this week. Nor is it about the tragedy of his seven victims, who have been eulogized by tearful relatives and friends.

No, I wanted to write about one name in relation to this case you almost certainly haven't heard. Takashi Ogino.

Before his name appeared, he was only referred to as a patrol sergeant in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, age 41, who was on duty at the Akihabara "koban" (police box) on June 8.

Sergeant Ogino, who appears to be of medium build and height and who wears spectacles, is a 21-year veteran of the MPD. He is said to hold a 3rd-degree black belt in judo. The print and broadcast media have been full of photos, mostly taken at the scene by onlookers with cell phone cameras, in which he is shown pursuing, confronting and overpowering Kato.

When the trouble began, Ogino unhesitatingly took action. This, of course, is what policemen are trained to do; but putting theory into practice is not always easy. Many Japanese cops might serve for an entire career and never be called to do anything more perilous than intercept a bicycle thief.

According to eyewitnesses, Ogino pursued Kato down a side street and confronted him with an extensible riot baton. Kato resisted, and the two clashed in what was described by one onlooker as looking like "actors in a samurai movie."

In a detail left out of most of the news accounts, former prosecutor Atsuyuki Sassa, a well known media commentator, wrote in the Sankei Shinbun's June 11 "Seiron" column that sergeant's Ogino's protective vest was ripped at three points where Kato's dagger had struck, but was unable to penetrate.

While extending the riot baton in his left hand, Ogino then backed away from the perpetrator, unholstered his 9mm New Nambu revolver and ordered him to drop his knife. The assailant was then wrestled to the ground by Ogino and two other men, including an off-duty officer in plainclothes from a police station in neighboring Taito-ku.

In most countries, the name and photo of the heroic cop would be splashed on the front page of every newspaper in the city. But to the best of this writer's knowledge, it has appeared so far in just one weekly magazine -- Shukan Shincho (June 19) -- and one newspaper opinion-editorial, by the abovementioned Mr. Sassa. (Who remarked in the same op-ed piece that because the "Electric Town" is a major attraction to foreign tourists, "It's a relief at least that no foreigners were among the victims.")

Shukan Shincho must be credited for its efforts to go where the rest of the media has not. Its short piece (less than one full page of the magazine) quoted two police sources who favorably critiqued Ogino's arrest technique.

"Making a perpetrator raise both hands and then sit down on the ground presumes the use of a handgun and could be said to be American-style," a police source tells the magazine. "This method is also okay in Japan. But Sgt. Ogino should be praised for his judgment in deciding when to draw his revolver, after he'd chased [Kato] away from the main street where there were lots of people, and confirmed that there were no civilians in the vicinity."

"His technique was textbook perfect," a second police source tells the magazine, pointing to photos. "Look at the position of his riot baton. He struck the perp in the solar plexus and rammed him against the wall. He'd been rendered helpless. You can tell from the photo that [Kato] was in agony and about to crumple."

I discussed the MPD's reluctance to parade their heroic officer before the media with several of my colleagues in the fourth estate, and we generally agreed that although no amount of caution could have prevented Kato from going on his deadly rampage, the MPD still regards what transpired as a failure on its part. After all, seven people died and another 10 were injured in the space of a few minutes.

At the moment, the families of the seven victims are in mourning, and it would be inappropriate for the police to engage in self-congratulatory behavior.

Nevertheless Sassa feels Ogino warrants a prompt commendation from the top.

"As a former police official," he writes in the Sankei, "I feel that many officers today are lacking in courage." He goes on to cite several recent examples of overcaution and timidity by police.

Did his quick action make Ogino a rare exception?

"Of course," opines Shukan Shincho's writer, "for Sergeant Ogino, his gallantry in making a splendid arrest will never be forgotten.

"But on the other hand, for several thousand people, the nightmarish encounter with a random killer on the streets of Akihabara in broad daylight will be forever etched into their minds." (By Masuo Kamiyama, contributing writer)