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The "Sasebo slashing" (Japanese: 佐世保小6女児同級生殺害事件, Hepburn: Sasebo shōroku joji dōkyūsei satsugai jiken),[1] also known as the Nevada-tan murder, was the murder of a 12-year-old Japanese schoolgirl, Satomi Mitarai (御手洗 怜美, Mitarai Satomi), by an 11-year-old female classmate referred to as "Girl A" (a common placeholder name used for female criminals in Japan).[2] 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.[3]
Reactions to the incident included Internet memes[specify] and a discussions about lowering the age of criminal responsibility in Japan. The killer's name was not released to the press, as per Japanese legal procedures prohibiting the identification of juvenile offenders;[4] the Nagasaki District Legal Affairs Bureau cautioned Internet users against revealing her photos.[5] However, members of the Japanese Internet community 2channel read a name on a classroom drawing believed to be made by Girl A, and publicized the name on June 18, 2004.[5][6]
Murder
On June 1, 2004, 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.[7] Girl A returned to her classroom, her clothes covered in blood.[8] The girls' teacher, who had noticed that both girls were missing, stumbled upon the body and called the police.[9]
After being taken into custody, Girl A was reported to have confessed to the crime, saying "I am sorry, I am sorry" to police officers.[10] She spent the night at the police station, often crying, and refusing to eat or drink. Girl A initially mentioned no motive for the killing.[11] Shortly afterward, she confessed to police that she and Mitarai had quarreled as a result of messages left on the Internet.[12] Girl A claimed that Mitarai slandered her[13] 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.[14] She was sent to a reformatory in Tochigi Prefecture.[15] 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.[16] On May 29, 2008, local authorities announced that they did not seek an additional sentence.[17]
A reformatory in Tochigi Prefecture where "Girl A" was institutionalized
Because of her issues with communication and obsessive interests, Girl A was diagnosed after the murder with Asperger syndrome.[18]
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.[19] Girl A was considered to be a normal and well-adjusted child before the incident,[20] which made the public more anxious.[21]
Members of the Japanese Diet, such as Kiichi Inoue and Sadakazu Tanigaki, came under criticism for comments made in the wake of the killing.[22] Inoue was criticized for referring to Girl A as genki (vigorous, lively), a word with positive connotations.[23] Tanigaki was criticized for referring to the method of killing, slitting of the throat, as a "manly" act.[24]
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 young girl believed to be her wearing a University of Nevada, Reno sweatshirt,[25] with "-tan" being a childlike pronunciation of the Japanese honorific suffix "-chan", generally used to refer to young girls.
Akio Mori cited this case in support of his controversial "game brain" theory,[26] which has been criticized as pseudoscience.[27] Girl A was reported to be a fan of the death-themed flash animation "Red Room",[28] 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.[29]
On March 18, 2005, during the Okubo Elementary graduation ceremony, 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.[30] 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 a junior high school and the school believed it would aid her "reintegration into society".[31]
^ ab"ネットに加害女児の顔、名前 長崎地方法務局が削除要請" [Nagasaki District Legal Affairs Bureau requests that the face and name of the perpetrator girl be removed from the internet]. Nagasaki Shimbun (in Japanese). June 3, 2004. Archived from the original on June 5, 2004.
^Satō, Haruto (2005). Hanzai Kogal. pp. 11, 46, 29.
^Kusanagi, Atsuko (November 24, 2005). 第七章 「コミュニケーション能力」と「エピローグ」 [Chapter 7: "Communication Ability" and "Epilogue"]. 追跡！「佐世保小六女児同級生殺害事件」 [Tracked down! The case of the homicide committed by a Sasebo Elementary Grade 6 girl against her classmate] (in Japanese). Japan: Kodansha. pp. 93–110, 214–228. ISBN4-06-213041-6.
^"脳のメカニズムに迫る 川島隆太 東北大学 加齢医学研究所 教授" [Approaching the mechanisms of the brain: Professor Ryuta Kawashima, Institute of Aging and Aging, Tohoku University]. Science Portal (in Japanese). Retrieved May 31, 2008.
