Knife-Wielding Nerds

[Mulboyne]

[floatr][/floatr]The Age: Japanese nerd fantasies may turn to geek tragedies
THE Japanese have dubbed it the real-life revenge of the nerds. In Akihabara's "Electric Town", near the centre of Tokyo, "otaku" youths, widely disparaged as socially dysfunctional geeks, have started arming themselves to confront tormentors. The quiet, fashion-challenged loners, known around the world for fetishising anime cartoons, manga comics and electronics, are packing more than just colourful reading and hand-held games into rucksacks for their infrequent trips out of doors. In many cases, they are packing knives. Tokyo police were initially baffled at the surge in the number of arrests they made...In 2005, they detained almost 90 otaku for carrying knives, usually strapped to belts or backpacks. The following year, they confiscated almost as many again, a huge increase on 2002 when there were just three such cases...Among the 101 Tokyo police patrol areas, Akihabara's otaku heaven now ranks only second on a tally of weapons violations to Shinjuku, where yakuza crime syndicates patrol the notorious Kabukicho red-light district...more...

[Kanchou]

This is one of the things I don't like about weapons control laws...

A knife is not necessarily a weapon. First and foremost, it is a tool.

If laws prevent people from doing what makes them human (is the capability to fashion durable, purpose-built tools from materials that can't simply be found easily in their immediate surroundings not one of the only things that truly seperates man from animal?), then it's not what I'd consider a reasonable restriction of freedom.

OTOH, Japanese law specifies that any knife over a certain length (I forgot the exact length, but it's extremely small...essentially anything longer than a keychain knife is illegal) is a concealed weapon, unless the carrier has a "legit" use to carry it (ie, going fishing with a filet knife, carrying home a set of kitchen knives you just bought), in which case it can't be on their person themselves, I believe.

Now, if someone is carrying around a sashimi knife or a wakazashi (I'm half-joking) stuck in their waistband or something, that clearly they're up to no good.

But a 4-inch pocket knife, or something with a reasonably practical use shouldn't be illegal to carry, unless you're trying to sneak it somewhere you shouldn't be (ie, a police station or a courthouse).

The laws in the US vary from state to state, but I think the basic law is you can't conceal a knife that was clearly made as a weapon more than a tool (ie, a "dagger," bowie knife, switchblade, or a knife over a certain length).

Besides, you could kill a lot more people with a bus than you could a pocket knife... and there are no laws against buses, other than needing a license to operate one.

[omae mona]

Besides, you could kill a lot more people with a bus than you could a pocket knife... and there are no laws against buses, other than needing a license to operate one.

Golly. Training for for and obtaining an oogata bus license, getting one's hands on a bus, and getting your victim in just the right place to ram the bus into him seems like a bit of a hassle. But yes, naturally it's the next thing one would think of, after knives. Hope the goverrnment starts regulating this before projectile buses become the weapon of choice!

[Kanchou]

Ok, I was exaggearting slightly, but it wouldn't be all that difficult to jump on a bus and through the guy off, then speed off into a random crowd (a Shinjuku crosswalk at 12PM, perhaps?).

And if your going after a single target, I'm sure a taxi would work just as well

Hell, a baseball bat is OK to carry around as long as it's in a case...