At 9:50 a.m. Tokyo time on March 11, a horrific knife attack occurred in front of Takadanobaba Station in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. A female live streamer in her 20s, Mostly Love Mostly, was attacked with a knife by a man in his 40s during an outdoor live broadcast, and despite being rushed to the hospital, she died of her injuries. The incident shocked the Japanese community and created an uproar on the world wide web, especially since the live broadcast footage captured the incident in its entirety, allowing countless viewers to witness the horrific attack firsthand.
The murder took place in front of Tokyo’s Takadanobaba Station, one of the city’s most vibrant student neighborhoods and an important gathering place for Chinese students. Takadanobaba attracts a large number of Japanese and overseas students every year due to the large number of colleges and universities in its neighborhood, including Waseda University Japan Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Tokyo Fuji University. In addition, the area has a high percentage of Chinese in the rental market, and many Chinese students rent rooms, study and work part-time, giving the area a youthful atmosphere.
During the day, Takadanobaba is a vibrant student town, bustling with people, and university students can be found in and out of cafes, bookstores, and study rooms. At night, however, it transforms into a bustling area of izakaya (pubs), karaoke parlors, game halls, and late-night restaurants, where partying and revelry are the order of the day.
Today, however, this originally youthful street has become the scene of a horrific murder that has shocked the community with the color of blood.
Police arrived and quickly cordoned off the area where the crime took place. The entire station square was surrounded by a yellow cordon, and shocking traces of blood could still be seen on the pavement. The crowd of onlookers murmured, some discussing the details of the case in hushed tones, others covering their faces and crying, and still others staring in horror at the streets blocked off by the police, seemingly still finding it hard to believe that such a bloody case could have happened in such a familiar place. There was a sense of anxiety in the air, and many foreign students and office workers living in the neighborhood began to worry about security in Tokyo, with some even saying that they would not dare to walk alone in the Takadanobaba at night anymore.
At the time of the incident, Ai Minami, a Japanese girl, was in the middle of a live-streaming project in which she planned to walk around the Yamanote Line in Tokyo and interact with her fans. Dressed in casual clothes and holding a selfie stick, she easily introduced the viewers to the scenery along the way and answered fans’ questions. However, halfway through the broadcast, the screen suddenly shook violently, followed by the shrill screams of Ai Minami!
Help! Help!
She tried to struggle, but her screams continued for about a minute before coming to an abrupt end, and the scene showed her face covered in blood as she fell to the ground. The live camera captured a knife-wielding man standing by while Maximum Love was unresponsive. Sirens sounded at the scene and police arrived quickly, but it was too late.
Even more shocking is that the live broadcast was not shut down at the time of the incident, and within a short time after the incident, the audience of the live broadcast room increased from less than 100 people to 6,500 people, and many netizens witnessed this horrific scene, some of them frantically asking for help in the live broadcast screen, trying to contact the police or nearby residents to rescue her. However, the live broadcast was shut down only after police confirmed that Ai was no longer alive.
Police were called to the scene and found the victim in an extremely serious condition with multiple stab wounds to the head, neck, chest and abdomen. A male suspect in his 40s was arrested at the scene and a 13 centimeter long bloodstained knife was found on his person. The suspect was arrested at the scene for Attempted Homicide, which may be upgraded to Homicide due to the death of the victim.
Police revealed that the suspect confessed to having a problem with the victim, but are still investigating the true nature of the relationship between the two men and whether there was a deeper conflict.
As the investigation deepened, police discovered that the suspect had repeatedly and publicly complained that the victim owed him money, and that the amount was as much as 1 million yen.
According to netizens, the suspect had been a longtime fan of Maximum Love, and in the past had repeatedly rewarded her with lessons in the live stream, and even had personal contact with her. However, the suspect was dissatisfied with the delay in returning the money he lent, and even accused Ai of deliberately blocking him from responding, which eventually led to resentment.
A person familiar with the suspect revealed that the suspect had once confided in other live broadcasters that if she did not pay back the money, I would kill her, and even said in one of his live broadcast messages that it would be better to finish her off rather than letting me suffer so much.
Because of the incident was still live, resulting in a large number of viewers witnessed the bloody attack, some users even recorded video and circulated on social media platforms. Japanese police and live-streaming platforms are urgently appealing for a halt to the distribution of the footage to protect the privacy of the victims’ families and to avoid a psychological impact on society.
In addition, the incident also triggered a deep reflection on the safety of the live broadcast industry. In recent years, with the rise of outdoor live streaming, the safety of live streamers has become a growing concern, especially for female live streamers, who often encounter malicious harassment, tailing and even stalker threats.
After this incident came to light, fans have expressed their shock and grief on social media platforms
Experts have called for stronger legal regulation of online harassment and money disputes in Japan in the future, and for more measures to be taken by live streaming platforms.
END
Leave a Reply