While most of Japan is fixated on various stories associated with the Olympics, I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge that July 26 marks the five-year anniversary of what is now often referred to as the “Sagamihara stabbings.”
In the early hours of July 26, 2016, a former employee of the Tsukui Yamayuri-en care home in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, broke in and killed 19 residents between the ages of 19 and 70 with a knife, injuring 26 others. Later sentenced to death, the killer believed he didn’t deserve such a harsh sentence and that people with disabilities that are unable to communicate can only “create unhappiness in society.”
As someone with cerebral palsy who is living in Japan, this day in particular offers a chance to think about such horrific incidents in a broader sense. And this year, I can't help but notice that one of the topics of conversation overshadowing the anniversary of the massacre is a controversy surrounding Olympics opening ceremony composer Keigo Oyamada, 52, who has admitted to the “extreme bullying” of classmates with disabilities in his past.
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