We are witnessing shocking incidents these days that point to a deterioration of Japan's society.

A former worker at a care home for people with disabilities in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, allegedly attacked the facility in late July, killing 19 residents and injuring 26 others. The suspect is undergoing psychiatric evaluation of his mental competency, and it's not clear at this point whether he can be held criminally liable. But months before the alleged crime, he had sent a letter addressed to the speaker of the Lower House to the effect that people with heavy disabilities are a burden on society and that they had better be put to mercy killing. The suspect appears to have been driven by beliefs in eugenics just like the Nazis.

Recently a blog post by a TV news anchorman — in which he insisted that the public health insurance system should be dismantled, that kidney disease patients undergoing dialysis should pay for the full expense of the treatment because they became ill due to their own actions and that patients who cannot cover the expense themselves should be left to die — stirred up major repercussions. But despite the widespread criticism, he has yet to retract his remarks and the TV broadcaster employing him does not plan to remove him from his program.