DISCLAIMER : If you're under the age of 13 or if you're sensetive to murder, suicide, and scary stuff, I suggest you don't read this for your own safety. Credit to Wikipedia and The YouTuber, Horror Stories for the information. Enjoy.

Tomohiro Kato was a Japanese Mass Murderer who lived a life of trouble, negativity, and he left a terrifying legacy that will never fade away. This is The Story Of Tomohiro Kato.

Tomohiro Kato was born on September 28th 1982 and grew up in a suburban home in Aomori, Amori, Japan where his father worked as a top manager in one of the city's  financial institutions. Kato had a nice life growing up. His grades in elementary school were decent and he was a top track athlete. He graduated to The Tsukuda Junior High School in 1995 where he became the president of the school's tennis club. Unfortunately, even though Kato seemed like a good human being with a good life, no one could've expected or prepared for the extremely dark turn his life would take later on...

Despite Kato's success in his early years in life, he started to behave violently at home after enrolling at an elite high School named Aomori High School. During his time there, his class academic ranking fell to 300  out of the school's 360 students and he failed entrance examinations for the prestigious Hokkaido University, so he eventually started training as an auto mechanic at Nakanihon Automotive College. Kato was hired as a temporary worker at an auto parts factory in central Shizuoka Prefecture.

Kato also did not get along well with his parents and Kato complained heavily about his upbringing online numerous times. Kato's brother revealed that their parents put immense pressure on both of them to perform and to excel in their studies and ordered them to redo their homework to high standards in order to impress teachers in school, and recalled one incident when his parents forced Kato to eat scraps of food from the floor. One of Kato's neighbors claimed one time, Kato's parents forced him to stand outside for hours in deep, cold snow during winter. Deeply in debt and believing that his family had given up on him, Kato unsuccessfully attempted suicide in 2006 at the age of 23 by ramming his car into a wall. On June 5th 2008, Kato accused his fellow employers at his workplace of hiding his work clothes and left the premises immediately afterwards as he believed he was going to lose his job, although he wasn't.

Tomohiro Kato's life was quickly starting to fall apart in his 20's and his trouble was getting the better of him, but no one could've expected the extreme and horrific lengths he was about to go to...

On this day, 14 years ago, at 12:33 PM on the afternoon of Sunday, June 8th 2008, hundreds of people gathered around The Akihabara Chiyoda District in the city of Tokyo, Japan. Akihabara is a district famous for having many electronic shops ranging from small booths to business run stores. Ever since the 2000's, the district has become popular with Anime fans and Manga fans due to its large number of stores and Maiden Manga cafes with a lot of Anime and Manga merchandise and food. Sunday's are the busiest days of the week for Akihabara since hundreds of people attend to the area with vehicle traffic from 1,300 to 1,800 hours and the streets and stores are flooded with people browsing the area. Everybody was expecting this day to be just like every other fun day where they come to celebrate their beloved Anime and Manga. Unfortunately, what would happen on this day would be an event so terrifying and unbelievable, that it would leave Japan in an entire state of shock...

That day, 25 year old Tomohiro Kato's anger at life and society reached its maximum limit and he could no longer contain his sanity anymore. Thinking life and society had nothing left for him anymore, he started planning a way to get back at them. On that day, Tomohiro Kato posted messages from his mobile phone to a website called "Extreme Exchange, Revised", revealing sick plans through his final message at 12:13 PM that afternoon. The messages he sent were : "I will kill people in Akihabara." "If only I had a girlfriend, I wouldn't have quit work and would never have become addicted to my mobile phone. Anybody with hope couldn't possibly understand how I feel." and, "I don't have a single friend and I won't in the future. I'll be ignored because I'm ugly. I'm lower than trash because at least the trash gets recycled.". He also referred to The Tsuchiura Stabbing Spree that happened less than 3 months earlier. Kato also revealed that he planned to use a vehicle to run over as many people as possible until it became inoperable, and then to use a knife to continue the attack on foot.

No one listened to or believed Kato because they thought he was only wanting attention and he didn't have the ability to do something so mindless, but sadly, Kato was not lying about his messages and he sold several of his expensive possessions to have enough money to rent a 2 ton  Isuzu Elf Semi Truck and drove to Akihabara that day. Nobody listened to the final hopeless warning of the nightmare that was about to happen...

On this day, 14 years ago, at 12:33 PM on the afternoon of Sunday, June 8th 2008, hundreds of people gathered around The Akihabara Chiyoda District in the city of Tokyo, Japan. Tomohiro Kato drove his rented 2 ton Isuzu Elf Semi Truck to the area and waited for Chuo-dori to close at noon and as soon as he arrived at the area, he drove through a red light and plowed through a crowd of people at the crossing of Kanda Myojin-dori and Chuo-dori streets in the Akihabara. While Kanda Myojin-dori was open to vehicular traffic, Chuo-dori was closed for the hundreds of shopping pedestrians that day. Kato struck five people with the truck after driving through the red light. Everyone screamed in fear and horror and gathered around to help the injured victims, but Kato was only just getting started. Kato climbed out of the truck and started rapidly stabbing twelve people with a dagger while everyone continued to scream and run for their lives. Horrified Police at the area immediately noticed the attack and chased Kato 170 meters away from the Truck and cornered him in a narrow alley, and a police officer pointed a gun at him. He dropped his knife and was held down by the police 2 minutes after the attack began at 12:35 PM.

Seventeen ambulances rushed to the scene as everyone tried to help the victims. Sadly, five of the victims immediately died at the scene.  Two people died from the attack and three victims died as a result of being hit by the truck while four were fatally stabbed. Six of the seven victims who were killed were men, including 2 19 year old friends, Kazunori Fujino Takahiro Kamaguchi, 31 year old Naoki Miyamoto, 33 year old Mitsuru Matsui, 47 year old Kazuhiro Koiwa, and 74 year old Katsuhiko Nakamura. 21 year old Mai Muto was the only woman killed in the terrifying attack. Muto made an emergency call to police from her mobile phone, but didn't leave any messages. 7 unfortunate victims lost their lives and 10 were injured that horrific day.

Kato erased all contacts and communication records from his mobile phone just prior to the attack. The reason why he erased all of his contact was to avoid annoying those around him. Kato later said that he posted the online messages hoping that police would take notice and stop him. The weapons Kato used in the attack were purchased two days before at a military supply shop in Fukui, Fukui Prefecture at 12:40 PM on June 6th. Kato spent twenty minutes in the store, purchasing a telescopic baton and a pair of leather gloves, conversing with the salesman, and demonstrating stabbing motions. Kato came to Akihabara the day before the attack to sell his personal computer and some software to raise money to rent the truck he would use in the attack.

When everyone questioned Kato as to why he committed such a terrible crime, Kato simply responded saying his motive for the attack was to vent his pent up anger at life and society for turning on him, and to prove to all of his tourmenters such as his parents, employers, and people who harassed him in internet forums that he was a dangerous man and to show the consequences of their actions.

The Akihabara attack made global headlines and sent shock waves across Japan and the rest of the world, especially since violent crimes weren't common in Japan. The event also happened on The 7th Anniversary of The Osaka Ikeda Elementary School Massacre. Because of the attack, The Japanese Government started reviewing laws regulating knives, and The Tokyo Metropolitan Public Safety Commission announced that the 35-year-old practice of closing Chūō-dōri on Sundays and holidays was to be suspended until safety measures were reviewed. However, the practice of closing traffic on Sundays resumed 3 years later in 2011.

9 days after the massacre on June 17th 2008, convicted serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki was executed by hanging ,which was believed to be a response to Kato's massacre.

The massacre also sparked many conversations in Japanese blogs when it was discovered that two Ustream users had broadcast live video streams of the tragedy, attracting thousands of views. Luckily, no known recording has been saved of the tragic videos, although the event was written about in many Japanese blogs and online IT magazines. The Japanese media labeled the attacks as a growing epidemic of "Kireru", which are acts of rage committed by Tokyo's alienated youth. Others labeled the Otaku culture as the answer for its negative stereotype of compulsive and antisocial behavior.

The video game company Konami canceled three launch events of the video game Metal Gear Solid 4 : Guns Of The Patriots in Tokyo, with the "Safety of participants in mind" as a result of the attack. The Super Sentai Anime series airing at the time of the attack, Engine Sentai Go-onger, featured transforming daggers as part of the heroes' standard personal sidearms, called "Switch Funshaken Rocket Daggers". After the attack, which occurred the day immediately after the daggers made their debut in the series, both Bandai, the company that made toy versions of the weapons, and Toei, the company that produces the TV series, changed their names to "Switch Funshaken Rocket Boosters" and re-designated them as "swords" rather than "daggers" to pay respect for the victims of the attack, and to lessen any trauma in the 6-to-8-year-old audience that the Tokusatsu franchise regularly targets.

Kato's parents gave an apology to the victims in a television interview after the massacre. In 2010, Kato's father resigned from his job and started living in seclusion in Aomori, while his mother was hospitalized for mental health reasons.

In April 2014, Kato's 28-year-old brother committed suicide as he was ashamed and traumatized about the massacre his brother committed.

A makeshift memorial was created by the public. 7 unfortunate victims lost their lives and 10 were injured that horrific day.

But Tomohiro Kato was now in the hands of the government where he wasn't getting any mercy. Kato was arrested and charged for killing his 7 victims, injuring 10 victims, and attempting to kill as many people as he could. Kato's defense attorney argued that he wasn't in the right mind when he committed the massacre due to his abusive childhood and social problems at work and in internet forums which pushed him over the edge. But the prosecution disagreed with Kato's defense attorney since Kato was a sane man mentally competent enough to know what he wanted to do. The Tokyo District Court agreed with Kato's prosecution, especially since his actions were meticulously planned and he drove past the district 3 times before he started his attack. He also hesitated which meant he knew what he wanted to do. Kato was fully aware of what he wanted. day. There was no excuse for his horrible actions and no forgiveness for him.

Nearly 3 years after the massacre on March 24th 2011, Tomohiro Kato was to death by hanging by The Tokyo District Court after it found him fully responsible for the attack. In September 2012, The Tokyo High Court upheld the death penalty on appeal. Over the years, Kato expressed remorse over the massacre, stating that he would like to apologize to those who passed away, the injured and their families. Upon entering a guilty plea, he said he knew he was the culprit, but didn't remember certain parts of the incident. The Supreme Court Of Japan upheld the death penalty nearly 7 years after the massacre on February 2nd 2015. Kato's death sentence was finalized and he spent the last 14 years of his life in prison.

Finally though, on the morning of July 26th 2022, Tomohiro Kato was executed by hanging at The Tokyo Detention House 14 years after he committed the unthinkable act of killing people as a way to get back at life and society.

To this day, 14 years later, The Story Of Tomohiro Kato still continues to haunt the country of Japan and serves as a cruel reminder as to how sadistic life can make you and death could come at any time and any place. A haunting Story that will live on forever...

The end...