On 3 May 2000, a bus hijacking occurred in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The 17-year-old perpetrator held 21 people hostage with a knife and forced the bus to drive 300 kilometres through northern Kyushu and southern Honshu. Inside the bus, the hijacker stabbed three women, one of whom later died at a hospital, with two more people injured when they jumped from the moving vehicle. After five hours, the bus was stopped near Hiroshima and following an eleven-hour stand-off, the perpetrator was arrested when police stormed the bus. The perpetrator was not criminally charged and spent six years at a juvenile reform facility.

Names

A common name for the hijacking is . Less frequently used names include After threatening the bus driver and putting a chef's knife to the man's throat, the perpetrator turned to the passengers and reportedly exclaimed "You are not going to Tenjin. You are going to hell." He ordered the curtains to be drawn and passengers to sit in the back. The hijacking was not reported until 2:47 p.m., when a 40-year-old woman, who was released to use the restroom in Moji-ku, used a highway phone to call Japan Highway Public Corporation.

At 17:50, the perpetrator forced the bus to stop outside of a police-blocked tunnel near Higashihiroshima, releasing four male passengers, leaving only the female passengers aboard. Police vehicles took 40 minutes to force the bus to drive further to the Okuya parking lot and once stopped there, a 34-year-old passenger escaped the bus through a window. An hour later, the perpetrator released two women with heavy stab wounds to the neck. One of them, 68-year-old , later died of her injuries.

After two hours of negotiations, police agreed to let the bus drive to Tokyo per the hijacker's demands, with a police car guiding at the front. At 22:02, the bus stopped at a service station in Higashihiroshima, where food and drink were provided. At 22:34, a 72-year-old hostage, also with neck injuries, was released. Just after midnight of 4 May, Saga City Police confirm the identity of the perpetrator, calling his parents to participate in negotiations. With the release of a 52-year-old woman the following hour, nine more passengers and the bus driver were still with the hijacker. Smoke bombs were deployed, with one officer injured by broken glass.

Aftermath

The teenager was arrested under the Firearm and Sword Control Law and the Law for the Punishment of Extortion Involving Hostage-Taking. He refused to give a motive for the hijacking, although it was noted that he had previously spent time at a psychiatric institution, where doctors attested only to "character problems" and no mental illness. He was nevertheless involuntarily committed after making death threats and purchasing a knife online. He had been out of the hospital on temporary release due to the Golden Week holidays. During the trial, the perpetrator claimed "his other self" had told him to kill the other passengers. It was also found that he had developed an interest in the 1997 Kobe child murders and used the nickname "cat killer" as a reference to the murders. Amidst other high-profile crimes perpetrated by adolescents, a revision of juvenile law was enacted on 28 November 2000, lowering the age for criminal punishment from 16 to 14, becoming effective on 1 April 2001.

In 2006, the suspect was officially released from a medical reformatory facility. This action led to calls to reform the Juvenile Act, which had been law since 1948.

Copycat crimes

A poster named "Neoūroncha" (ネオ烏龍茶; ) attempted to imitate "Neomugicha" by plotting to blow up the Odakyu Electric Railway in Japan and posting warnings about it on 2channel. Soon after the incident, however, the Japanese police were keeping a close eye on 2channel, so he was identified and arrested before his plan could be carried out. A poster called "Neobīru" (ネオビール; ) also attempted to imitate the incident, planning a terrorist attack on a railway company, but he was also arrested.

The incident was referenced within the 2015 anime series Punch Line. The hijacking of a civilian bus, which is being streamed to the internet, is considered to be "the Neomugicha incident all over again" by people within the show.

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • Neomugicha's thread