The , also known as the Nevada-tan murder, was the murder of a 12-year-old Japanese schoolgirl, , by an 11-year-old female classmate named Natsumi Tsuji, referred to as "Girl A" (a common

placeholder name Placeholder names are intentionally overly generic and ambiguous terms referring to things, places, or people, the names of which or of whom do not actually exist; are temporarily forgotten, or are unimportant; or in order to avoid stigmat ...

used for female criminals in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

). The murder occurred on June 1, 2004, at an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

in the city of

Sasebo is a core city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It is the second-largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, after its capital, Nagasaki. , the city had an estimated population of 230,873 in 102,670 households, and a population density of 540 per ...

Nagasaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan, mainly located on the island of Kyūshū, although it also includes a number of islands off Kyūshū's northwest coast - including Tsushima and Iki. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,246,4 ...

. The murderer slit Mitarai's throat and arms with a

box cutter A utility knife is any type of knife used for general manual work purposes.Peterson, Harold L., ''Daggers and Fighting Knives of the Western World'', London: Herbert Jenkins Ltd., , p. 1 Such knives were originally fixed-blade knives with dura ...

. Reactions to the incident included

Internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

s and discussions about lowering the

age of criminal responsibility The age of criminal responsibility is the age below which a child is deemed incapable of having committed a criminal offence. In legal terms, it is referred to as a defence/defense of infancy, which is a form of defense known as an excuse so t ...

in Japan. The killer's name was not released to the press, as per Japanese legal procedures prohibiting the identification of juvenile offenders; the Nagasaki District Legal Affairs Bureau cautioned Internet users against revealing her photos. However, members of the Japanese Internet community

2channel , also known as 2ch, Channel 2, and sometimes retrospectively as 2ch.net, was an anonymous Japanese textboard founded in 1999 by Hiroyuki Nishimura. Described in 2007 as "Japan's most popular online community", the site had a level of influe ...

read a name on a classroom drawing believed to be made by Girl A, and publicized the name on June 18, 2004.

Murder

On June 1, 2004, Girl A murdered her 12-year-old classmate, Satomi Mitarai, after luring her in to an empty classroom during the lunch hour at Okubo Elementary School in

. Girl A had slit Satomi's throat with a box cutter, but Satomi stood up and attempted to resist. Girl A then slashed Satomi's arms, leaving a notably deep cut on her left wrist, and after a short scuffle, Satomi collapsed to the floor. Girl A reportedly watched her bleed out on the floor to ensure her death. Girl A then returned to her classroom, her clothes covered in blood. The girls' teacher, upon seeing Girl A covered in blood, had initially thought she had hurt herself. Checking her arms and hands for wounds, seeing that she was unharmed, she demanded for an answer. Girl A allegedly said "It's not my blood. It's not me." Her teacher then stumbled upon the body and called the police. After being taken into custody, Girl A was reported to have confessed to the crime, saying "I am sorry, I am sorry" to police officers. She spent the night at the police station, often crying, and refusing to eat or drink. Girl A initially mentioned no motive for the killing. Shortly afterward, she confessed to police that she and Mitarai used to be close friends, but their relationship soured and eventually ended as a result of messages left on the now deactivated chat room site Cafesta. Girl A claimed that Mitarai slandered her by commenting on her weight and calling her a "goody-goody". On September 15, 2004, a Japanese Family Court ruled to

institutionalize In sociology, institutionalisation (or institutionalization) is the process of embedding some conception (for example a belief, norm, social role, particular value or mode of behavior) within an organization, social system, or society as a wh ...

Girl A, putting aside her young age because of the severity of the crime. She was sent to a reformatory facility in

Tochigi Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,897,649 (1 June 2023) and has a geographic area of 6,408 Square kilometre, km2 (2,474 Square mile, sq mi ...

. The Nagasaki family court originally sentenced Girl A to two years of involuntary commitment, but the sentence was extended by two years in September 2006, following a

psychological evaluation Psychological evaluation is a method to assess an individual's behavior, personality, cognitive abilities, and several other domains. A common reason for a psychological evaluation is to identify psychological factors that may be inhibiting ''a p ...

. On May 29, 2008, local authorities announced that they did not seek an additional sentence. Because of her issues with communication and obsessive interests, Girl A was diagnosed after the murder with

Asperger syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's syndrome or Asperger's, is a diagnostic label that has historically been used to describe a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and no ...

Reaction

The killing provoked a debate in Japan whether the

, lowered from 16 to 14 in 2000 due to the 1997

Kobe child murders The occurred in Suma, Kobe, Japan, on March 16 and May 27, 1997. Two victims, , aged 10, and , aged 11, were murdered by a 14-year-old boy reportedly named , under the alias . Azuma was arrested on June28, 1997, in connection with the Hase mur ...

, needed to be lowered again. Girl A was considered to be a normal and well-adjusted child before the incident, which made the public more anxious. During a broadcast on the case by

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

, Girl A's drawings were being displayed on screen, as it was reported that Girl A wanted to become an

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

or a

manga artist A manga artist, also known as a mangaka (), is a Cartoonist, comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist before entering the indus ...

. Her signature, however, was shown on one of her drawings, leaking her name to be Natsumi Tsuji (辻菜摘) ''Tsuji Natsumi''. This led Fuji Television to be heavily criticized for failing to censor the signature. Members of the

Japanese Diet , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

, such as Kiichi Inoue and

Sadakazu Tanigaki is a Japanese politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1983 to 2017, as Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2006, as President of the Liberal Democratic Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2009 to 2012, as Minis ...

, also came under criticism for comments made in the wake of the killing. Inoue was criticized for referring to Girl A as ''genki'' (vigorous, lively), a word with positive connotations. Tanigaki was criticized for referring to the method of killing, slitting of the throat, as a "manly" act. Girl A became the subject of an

on Japanese web communities such as

. She was nicknamed "Nevada-tan" because a class photograph showed a young girl believed to be her wearing a

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is the state's flagship public university and prim ...

sweatshirt, with being a childlike pronunciation of the

Japanese honorific The Japanese language makes use of a system of honorific speech, called , which includes honorific suffixes and prefixes when talking to, or referring to others in a conversation. Suffixes are often gender-specific at the end of names, while ...

suffix , generally used to refer to young girls.

Akio Mori is a Japanese physiologist, sports scientist and writer. He is also the founder and the former head of the Japanese learned society . Mori was originally known for his physiology researches, but began to write books about human neuroscience, ...

cited this case in support of his controversial " game brain" theory, which has been criticized as

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...

. Girl A was reported to be a fan of the death-themed

flash animation Adobe Flash animation (formerly Macromedia Flash animation and FutureSplash animation) is an animation that is created with the Adobe Animate (formerly Flash Professional) platform or similar animation software and often distributed in the SW ...

" Red Room", a claim used in support of the theory. It was also known that Girl A had read the controversial novel ''

Battle Royale Battle Royale may refer to: * Battle royale, or battle royal, a fight among many combatants ** Battle royal (professional wrestling) Fiction and literature * Battle royale genre, a narrative genre of films, manga, anime and visual novels inspire ...

'' and had seen its

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

, which centers on young students fighting to the death. On March 18, 2005, during the Okubo Elementary

graduation A graduation is the awarding of a diploma by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it, which can also be called Commencement speech, commencement, Congregation (university), congregation, Convocat ...

ceremony, students were given a graduation album with a blank page in honor of Mitarai's death on which they could put pictures of Mitarai, Girl A, or class pictures containing both girls. Mitarai was posthumously awarded a graduation certificate, which her father accepted on her behalf. Girl A was also awarded a certificate, as one is required in Japan in order to enter a

junior high school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes ...

and the school believed it would aid her "reintegration into society".

References

External links

"Japan schoolgirl killer 'sorry
–

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, June 3, 2004
"現代リスクの基礎知識第62回〜長崎佐世保女児同級生殺害事件"
–

Nikkei Business Publications , commonly known as , is a book and magazine publisher based in Tokyo, Japan. The company was established as , a joint venture of Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) and McGraw-Hill in 1969, and it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Nikkei in 1988. N ...

June 10, 2004 article on the murder {{Authority control 2004 murders in Japan Murder committed by minors Sasebo June 2004 in Japan Incidents of violence against girls Child murder in Japan

Murder

Reaction

See also

References

External links