Several other wakes for victims from the attack were held Saturday, media reported, but the number was unknown. The attack was Japan's worst mass killing since a deadly nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subways six years ago, and the latest in a series of fatal slashings in a country that has strict gun laws and has prided itself on a low crime rate. Two other fatal stabbings over the past year and a half have occurred in schoolyards. Friday's attack was especially shocking because Japanese schools pride themselves on their openness to the community. Most are busy on weekends and vacations with students taking part in extracurricular activities, and visits by parents are common.
Few schools post daytime guards.
But after the tragedy, the principal of Ikeda Elementary School wondered whether tighter security would be enough to reassure parents who had seen the blood-splattered classrooms. Even having a guard at the main gate wouldn't be nearly enough for them. Though violence in Japanese schools is not unknown, the need for guards, surveillance cameras and other once-unthinkable security measures is now likely to be debated nationwide. Media commentators worried Saturday that such measures would erode both the family-like atmosphere inside schools and their close links with the community. The attack also forced Japan to consider how authorities should respond to crimes committed by mentally disturbed people.