Japan - As mourners grasping Buddhist prayer beads filed silently into wakes on Saturday for several of the eight children killed in Japan's worst mass slaying in years, the nation struggled with questions about how to keep its schools safe. Many of the women buried their faces in handkerchiefs. Thirteen children and two teachers were wounded by a stranger who walked in unmolested and went from classroom to classroom silently slashing at his victims until he was subdued by two teachers 15 minutes later. The 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 Friday s 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 on 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.