36 Facts About Mamoru Takuma

Mamoru Takuma was a Japanese mass murderer who killed eight children in the Ikeda school massacre in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, on 8 June 2001.

Mamoru Takuma stabbed to death eight students and seriously wounded fifteen others at Ikeda Elementary School in a knife attack that lasted several minutes.

Mamoru Takuma was convicted in August 2003 and executed on 14 September 2004.

Mamoru Takuma was born on 23 November 1963 in Itami, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.

From elementary school to junior high, Mamoru Takuma was both a victim and a perpetrator of bullying.

Mamoru Takuma expressed envy and jealousy for the "highly educated and high-income elite" from an early age.

Mamoru Takuma was both physically abused and neglected by his father, whom he contemplated stabbing to death in his sleep.

In February 1979, Mamoru Takuma enrolled in high school in Amagasaki, but dropped out in March 1981.

Mamoru Takuma worked part-time at a gas station for several months until enlisting in the Japan Air Self Defense Force at the end of 1981, at age 18.

However, Mamoru Takuma was discharged in January 1983 for boarding and sleeping with a teenage runaway.

Mamoru Takuma in turn threatened to enlist in the yakuza to "mess up" their lives.

In February 1999, Mamoru Takuma's brother, facing bankruptcy, died by suicide by slashing his neck with a knife.

Mamoru Takuma, who was placed in a closed ward, was dissatisfied with his care.

Mamoru Takuma demanded that his parents pay for his living expenses after release.

Mamoru Takuma's father refused, citing Takuma's lack of remorse, and told him that he would hand over the money he traded in for his personal belongings to disown him.

Mamoru Takuma's coworkers described him as a quiet and unremarkable man, but a bit of a loner who did not like dealing with customers.

Mamoru Takuma testified in a later psychological examination that he caused two fatal car accidents, one when he was a dump truck driver and the other when he was a semi-trailer truck driver.

Mamoru Takuma lied about the cause of the crash and was not indicted on any charges.

Mamoru Takuma found a new job as maintenance man at Itami Elementary School, six kilometers away from Ikeda.

Later that year, Mamoru Takuma was arrested on suspicion of assaulting his ex-wife.

On 3 March 1999, Mamoru Takuma dissolved temazepam, a tranquilizer, into the tea served in the teachers' room, sending four people to the hospital for three days.

In November 1999, Mamoru Takuma was arrested on suspicion of burglary, but the charges were dropped.

Mamoru Takuma managed to get a job as a taxi driver in September 2000, but was fired the following month after he assaulted a hotel bellhop in Osaka, breaking his nose.

In November 2000, Mamoru Takuma got a job as a truck driver at a construction materials company in Ikeda, but was fired a few months later due to problems including a road rage incident.

Mamoru Takuma was kicked out of several apartments for, among other things, throwing his garbage out from the balcony.

On 23 May 2001, Mamoru Takuma voluntarily admitted himself into a psychiatric hospital for depression, but left the next day without treatment.

Mamoru Takuma was arrested for driving his car in reverse gear on the Hanshin Expressway but released after he was found mentally unfit.

On 8 June 2001, the day of his court hearing for the bellhop assault case, Mamoru Takuma went on a murderous rampage at Ikeda Elementary School.

Mamoru Takuma began to attack students and teachers with a kitchen knife until he was wrestled down by staff.

Mamoru Takuma stated he "drank ten times the medicine" immediately after his arrest and a subsequent medical examination was performed on him.

Mamoru Takuma expressed hatred for the affluent children who attended Ikeda Elementary School.

Mamoru Takuma's lawyers argued that he was suffering from temporary insanity at the time of the attack, but the psychiatrist who initially diagnosed him as schizophrenic told the court he later determined that Mamoru Takuma actually had paranoid personality disorder.

On 28 August 2003, Mamoru Takuma was found guilty of multiple counts of murder and sentenced to death.

Mamoru Takuma remained unrepentant, refusing to apologize to the families of the victims, and asked only for the sentence to be fulfilled as fast as possible.

The sentence was carried out unusually quickly by Japanese standards ; Mamoru Takuma was executed at the Osaka Detention House only one year later, on 14 September 2004.

Mamoru Takuma consistently hoped for the death penalty after the incident and was executed at an unusual speed in Japan.