As a second-year junior high school student, Kazuaki sat across from Satoshi Uematsu — the man accused of killing 19 people with intellectual disabilities at a care center near Tokyo — through an acrylic partition. That encounter left him with lingering questions, and years later, Kazuaki is still searching for lessons from the bloody case.
The knife attack at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en care center in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, in July 2016 killed 19 people and injured dozens of others. Uematsu, who had worked at the center, was later arrested and prosecuted. During the investigation, he stated that he carried out the attack because he believed people with severe disabilities should not live.
Kazuaki, now an adult, recalls the unease he felt facing Uematsu through the partition during a visit to the center. He said he was shocked by the killer's coldness and words, and that he began to question how society treats people with disabilities and what early warning signs may have been overlooked.
Kazuaki's account is one of the rare voices to have come into direct contact with the perpetrator. He believes the case was not merely an isolated tragedy but a reflection of deeper problems in public awareness and the mental health care system. He hopes the lessons from Sagamihara will help prevent similar attacks in the future while promoting a more inclusive society for people with disabilities.
