Japan'S Schools Under Fire As Teenager Admits Killing

Such trust in the safety of what Japanese critics have dubbed the nanny state'' was shattered, however, in late May, when residents in the port city of Kobe discovered the severed and mutiliated head of Jun Hase, mentally-retarded 11-year-old boy, at the gates of a junior high school.

A crudely-penned note stuffed in the mouth of the decapitated head warned this was the beginning of a game'' that would claim more victims.

In the weeks leading up to the murder, mangled corpses of birds and cats, including new-born kittens, had been appearing in the vicinity.

In February and March, other young children in the area had been brutally attacked. One girl died after being hit about the head with a large metal mallet, while the other was in hospital in a critical condition after being slashed with a knife.

 

Last weekend, the public's fear of a suspected serial killer, male and aged 30 to 40, turned into unadulterated horror and national angst when a 14-year-old boy was arrested and charged with the killing.

The boy, who attended the school where the the head was left, reportedly told police he had longed for the sensation of beheading someone.

He and his two brothers had often played with Jun, whose grandfather lived nearby. The boy allegedly lured Jun to a remote hill, strangled him, mutilated the body and sawed off his head. He then took the head home in a bag and sneaked out at dawn the next morning to deposit the head at the school gates.

Interviews with neighbours and the boy's classmates described the killer as an unobtrusive and quiet student'', the oldest of three children in an ordinary family'', who often helped neighbours and lent video games to other children. But the picture which has slowly emerged from the boy's confessions and police investigations is of a deeply disturbed and violent young mind.

More disturbing, however, is the damning indictment it has delivered of Japan's notoriously high-pressure school system, and the alienation it generates in those who cannot conform with its rigid structures.

Investigators found ultra-violent videos, or splatter'' movies, in the boy's bedroom, as well as books about Adolf Hitler and macabre crimes including the Zodiac killings in San Francisco several decades ago.

They also found blood-spattered implements, including a long knife used to mutilate Jun's corpse. It is not known how much the boy's parents knew of their son's interests. The killer, who remains anonymous, was deeply frustrated with the school system. He was quiet in class, with moderate grades, according to teachers. But he became more rebellious in the past year and prone to occasional violence, often bullying other children including his young victim. After he punched a girl in class, a teacher scolded him and told him not to come to school any more.

Classmates said the boy was vowed to take revenge'' on the school. He took to carrying a knife and showing it off to other students. He reportedly confessed to carrying out the previous attacks in February and March, and told investigators he wanted to attack someone with a metal implement after seeing such scenes in horror movies.

The public response has been a mixture of shocked disbelief and outrage tinged with guilt. Newspaper editorials and television commentators have lamented the deterioration of moral values and called for review of the entire education system.