On May 21, 2016, Mayu Tomita, a 20-year-old Japanese singer and actress, was stabbed in the neck and chest area multiple times by 27-year-old fan Tomohiro Iwazaki for returning gifts that he had sent her. Prior to the attack, he had sent her multiple death threats over social media. As a result of the stabbing, anti-stalking laws in Japan were revised to include online threats to better protect victims.
Attack
Iwazaki, a fan of Tomita, had sent multiple "obsessive comments" to her blog and Twitter account. He reportedly sent her some books and a watch. The watch was sent between January and February 2016, and it was returned to the sender in April, after which he sent her around 400 hostile tweets. 12 days before the attack, Tomita had contacted the police at the station near her home in Musashino, Tokyo out of fear for her safety, but the police dismissed the case, believing his social media messages were not an immediate threat. On May 21, 2016, around 5:05 PM JST, Iwazaki confronted Tomita in front of a small concert venue near a train station before an event titled Solid Girls Night Vol. 11 in Koganei, Tokyo, where she was performing later that evening with other singers. Iwazaki had asked her why she returned the gifts he sent her, but stated that he "lost control" when Tomita did not give him a clear explanation. When Tomita turned around, he stabbed her from behind in chest and neck area 61 times with a pocket knife containing a 8.2 cm blade. Prosecutors alleged that he had yelled, "You should die, die, die!" as he stabbed her. Eyewitnesses called the police after hearing Tomita scream for help, and Iwazaki was arrested. Iwazaki told the police that he "intended to kill" Tomita and had prepared a knife beforehand. When Tomita had called the police before being stabbed, the emergency dispatcher had sent the police to her home instead of tracing the location of her cell phone. Tomita was in critical condition but sustained no damage on her vital organs, and she regained consciousness on June 7, 2016. Tomita suffered from 34 stab wounds on her face, neck, back, and arms. She was also partially blinded in her left eye and had problems eating and singing. In addition, Tomita could not use her fingers and it is unknown when she can continue her music career. Tomita also suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. She was released from the hospital in September 2016. On December 17, 2016, Tomita criticized the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department for dismissing her initial concerns. The police issued a formal apology to Tomita for not taking action.
Victim
Mayu Tomita is a Japanese singer and actress. In 2011, she starred in Fuji TV's web drama Secret Girls, featuring a group of middle school girls who lead a double life as members of an in-show Japanese idolgirl group of the same name. Tomita was cast as Ai "Eye" Takano and performed as the character along with the rest of Secret Girls at music events. Their self-titled single, "Secret Girls", was released on March 21, 2012 and charted at #22 on Oricon's Weekly Singles Chart. She also made minor appearances in other films and television shows, such as Kamen Rider Fourze. At the time of the attack, Tomita was also a college student.
Perpetrator
Tomohiro Iwazaki was 27 years old at the time of stabbing. Iwazaki's older brother described him as "unskilled in expressing his emotions" but had a "gentle, child-like nature." He also mentioned that Iwazaki did not have many known friends. Iwazaki had been a fan of Tomita after watching her shows and had expressed a desire to marry her.
Trial
2017 trial
Trials began on February 20, 2017. On the first day of trial, prosecutors read a note from Tomita to the court reading, "I want the criminal to die. If you cannot do that, I want him to be locked up for the rest of his life." Iwazaki plead guilty, but his defense team claimed that he had only attacked Tomita out of frustration of her ignoring him, and that he had no intent to kill. Furthermore, they claimed that Iwazaki had tried to contact the police after Tomita was stabbed. Tomita's mother testified on February 21. On February 23, Tomita made her first public appearance since the stabbing and spoke from behind a partition that shielded her from the people in the courtroom. In response to her testimony, Iwazaki shouted, "Then you should kill me", and, "I wasn't actually going to kill you", which caused him to be removed from the room. Public prosecutors had proposed Iwazaki to be sentenced to prison for 17 years. On February 28, the court instead sentenced Iwazaki to 14 years and 6 months in prison.
2019 lawsuit
On July 11, 2019, Tomita launched a lawsuit against the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, her former agent, and Iwazaki, seeking in damages for failing to provide adequate protection prior to the stabbing.
Impact
Tomita's stabbing has led the National Diet to revise their anti-stalking laws in December 2016 to include online harassment, which led to the arrest of 32-year-old Akihiro Fukushima for sending death threats to Nana Mizuki over Twitter. Along with the 2014 incident where AKB48 members were attacked by a man with a saw during their handshake meeting, Tomita's stabbing has been frequently used as an example of stalker-related assaults on Japanese idols. In 2017, animation director Yutaka Yamamoto condemned Iwazaki on his blog, but he also believed Tomita was at fault for rejecting his gifts and should have been prepared to fight back. After receiving backlash for his comments, Yamamoto responded to the criticism by mentioning there was a double standard in the public, where they would care more about a "cute idol" than a "dirty middle-aged man."
