An alleged assassin's Japanese fantasies

The suspect's time in Japan reveals many things about his worldview.

The suspect’s Twitter banner.

There’s something about the concept of Japan that seems to stir the passions of techies. Examples abound, from Steve Jobs using woodblock prints to accentuate the sophistication of the first Mac, to OpenAI leaning into Tokyo fantasies to blunt concerns over its products. Note I said concept. The reality of Japan, the history of the nation or the lived experience of Japanese people, is often entirely secondary to the value of Japan as a mirror for Western fears and dreams.

And now we have another example: the young man suspected of gunning down a healthcare company executive on a Manhattan street earlier this month. News of his capture sent reporters and netizens on a hunt through his social media accounts. Through them they learned that the accused, just twenty-six years old, was a high school valedictorian who went on to earn multiple degrees in computer science from an elite university and interned at a major video-game company. He seems to have excelled in his studies and been surrounded by friends. But something, obviously, went very wrong.

His Twitter feed is particularly revealing. Its banner features a selfie showing off his muscled chest, an X-ray of back surgery, and an image of a Pokémon. The juxtaposition of a projection of masculinity, excruciating pain, and nostalgia for childhood paints a portrait of physical and emotional struggle. It is echoed in the confusing mishmash of content he posted and retweeted: the musings of self-improvement gurus, religious commentary, and critiques of technology’s impact on mental health and society.

Given that he seems to have left an enthusiastic three-star review for the Unabomber’s manifesto on Goodreads, this shouldn’t surprise. What does, is a Twitter post from last April. The suspect weighed in discussion of Japan’s falling birth rates, declaring that the “modern Japanese urban environment is an evolutionary mismatch for the human animal.”

Japan’s declining birth rates are nothing new. They have been dropping steadily since 1973. Every generation reacts to reports about them with renewed shock, but now we have social media to supercharge the hot takes. After a Christian alt-news outlet posted a story on the topic early in 2024, Elon Musk supercharged it with a retweet that “Japan will disappear if something doesn’t change.” Few if any who contributed responses displayed much knowledge or interest in the country. Instead, the story functioned as a convenient cover for demonizing immigrants and advocating against reproductive choice, before the 2024 election unleashed those sentiments into the mainstream of American discourse, and cover was no longer needed.

The suspect’s post is a rare exception, as it appears to have been written following a Spring 2024 visit to Japan. But the detail into which it goes about sex toy brands, bargain retailers, cheap restaurants, video gaming, and maid cafes speaks more to how he spent his time in-country than it does Japanese culture. It is very easy to visit Japan and not see any of these things, so he must have sought them out.

His points closely echo common refrains in the “manosphere” — an online community of frustrated young men, whose worldviews are framed by tech-induced loneliness, economic precarity, and cultural disempowerment. As they struggle to forge meaningful friendships, find romantic partners, or launch fulfilling careers, many find themselves sucked in by the siren songs of social-media influencers, video games, and porn. Some try to better themselves through fitness and spiritual self-improvement regimens. More than a few come to advocate for traditional values and roles that might put them back at the top of society’s totem pole.

These themes are laid bare in the suspect’s comments about Japan, which reveal more about him than they do the country. Maid cafes are not places where lonely salarymen go; they are tourist traps. And anyone who thinks traditional culture needs “revitalizing” obviously did not spend much time interacting with actual Japanese people. Something like three million study karate, according to surveys. There are so many Shinto shrines that they actually outnumber convenience stores. And there are close to thirty thousand onsen hot-spring spas in Japan.

But onsen are best visited in groups, and he seems to have been entirely on his own. What appears to be a photo of the shooter in Japan shows him at a bar, drinking with strangers who have taken in a lonely traveler. Despite this kindness, he described Japan as “NPC-ville” in a message to a friend: “non-player characters,” slang borrowed from video games, for those who go through life in mindless patterns.

When the suspect was on the run, many took glee in lionizing his act of violence and heaping scorn on his victim. Americans may be divided in politics but seem united in their hatred of the American healthcare-insurance system, so it’s no surprise that the crime took on a Robin Hood-esque air online. Now that the shooter’s identity and political inclinations have been revealed, and the fantasy is coalescing into hard reality, the support seems to be cooling. Which is a good thing, because the last thing American society needs is a viral fad for vigilante justice.

Given the age of the suspect, 26, I would have been more surprised if he hadn’t had some kind of affinity for Japan. Manga, anime, and game fantasies are woven deeply into the fabric of life for children around the globe, which explains why we have an (accused) assassin with a Pokémon in his social-media profile. He loved Japan enough to go and visit all on his own. But as his posts show, it is more than possible to go to another country and still fail to shake off your cultural blinders.

We still do not know what drove the suspect to commit such a radical act. His interest in Japan appears entirely unconnected to the murder. But his writings about the country speak deeply to his worldview and mental state. He deeply misunderstood Japan, even as he stood in the midst of that society, even as he was welcomed by its citizens. It makes me wonder what else he misunderstood.