Nico Nico Douga is one of Japan's most popular video sites. Users broadcast livefeeds of everything from gaming events, underage dancing, to stupidity. But what went down last night in Tokyo's Shibuya during a "Nico Live" event was terrifying.
Named after the famous New York City landmark, Shibuya's Chelsea Hotel is not a hotel, but a concert venue. On August 31, the venue was playing host to a free Nico Nico Karaoke event.
At around 8:45pm, 23 year-old Satoshi Shimano entered the Chelsea Hotel, carrying a gasoline type liquid. Shimano began spraying it around the basement club, apparently saying, "I'm going to kill you!"
Later, Shimano told the police, "I was going to burn them to death."
Other reports describe Shimano unleashing tear gas. One 17-year-old club goer recalled the entire basement going white.
The forty or so club patrons panicked, and staff stopped Shimano before he could light the gasoline ablaze. The event played out in real time, with club goers tweeting pictures and describing what happened, with some believing it was a terrorist attack.
(@ysol01 | TwitPic)
No one was seriously injured, but several club goers felt ill due to the fumes and were rushed to the hospital.
Shimano, an Osaka native, is the same Satoshi Shimano who hit a random four-year-old in the head with a hammer back in 2005, telling police, "I wanted to kill someone. It didn't matter who, except for old people." At that time, Shimano was a minor.
The whole episode brings back horrible memories of the 2008 Akihabara Massacre.
Japan is one of the safest countries in the world. Things like this man, who has obvious mental problem, not being rehabilitated to enter society give me pause. The Tokyo Game Show is only weeks away, and it's sometimes easy for visitors to forget that, yes, Japan has its fair share of craziest—and shit can get scary quick.
Earlier this summer, Nico Nico Douga opened its own club, an updated version of the legendary Velfarre.
Culture Smash is a daily dose of things topical, interesting and sometimes even awesome—game related and beyond.
(Top photo: @0iei0 | TwitPic)
You can contact Brian Ashcraft, the author of this post, at bashcraft@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.