A stunned Japan, its myth of safety in tatters, was searching for answers today to the brutal slaying of eight school children by a former janitor with a history of mental illness and an apparent death wish.
Thirteen students and two teachers were also wounded when the former mental patient calmly walked through the open front gates of the prestigious elementary school at mid-morning yesterday, entered the classroom and began stabbing children at random.
It was the nation's worst mass-killing since the 1995 nerve gas attack on Tokyo subways by the Aum Shinrikyo (Aum Supreme Truth) cult, which left 12 dead and thousands ill.
Japan has been hit by a rise in high-profile violent crimes, many committed by teenagers, as well as an increase in incidents in which students' safety has been threatened when strangers easily gained access to school premises.
Friday's victims - seven girls and one boy - were mainly seven and eight-year-old pupils at the school in Ikeda, a suburb of the western city of Osaka, Japan's second largest metropolitan area.
The 37-year-old alleged assailant is being held in police custody.
This evening, the first wakes were held for the young victims ahead of funerals to take place tomorrow.