Apocalypse now.

These comments on the recent stabbing spree in Akiba make for a rather depressing read. naoya_fujita's comments, especially, struck me as strangely reminiscent of one dystopian film (can't remember the title) where the cities of the world had degenerated into wasteland ghettoes inhabited by the poor, plagued by crime and mired in despair, while the rich sealed themselves inside heavily-guarded, air-conditioned skyscraper compounds. Has that started to become a reality in this world already? Oh dear.
And, on another chord, the incident seems, in some respects, to follow part of a pattern which includes the Aum Shrinkyo's 1995 sarin attacks on the Tokyo subway. A society reputed for order suddenly produces a short but intense and shocking burst of chaos and terror. Maybe it's inevitable. The stresses that aren't allowed to dissipate slowly in a strict and conformist society build up and eventually erupt in rather more spectacular incidents.