Disability Rights Advocate Reflects on Sagamihara Attack 10 Years Later

Writer Yoichi Otake, who has congenital limb absence, marked the 10th anniversary of the Sagamihara attack on July 27, 2026. On July 26, 2016, a former employee killed 45 people at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en facility in Kanagawa Prefecture. Otake’s posts on X grapple with the perpetrator’s ideology that disabled lives lack value, and with his own existence as someone whose parents did not know of his disability before birth.

The attack and its aftermath

The Sagamihara attack occurred on July 26, 2016, when former staff member Satoshi Uematsu killed 45 people at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en, a facility for people with intellectual disabilities. Uematsu was sentenced to death in March 2020, and the sentence became final after his defense team withdrew their appeal. Uematsu believed disabled people had no value and should not live.

Otake’s reflection on judgment and worth

Otake wrote that he has struggled for a decade to process the tragedy and its underlying social issues. He questioned who has the right to judge whether any person has value or should live. He noted that while most people claim everyone has inherent worth, recent social media posts increasingly argue that disabled people should not be born. Otake asked readers directly: “Do you have value as a human being?”

Otake’s own existence and the echo technology question

Otake was born 50 years ago with congenital limb absence. At the time of his birth, ultrasound technology was not advanced enough for his parents to know about his disability before he was born. As an adult, Otake asked his mother whether she would have given birth to him if she had known. She answered with uncertainty. Otake wrote that he might not have been born, and that he cannot judge whether anyone’s life has value.

The contradiction Otake sees in himself

Otake acknowledged a painful contradiction in his own thinking. He despises Uematsu for devaluing disabled lives, yet he felt relief at Uematsu’s death sentence. He wrote that he cannot claim to be fundamentally different from Uematsu in judging human worth, even though he abhors Uematsu’s ideology. Otake expressed frustration that disabled people’s lives were treated as less valuable, and that this judgment troubles him deeply.

Final Thoughts

Otake’s posts mark a decade of unresolved tension between society’s stated values and its actual treatment of disabled people. His reflection raises uncomfortable questions about who decides human worth, with no clear answers.

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