2 years after Suzhou Japanese School attack, student safety measures remain strict

(CNA Taipei, June 25) June 24 marks the second anniversary of the attack on the Japanese School in Suzhou, China. According to Kyodo News, while the daily lives of Japanese expatriates in the area have gradually returned to normal, safety measures for students traveling to and from the school remain stringent. In neighboring Shanghai, attacks on Japanese individuals have occurred sporadically over the past two years, and expatriates there still feel a sense of "inability to completely eliminate anxiety."

The report indicates that it is still a daily scene around the Japanese School in Suzhou, with about 10 police officers escorting elementary school students home with their mothers after school, carrying their backpacks. This has been the case for two years.

A mother of one of the students at the school said that at first, she was "surprised by the police following them, but it does make one feel reassured."

Following the attack on the Japanese School in Suzhou on June 24, 2024, Suzhou authorities deployed a large number of police and security personnel at the school entrance and bus stops, while the school continued to assign one security guard to accompany each school bus.

Sources revealed that many Japanese children who were on that school bus at the time have since returned to Japan. Among the Japanese community in Suzhou, the incident is rarely discussed, with some believing that "this matter is being forgotten."

However, the report mentions that a Japanese man living in Shanghai stated that attacks on Japanese individuals have continued to occur over the past two years, making it impossible to "completely eliminate the feeling of anxiety."

He expressed that the psychological trauma left on the children by the Suzhou incident has not yet disappeared, and "safety measures must never be forgotten with time." He recalled the escort, Hu Youping, who lost her life while bravely trying to stop the assailant, saying, "We have not forgotten her selfless act of protecting the children."

On the afternoon of June 24, 2024, Zhou Jiasheng, an unemployed man from Anhui who lived in Suzhou, attacked a Japanese mother and child waiting for a school bus near the Japanese School in Suzhou with a knife. He then boarded the bus and continued his attack, fatally stabbing Hu Youping, who stepped forward to intervene, shocking Japanese society. Zhou was subsequently arrested and sentenced to death by the court on January 23, 2025, and was executed in April of the same year. (Editor: Chiu Kuo-chiang / Chou Yung-chieh-Yung-chieh) 1150625

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