How's it going, America,
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Let's get into it:
Airi Sato was a Japanese livestreamer who was stabbed to death as she livestreamed to 6,000 viewers. Her killer, Kenichi Takano, was just sentenced to 16 years in prison though prosecutors had asked for 20. Sato was 22, Takano was 44 when he stabbed her multiple times in the chest and face. She had 55 stab wounds when she died.
Sato was a streamer on the Japanese Who Watch platform under the name Ai Mogami who took a personal approach, talking to viewers directly on IRL streams, making viewers feel like they were part of each other's lives. She streamed herself running errands and just going about her daily life.
Takano didn't know her personally when he started watching her livestream in 2021 and sent her over $14,000 of donations. He tuned in every day, to the point where his neighbors heard his laughter mixed with a woman's voice through the wall. He also said that he lent her money, over 2.5 million yen which he later tried to recover in a failed civil suit.
He went to the gentleman's bar where she was a hostess and spent money there, too. In other words, he was obsessed with this woman. He believed that the money he spent on this woman, this woman who was essentially a stranger, entitled him to something more.
And she encouraged it, asking him for money to help her or members of her family get out of tough spots. The two spoke in chat, and even as she promised to pay him back and didn't, he kept sending money. He couldn't drag himself away, believing there was something more between them than that he was just an easy mark.
Sato's own life was a bit of a mess, her mother reportedly was a mooch and she was raising a young daughter on her own, though accounts say that she would leave the child at day care while she went out partying after work. The child was eventually taken by protective services.
When Takano didn't get whatever he was looking for from her, including the payback of the millions, he became resentful, he felt that he had been taken for a fool, and he tracked her down via livestream, arriving at the Takadanobaba district of Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward where she was broadcasting. 6,000 people were watching as she began to scream and as Takano ripped into her body with a knife.
Even after she was down, her body covered in blood, he could be heard to say "she still moves" as he kicked her corpse in the head. "Is she dead?" He could be heard asking. Presiding Judge Shunichi said the killing was "a cruel crime that caused enormous suffering" to Sato.
We all crave connection so badly that we even will open our hearts to something fake, to streamers who don't love us, to AI who has no love at all no matter how much we project our love upon it. This case shows us how much we need to turn off the fakery and embrace real life.
I spoke to Lara Trump this week about the Tyler Robinson trial and more, you can watch it all here.
Libby