oh internet

Nevada-tan, also known as Girl A and The Sasebo Slasher was an eleven year old Japanese schoolgirl who murdered her 12 year old classmate because she was mean to her on the internet. A /b/ meme was spawned, a film release delayed, and the age of criminal responsibility in Japan brought into question because of the events that turned an 11 year old girl into an internet legend.

Summary

Natsumi Tsuji, who came to be known as Nevada-tan, was obsessed with some of the internet's darker recesses, including gore, guro and other violent content. She had created her own website based entirely on a flash game called The Red Room, and spent all of her spare time online. Her victim, Satomi Mitarai, had posted derogatory comments on both the website Nevada-tan created and a social networking site about the content of Natsumi's website, her weight, and her behaviour at school (namely that she was a "goody-goody" or "teacher's pet").

Shortly after these comments were made, on June 1st 2004 during the lunch hour at their school, Natsumi Tsuji attacked and killed the classmate using a box-cutter. She was wearing a University of Nevada sweatshirt at the time, which was drenched in blood when she returned to her classroom and is the basis for the meme which popularized the incident.

Origins

The /b/ meme spawned by the killing portrays Nevada-tan as the mortal enemy of pedobear and a lolicon killer. There are many pieces of fan art on the internet with Nevada-tan themes, some of which portray her in battle with pedobear.

Current status

Natsumi Tsuji was institutionalized on September 15, 2004 and is expected to be released from a secure facility sometime in 2013.

Facts

• In line with strict Japanese legal practice, her name was not released to the media, however a television network showed pictures she had drawn with her full name in Kanji as a signature, giving it away somewhat.

• The sequel to the film Battle Royale had to postpone its release due to the killing, as its focus is on Japanese school children fighting to the death.

• Girl A was originally only sentenced to two years in a reformatory, however the sentence was extended in 2006.

• The University of Nevada reported that after the killings, the sweatshirt worn by the killer became the most popular item in their catalogue and repeatedly sold out.

• The age of criminal responsibility in Japan had been brought down to 14 years old not long before, and this killing caused mass debate over whether it should be lowered further.

Images

Another doll image.
A class picture with both Nevada-tan and her victim.	Nevada-tan dolls. Hand crafted no less.	Lego-tan	Nevada-tan in J-rock style

Related Pages

2channel

Japan

External Links

.

This article is part of a series on people.
You can find additional people here.
Explore our other categories for information on different subjects!