Award-winning Japanese novelist Bando Masako threw kittens over a cliff. As a result, she might now face prosecution for breaking animal-protection laws in Tahiti, where she lives. In a column she wrote for the Japanese paper Nihon Keizai Shimbun on August 18, the author of horror novels Inugami and Yamahaha expained that she hadn’t spayed her three female pet cats, and after they gave birth she dropped their kittens over a cliff near her home. In the column, she argued that sterilizing adult cats and killing newborn kittens is essentially the same thing. “I chose ‘life’ for the cats I had raised, but chose to kill the kittens in line with my responsibility to society,” she wrote. “Of course I have to take a share in the pain and sadness of killing.” The French penal code, to which residents of Tahiti must adhere, classes killing kittens as a misdemeanor, with a maximum penalty of two years in prison. Possibly, the offender could argue the crime down to a “police offense,” however. As reported by Indymedia, Bando defended her actions in her column: “I’ve been living in Tahiti for eight years. I’ve come to think deeply about ‘life’ including that of animals, and by extension, ‘death.’ ‘Kitten killing’ fits in with this. I expressed my thoughts from the standpoint of what living means for animals.” Thousands of furious calls and emails poured into the Nihon Keizai Shimbun offices. “The French embassy in Japan reportedly was also hindered by inquiries,” Indymedia adds. As tempers are running high this week — Sept. 20-26 is Animal Protection Week in Japan — 48-year-old Bando wrote a defensive followup column, which appeared in the Mainichi newspaper group. In it, she explains that she kills kittens because she is a narcissistic loveless suicidal shell of a human being who likes cats better than people. (Though she does have a soft spot for the scrotum.) Yup. Read for yourself: “I’m not very good with people. I get tense and nervous when I’m around others, and it’s difficult for me to love other human beings. That’s why I keep cats. The love that ordinarily would be directed toward other people is given instead to my pets. This allows me to maintain a world in which there is at least some form of love. It is because of my pets that I’m able to prevent my ‘fountain of love’ from running completely dry. The reason I keep pets, therefore, is purely for self-serving reasons. My cats serve as a mirror for me, for I can see myself through them. When I caress them, I’m caressing myself. And when I took it upon myself to kill newborn kittens, I was essentially killing myself. It was a truly painful and mortifying experience. But unless I do something about the new litter, the kittens will grow up in no time and produce young of their own. The house will become full of cats. I may not be able to feed them all, and the kitchen is sure to become a mess. And yet, I can’t bring myself to get rid of all my cats. People tell me that I should sterilize my cats if I don’t want to be overrun with young kittens…. But this is something I can’t bring myself to do. The scrotum and uterus are the sources of new life. To surgically remove them also means removing life energy and vitality. What if I were forced to undergo a sterilization operation? I may convince myself that this was unavoidable, given my lack of financial assets or ability. But in the bottom of my heart, I know that I don’t want to lose my source of life energy. Another thing that disturbs me about sterilization is that it is something performed on a lesser animal by a higher one. Homosexuals were neutered because they were regarded by Nazi authorities as being inferior humans. Lepers, too, were once sterilized in Japan. If one approves of forced sterilization for animals, one could easily also apply this attitude to other humans. So I harbor suspicions about people who can claim, in good conscience, that pets should be sterilized. The essay I wrote … has been misconstrued in Tahiti as well. The French Polynesian government may prosecute me, but I would ask that they carefully study my actions to determine whether they really constitute cruelty to animals. Without first ascertaining the facts, my prosecution would be tantamount to a suppression of the freedom of speech.” … She invokes everyone’s two favorite self-defense specters: Nazism and freedom of speech. I did it because Nazis were bad and I’m not like them! I’m incapable of breaking laws because I have freedom of speech!
Kitten-killing Novelist Inflames Japan
Posted by Anneli Rufus at 10:23 am, Saturday, September 23, 2006
Frenchie in Japan Says:
January 6th, 2009 at 1:19 amVisit Frenchie in Japan
There’s a slight difference between killing kittens and sterilizing an adult cat, when “kittens” are not bigger than a single cell …
I just don’t see the point in adopting such a poor defense.
Bloggers in Asia Says:
February 18th, 2009 at 1:25 amVisit Bloggers in Asia
It’s pathetic how she can justify these killings. Always murderers need to justify their actions. It’s just as likely she took sadistic pleasure from killing something defenceless.
Given the uproar recently on the internet when Kenny Glen bashed up Dusty the cat in a youtube video, she’s lucky the /b/ crowd haven’t cottoned onto her story.
Cynical Reviewer Says:
February 27th, 2009 at 5:06 amVisit Cynical Reviewer
I hope she gets two years in prison (the maximum penalty). I’m also tired of people justifying such callous actions. It makes it WORSE when they try to do this – like they have no emapthy or remorse, just they are thinking they want to be in a good light to others no matter what they do. These people never grow in life, never learn anything, yet carry an air of superiority about them as if their decisions are always correct. Tangential rant, but humility is not something that’s often practised in her home country of Japan. Not unless the group want you to apologise. That’s what you get in a shame-based society – there’s no inner guilt, just shame if the group decides your actions are shameful.
japanese names Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:01 pmVisit japanese names
People have done worse things and got off with a slap on the wrist. Animal shelters euthanize cats all the time. That being said, it is really quite bad what she did. She could have at the very least put them up for adoption. Very strange she did this actually as the Japanese generally love their pets and take care of them extremely well. I lived in Chiba, Japan for a year and found them to be extremely gentle and humble people.
damien Says:
January 29th, 2011 at 8:40 amVisit damien
Thank you for the impressive post about this kitten killing novelist. It’s pretty sad that this person would even try to justify doing what she did. The kittens could of easily been put up for adoption or given away. I am looking forward to reading more of your website in the future.
Jenna Griego Says:
April 18th, 2011 at 6:14 pmVisit Jenna Griego
this is sickening. there is NO justifying killing helpless animals. and to compare getting her cats fixed to throwing kittens off a cliff leaves me…. speechless. as Damien said, why not just give the kittens away? or even leave them in a box on a street corner!?!? People are bound to help these baby animals.
Mikael Says:
April 19th, 2011 at 12:05 pmVisit Mikael
Lol… I was doing research on people killing kittens and ended up here. Not quite what I was searching for, but thanks anyway
Regards,
Mikael
Margarette Pashia Says:
April 25th, 2011 at 6:40 pmVisit Margarette Pashia
It’s a little surprising that this woman attracted so much outrage. Consider. When you see someone crippled in a wheelchair are you tempted to tip over their chair? Similarly, this woman, if healthy on the inside, would have at least found a painless way to kill the animals. Are we sharing her illness a little bit by paying so much attention to it?
Stacy Says:
May 2nd, 2011 at 9:13 pmVisit Stacy
I don’t understand how she can justify her actions. Killing those kittens is a horrible thing to do. It’s killing living things. How can she compare that to spaying or neutering?
Jennifer Hayes Says:
May 2nd, 2011 at 10:42 pmVisit Jennifer Hayes
What Bando Masako did was, indeed, disgusting!
sandra Says:
May 3rd, 2011 at 9:01 amVisit sandra
Thank you for exposing this violent nature against cats. Cats are intelligent, and innocent creatures who deserve our love and respect.I think that woman has very cruel nature,just like psyco.How can she justify her behaviour? She can get rid of them by sending to any animal welfare organisation.Thanks for your awakening post regarding cats.
Islamic Forex Says:
May 14th, 2011 at 12:00 pmVisit Islamic Forex
Thank you for exposing this violent nature against cats. Cats are intelligent, and innocent creatures who deserve our love and respect.I think that woman has very cruel nature,just like psyco.How can she justify her behaviour? She can get rid of them by sending to any animal welfare organisation.Thanks for your awakening post regarding cats.
May L Says:
May 17th, 2011 at 7:46 pmVisit May L
It is horrifying to hear of what she did. How can she compare neutering cats to killing them like she did? She may not be punished now but I believe that what goes around comes around.
Mads Says:
July 4th, 2011 at 3:47 amVisit Mads
Why didn’t she look for someone who could adopt the cats? Surely that would have been a more humane solution to her “problem”.