Disabled Actors Star in ‘Sagamihara Massacre’ Inspired Film ‘Moon’

Extract from The Asahi Shimbun

October 22 2023

TOKYO – The Sagamihara stabbings were committed on 26 July 2016 in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture. Nineteen people were killed and twenty-six others were injured, thirteen severely, at a care home for disabled people. The crimes were committed by a then 26-year-old man, identified as Satoshi Uematsu a former employee of the care facility. Uematsu surrendered at a nearby police station with a bag of knives and was subsequently arrested.

The movie “Moon,” modeled on the incident, has opened nationwide.

In the film, disabled people play the roles of disabled people.

The reason they decided to appear in the film was because they felt “angry.”

The film is based on the novel of the same title written by Yo Henmi, inspired by the Sagamihara incident.

The film is set in a facility for the severely disabled, where the disabled are repeatedly subjected to heartless treatment and violence. The story depicts an employee with an irrationally amplified sense of justice and mission as he approaches the incident.

In June of last year, the users of “AGALA” (Arita City, Wakayama Prefecture), a facility that supports the employment of people with disabilities, were offered the chance to appear in a movie. It was through an acquaintance of Morihiro Uenoyama, 47, the head of the facility.

Initially, Uenoyama hesitated, saying:

“In the first place, I myself had not fully accepted the incident”. He thought, “It is too early to look back on it in a movie.”