Shinji Aoba, who was finally arrested on the premises of a hospital located in Kyoto Prefecture on May 27, was transferred to the Fushimi Police Station to start the interrogations. The subject, who received severe burns to most of his body after setting the first building for the Kyoto Animation studios on fire, had to receive medical attention and recover from his injuries in order for the investigation and his future judgment to be carried out, this according with state law. Although his move from the hospital to the detention center had already been planned since February, this was postponed due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, which represents a danger for Aoba himself, according to experts. Finally, the police decided to wait for the national state of emergency to be lifted to transfer him.
However, although the Japanese media was quite interested in obtaining information about Aoba's intentions to carry out the attack on Kyoto Animation, others were interested in knowing how much money was used to save his life. In this regard, an expert in the treatment of burns, Dr. Karibe Junin, from the Department of Dermatology and Plastic Surgery, commented:
"Skin transplants were performed on suspect Aoba. This involved the collection of the material, its enrichment for about a month before its transplantation and, finally, the operation only towards a limited affected area. This is priced at around 300,000 yen (about $ 2,800) just to make a skin panel, and it is estimated that 150 to 250 panels were used for the suspect (resulting in 45 to 75 million yen, or between 420 thousand and 698 thousand dollars). In addition, 50 million yen (about $ 465,000) was required in other procedures, another 50 million yen for payment for hospital services, and 200 million yen (about $ 1.86 million) for other procedures and equipment. doctor used. "
The media reported these expenses as "certainly something that a normal person could not afford, and that originally should have been paid for by him," but the doctor added: "The cost of treatment for Aoba, who receives social assistance, was fully covered by protection costs. Basically, three quarters of these costs were paid by the national government, and the rest by the city of Saitama, of the Saitama Prefecture, where Aoba lived. " This indicates that, certainly, all the money invested in saving his life and being able to prosecute him was paid by the taxes of the Japanese, who did not take long to express their outrage.
