A 36-year-old who injured 10 people after going on a stabbing spree in a Tokyo train has told people he did so because he wanted to kill women who “looked happy”, according to Japanese media reports.
The man, Yusuke Tsushima, had stabbed a university student in her 20s as well as nine others. In total, five women and five men were injured in the attack, which took place near the Seijogakuen station. The university student is in serious condition.
Tsushima told police, "I have been wanting to kill a happy-looking woman for the past six years. Anyone would have been okay," Kyodo News reported.
The man boarded the Shinjuku-bound train with a chef’s knife, scissors, cooking oil and a lighter. There were around 400 passengers on the train, which he attempted to set on fire by spreading cooking oil on the floor of the compartment.
The Metropolitan Police Department quoted him as saying, "I thought I could kill a large number of people as there is no space to flee on a train."
The train’s driver brought it an emergency halt after hearing noises from the carriages.
Tsushima fled the train by jumping onto the track and running away after his attack. He was later apprehended at a convenience store, where he reportedly confessed to being the attacker on the train (Which was then mentioned in the news) and said he was tired of fleeing.
Earlier in the day, the man was suspected of shoplifting at a grocery store.
Violent crimes are relatively rare in Japan, though stabbing incidents have occurred in recent times. In 2019, a group of schoolchildren were attacked while they were waiting for their bus by a knife-wielding man. That year, another man killed 36 after setting the Kytoo Animation Studio on fire.