mass stabbing A mass stabbing is a single incident in which multiple victims are harmed or killed in a knife-enabled crime. In such attacks, sharp objects are thrust at the victim, piercing through the skin and harming the victim. Examples of sharp instruments ...

incident occurred 6 August 2021, on a commuter train in the

Odakyu Electric Railway , commonly known as Odakyū, is a major railway company based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for its ''Romancecar'' series of limited express trains from Tokyo to Odawara, Enoshima, Tama New Town, and Hakone. The Odakyu Electric Railway Company fo ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan. 10 people were injured in the incident. The suspect, a 36-year-old man named Yusuke Tsushima, was arrested hours later at a convenience store. Police have so far charged him with attempted murder. The suspect also tried to start a fire on the train's compartment, which ultimately failed. The possibility of

femicide Femicide or feminicide is a hate crime which is broadly defined as "the intentional killing of women or girls because they are female," but definitions of it vary depending on cultural context. In 1976, the feminist author Diana E. H. Russel ...

is indicated, based on the suspect's testimony.

Background

Although Japan ranks amongst the countries with the lowest crimes rates, incidents of mass stabbings are not uncommon. In 2008, Tomohiro Katō, a 25-year-old man committed the

Akihabara massacre The was an incident of mass murder that took place on 8June 2008, in the Akihabara shopping quarter in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The perpetrator, 25-year-old of Susono, Shizuoka, drove into a crowd with a rented truck, initially killing three peo ...

, killing seven people. Eight years prior,

Mamoru Takuma was a Japanese mass murderer who killed eight children in the Osaka school massacre in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, on 8 June 2001. Takuma had a long history of mentally disturbed and anti-social behaviour, and an extensive criminal record inclu ...

murdered eight children at an elementary school in the

Osaka school massacre The Osaka school massacre was a mass murder that occurred at Ikeda Elementary School in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, Japan on 8 June 2001, in which Mamoru Takuma, a 37-year-old ex-convict with a history of mentally disturbed and anti-social behavio ...

. In 2016, 26-year-old Satoshi Uematsu committed one of the most serious incidents of mass murder in Japan since World War II, when he stabbed 19 severely disabled people to death at a care center. Further incidents happened again in 2008 when

Masahiro Kanagawa was a Japanese man who went on a stabbing spree in the city of Tsuchiura on March 23, 2008, which left a 27-year-old man dead and seven others wounded. Police arrested Kanagawa, then 24, who was wanted in an earlier slaying of a 72-year-old man. ...

killed a man and injured scores of others with a knife and most recently, the

Kawasaki stabbings The occurred on the morning of 28 May 2019 in the Tama ward of Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, four blocks west of Noborito Station. Two people were murdered, and 18 others were injured after being stabbed at a city bus stop by 51-y ...

in 2019, when a man, Ryuichi Iwasaki, 51, who self-identified as a ''

hikikomori , also known as acute social withdrawal, is total withdrawal from society and seeking extreme degrees of social isolation and confinement. ''Hikikomori'' refers to both the phenomenon in general and the recluses themselves. ''Hikikomori'' ha ...

'', killed two schoolchildren and injured 18 others at a bus stop before killing himself. Two months after the attack, 24-year-old Kyota Hattori, who dressed as Joker, committed attempted murder and arson in a

Keiō Line The is a 37.9-km railway line in western Tokyo, Japan, owned by the private railway operator Keiō Corporation. It connects Shinjuku, Tokyo, with the suburban city of Hachiōji. The Keiō Line is part of a network with interchanges and throug ...

train at

Chōfu is a city in the western side of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 238,087, and a population density of 11,000 per km². the total area of the city is . Geography Chōfu is approximately in the south-center of ...

October October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and the sixth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus , October retained its name (from Latin and Greek ''ôct ...

, resulting in 17 passengers being injured.

Incident

At around 8:30 pm ( JST:

UTC+9 UTC+09:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +09:00. During the Japanese occupations of British Borneo, Burma, Hong Kong, Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Philippines, Singapore, and French Indochina, it was used as a common time with ...

) on 6 August 2021, Yusuke Tsushima, age 36, began stabbing people indiscriminately on a commuter train in

Setagaya Ward is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is also the name of a neighborhood and administrative district within the ward. The ward calls itself Setagaya City in English. Its official bird is the azure-winged magpie, its flower is the fringed orch ...

. A 20-year-old female university student was attacked relentlessly and sustained serious injuries to her chest and back. The victims were 5 female and 5 male passengers in their 20s to 50s, including the female university student. Three women and one man were stabbed; the victims were injured when they were hit by a blade wielded by the man, excluding the female university student. The other victims were injured when they fell down while running away. The train was immediately halted and Tsushima spread cooking oil on the compartment's floor and tried to ignite a fire before escaping. Police rapidly responded to the incident, with a woman being transported to hospital with serious stab wounds to her chest and back. Tsushima, who had been suspected of

shoplifting Shoplifting is the theft of goods from an open retail establishment, typically by concealing a store item on one's person, in pockets, under clothes or in a bag, and leaving the store without paying. With clothing, shoplifters may put on items ...

earlier in the day, remained at large amidst a manhunt for hours. He finally entered a convenience store hours after the incident in Suginami Ward and informed the store employee that he was the suspect saying "I am the suspect in the incident reported by news media. I am tired of fleeing". The store employee quickly informed police and Tsushima was apprehended. Although police opened an investigation, Tsushima was quoted as saying that he had been wanting to "kill a happy woman for the past six years" and added that the day of the incident "anyone would have been OK". He also stated that he thought "he could kill a large number of people given there's no space to escape inside a train". Tokyo Police charged him later with the attempted murder of the seriously injured woman and other charges. Tsushima is a native of

Kawasaki, Kanagawa is a Cities of Japan, city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, one of the main cities of Greater Tokyo Area and Keihin Industrial Area. It is the second most populated city in Kanagawa Prefecture after Yokohama, and the List of cities in Japan, eight ...

. On 8 August 2021, Tsushima was sent to the prosecutors, where he said that he was ultimately motivated to commit the crime when he faced online rejection from women and regretted that he had not killed anyone, quoted as saying that the fact that no one had died was "unfortunate" for him. He also said that his life was a misery and blamed society.

Plan to bomb Shibuya Crossing

On 10 August 2021, Tsushima reiterated his intent to target "happy-looking couples" in his attack and told police he considered bombing the famous

Shibuya Crossing , or commonly known as Shibuya Crossing, is a popular scramble crossing in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. It is located in front of the Shibuya Station Hachikō exit and stops vehicles in all directions to allow pedestrians to inundate the entire inter ...

in Tokyo. Tsushima told investigators that he was willful in his intent to kill the seriously injured woman on the train because she looked like a "winner" in life. Police formally re-arrested him after the interrogation.

Legal proceedings

On 28 January 2022, Tokyo prosecutors formally charged Tsushima with attempted murder, and a judge remanded him in custody, after finding him fully liable to respond to the charges.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tokyo stabbings, 2021 2021 crimes in Japan 2021 in Tokyo Crime in Tokyo August 2021 crimes in Asia August 2021 events in Japan Knife attacks Mass stabbings in Japan Stabbing attacks in 2021 Terrorist incidents in Tokyo Terrorist incidents involving knife attacks

Background

Incident

Plan to bomb Shibuya Crossing

Legal proceedings

See also

References