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Melee in Minami: Osaka man wields Japanese sword in 20-person brawl

Bar Bro in Shinsaibashi
A brawl broke out at Bar Bro in Shinsaibashi early Monday (Mainichi Broadcasting System)

OSAKA (TR) – Osaka Prefectural Police made three arrests early Monday following a brawl in a bar in the Minami entertainment area of Chuo Ward that included the father of the manager slashing a man with a Japanese sword, reports the Sankei Shimbun  (Aug. 7).

At around 1:00 a.m., Takeo Ishibashi, a 67-year-old resident of Matsubara City, allegedly used a sword with a blade measuring 40 centimeters in length to slash the side of a man, aged in his 30s, inside Bar Bro, located in Higashi-Shinsaibashi.

Prior to the attack, the 23-year-old son of the suspect, who manages the bar, informed his father about a problem on the premises after about 20 persons, including the victim, intruded inside, according to the Minami Police Station. The suspect then arrived at the scene with the sword.

Ishihashi, who has been accused of attempted murder, admits to the allegations. “A member of my family was in trouble,” the suspect was quoted by police, according to the Mainichi Broadcasting System (Aug. 7).

Manager beaten

After the attack, the victim fled the bar and collapsed outside on a road whereupon a passerby alerted police. He was then transported to a hospital in a conscious state.

Thereafter, two men in the mob — Genki Sawanaga, the 21-year-old manager of a fuzoku commercial sex parlor, and an Argentinian national, aged in his 30s — took the manager outside where they allegedly pulled his hair and kicked him in the side. Sawanaga and the Argentinian were subsequently arrested on suspicion of inflicting injury.