TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested a man after a stabbing at a speciality bar in Minato Ward early Sunday left a female staff member dead.
At around 5:40 a.m., an employee at the bar, located on the first floor of a multi-tenant building in the Shinbashi area, called police to report the manager was holding a customer down after he wielded a knife, reports Jiji Press (Oct. 27).
When police from the Atago Police Station rushed to the scene, they found bar employee Yuna Tanizawa, 18, collapsed with stab wounds to the neck. She was taken to the hospital in critical condition but was later confirmed dead.
Police also arrested 49-year-old Hiroyuki Chiaki, who lives in Gunma Prefecture, on suspicion of attempted murder.
The bar is a so-called “girl’s bar,” which is licensed as an eating and drinking establishment (inshokuten) but provides services close to those at a hostess club.
According to police, Chiaki started to act violently after talking with Tanizawa for about an hour inside the bar. He is then believed to have used a fruit knife that he brought into the premises to stab Tanizawa.
After the attack, the bar manager held Chiaki down, and another bar staff member called police. Police are now investigating the circumstances that led to the incident.
