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Recycle rage: Tokyo man pulls knife on neighbor after being told to sort trash

Hirokazu Kobayashi
Hirokazu Kobayashi

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 38-year-old man in Setagaya Ward after he allegedly threatened a neighbor in a dispute over proper trash disposal, reports TBS News (Nov. 24).

On November 18, Hirokazu Kobayashi, a designer, allegedly held a survival knife up to a male member of a neighborhood council at the residence of the suspect, located in a government-sponsored building. “I’ll kill you,” the suspect reportedly threatened.

Just prior to the incident, the neighborhood council member arrived at the residence to point out that the suspect was mixing aluminum cans and PET bottles in disposing his trash.

Kobayashi, who has been charged with making threats, denies the allegations. “He tried to get enter the residence without a justifiable reason,” the suspect is quoted by police.

Police are investigating two incidents of improper garbage disposal that have taken place in the area since September.