TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Saturday arrested a 76-year-old former top bureaucrat for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries over the alleged fatal stabbing of his son, reports Fuji News Network (June 2).
At around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Hideaki Kumazawa allegedly used a kitchen knife to repeatedly stab his son, 44-year-old son Eiichiro, of no known occupation, in the upper body inside their residence in Nerima Ward.
After the incident, Kumazawa tipped off police. Emergency personnel arriving at the residence found Eiichiro collapsed atop a futon in the residence with more than a dozen wounds to his body. He was later confirmed dead at a hospital, the Nerima Police Station said.
Kumazawa is believed to share the residence with his wife and Eiichiro. Later that day, officers accused him of attempted murder. The suspect admitted to the allegations upon his arrest, police said.
Police later sent Kumazawa to prosecutors on suspicion of murder.
Graduate of the University of Tokyo
After graduating from the University of Tokyo, Kumazawa joined what is now the Ministry of Agriculture, Farm, Forestry and Fisheries in 1967. He rose to top bureaucrat in the ministry in 2001. The following year, he resigned amid criticism of the handling by the ministry of a mad cow disease outbreak.
Between 2005 and 2008, Kumazawa served as the Japanese ambassador to the Czech Republic.
Hikikomori
Eiichiro previously lived by himself in another location. While there, he experienced trouble with neighbors over the disposal of garbage. He then moved into the residence of his parents, according to NHK (June 2).
Investigators that the suspect repeatedly got into disputes with Eiichiro, who is described as suffering from the condition known as hikikomori, meaning a person who has withdrawn from society. In some cases, the son became violent, the suspect told police.
Prior to the incident, Kumazawa and Eiichiro got into a dispute about the son’s complaints about noise coming from an elementary school nearby. “I didn’t want him to bother others,” the suspect reportedly told police.
Investigators also retrieved a note from inside the residence, purportedly written by the suspect, that says he “had no choice but to kill” his son, according to the Asahi Shimbun (June 3).
