TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police revealed on Sunday that a 45-year-old man in custody over the alleged murder of his boss in Ota Ward was dissatisfied with his bonus last year, reports Jiji Press (Jan. 12).
According to police, Masahiro Yamanaka, the sales manager of a sound equipment company, said, “My bonus was reduced without any explanation.”
Police allege that Yamanaka fatally stabbed the managing director of the company, 44-year-old Akihiro Kawashima, at the victim’s apartment in Omorikita around January 7.
According to police, Kawashima was found collapsed and bleeding the next day. He was later confirmed dead.
“I did stab him, but I did not intend to kill him,” Yamanaka said of the murder allegations.
During voluntary questioning before his arrest on January 9, Yamanaka explained, “My bonus, which had previously been 1.5 months’ salary, was reduced to one month’s salary. I wasn’t given any explanation.”
A statement of the bonus paid in December of last year, equivalent to approximately one month’s salary, was found at the suspect’s home.
“Even if it means making them suffer”
Kawashima and Yamanaka were my high school classmates. The suspect had worked in various jobs in the advertising and apparel industries, but was invited to join the company about four years ago by Kawashima as a part of an effort to improve the company. He said, “The conditions were better than my previous job.”
However, the suspect began to experience dissatisfaction while at the company, police said.
“If they can’t understand what I’m saying, I’ve come to believe that I need to make them change their way of thinking, even if it means making them suffer,” Yamanaka said at one point during the investigation, according to police.
It is believed that Yamanaka waited for Kawashima on the grounds of the apartment building on the night of January 7. Upon the victim’s arrival, the suspect went to the apartment and attacked him.
About 30 minutes after leaving the apartment, Yamanaka met up with a friend at a bar in Ota. It has been confirmed that they went to three bars together until the early hours the next morning.
Police said that Kawashima’s body had stab wounds in more than 10 places, including the neck and stomach.
