TOKYO (TR) – A 43-year-old man in custody over the alleged stabbing of university student on a Tokyo Metro subway line in Bunkyo Ward on Wednesday has told police that he committed the crime to send a message to his “education-conscious parents,” reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (May 9).
At just before 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Yoshitaka Toda, of no known occupation, allegedly used a kitchen knife to slash the head of a third-year Tokyo University student, 20, on a Namboku Line train stopped at Todai-mae Station.
Three commuters apprehended Toda at the scene. One of them, a Nepalese man, suffered a cut index finger on his right hand.
Police arriving at the station arrested Toda on suspicion of attempted murder. They also retrieved a butcher knife from the subway pkatform.
Neither the student nor the Nepalese man suffered serious injuries, police said.
“Crimes will occur”
Police believe that he chose the station since it is named after Tokyo University and attacked passengers indiscriminately.
According to a senior official with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, Toda had remained silent during questioning after his arrest. But he started explaining his motive on Thursday.
“I wanted to show my education-conscious parents who were aiming for [me to go to] Tokyo University that if they go too far, crimes will occur,” he told police, according to an investigative source.
“I didn’t care if he died”
Toda, who lives in the village of Ikusaka, Nagano Prefecture, said that he stopped going to school in junior high school because of his strict parents. He confessed, “The station is named after Tokyo University, so I thought it would be easy to associate it with educational abuse.”
When asked why he attacked the student, he said, “I targeted him because he happened to be nearby. I didn’t care if he died.”
On Friday, police sent Toda to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on suspicion of attempted murder and violation of the Swords and Firearms Control Law.
