Man arrested as two injured in Tokyo subway stabbing attack
A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in Tokyo following a knife attack on a subway train on Wednesday evening, leaving two people injured.
The incident occurred at approximately 6:50 p.m. at Todaimae Station on Tokyo Metro’s Namboku Line in Bunkyo Ward, according to police reports.
Following the attack, the Namboku Line was temporarily suspended in both directions.
Reports indicate that the incident took place on a train that was stationary at the station as a man reportedly brandished what appeared to be a kitchen knife and stabbed two male passengers.
The 43-year-old suspect was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder, Tokyo’s metropolitan police said.
The suspect has been named as Toda Yoshitaka, however police are still unsure as to the motive for his actions.
A man in his 20s was hospitalized with a cut to his head, while a man in his 30s, believed to be a foreign national, sustained injuries to his hand. Authorities have confirmed that both victims remained conscious.
According to the police, other passengers on the train bravely subdued the alleged attacker and confiscated the knife before authorities arrived.
While violent crime remains relatively uncommon in Japan, a nation known for its low murder rate and stringent gun control laws, isolated incidents of stabbings and, on occasion, shootings do occur.
These include the shocking assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.
The incident also brings to mind previous, high-profile train attacks in Tokyo. In a particularly disturbing event on Halloween in 2021, a 24-year-old man allegedly stabbed a passenger and started a fire on a train while dressed as the Joker.
The assailant reportedly cited a similar stabbing attack on a Tokyo commuter train earlier that year, which injured nine people, one seriously.
The memory of the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, carried out by the Aum Shinrikyo cult and resulting in the deaths of 14 people, continues to resonate deeply within the country.
Wednesday’s incident will likely raise renewed concerns about safety on public transportation in the capital.
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