12-05-2025
More details emerge about stabbing near Tokyo University metro station
A 43-year-old man accused of stabbing a University of Tokyo student at Todaimae Station last week told police he was partly motivated by financial struggles and a desire to make a statement about what he saw as educational abuse.
The suspect, Yoshitaka Toda, who has been sent to prosecutors on suspicion of attempted murder, said that he chose to attack the 20-year-old victim at the train station in central Tokyo because he thought that if he committed the crime at a train station and stopped the trains 'it would cause a big impact to society.'
This was in addition to his earlier admission that he chose the location of the crime — at the station associated with Japan's top university — to provoke thoughts about educational abuse.
Todaimae, located in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward, is home to the University of Tokyo's Hongo campus.
Toda said that he grew up under intense academic pressure from overbearing parents, leading to mental health issues and truancy in junior high school. He claimed he committed the crime to show how such pressure could push a child off course.
He also told investigators he was struggling financially in adulthood. Although he described himself as 'technically self-employed,' his bank records showed no stable source of income.
While living in Tokyo's Nakano Ward, the suspect bought an akiya, or abandoned house, in Nagano Prefecture in 2022 through an akiya matching service, and had been living there alone ever since.
The suspect came to Tokyo from his home in Nagano on May 7 and, after spending some time in Shinjuku, visited the University of Tokyo where he explored the campus and had a meal in the cafeteria.
He stayed on the premises for around an hour and 20 minutes before entering Todaimae station at 6:25 p.m. Less than 30 minutes later, he slashed the University of Tokyo student on the back with a kitchen knife as the student was boarding a train, then chased him into the carriage and stabbed him two more times.
The third-year student sustained non-life-threatening injuries. He told police that he has no prior connection with the attacker.
Translated by The Japan Times
