October 2021 Tokyo attack: Difference between revisions

| accused = Kyota Hattori

| convicted = Kyota Hattori

| verdict = 23-year imprisonment

| convictions = [[Attempted murder]] (17 counts)<br>Arson

At around 8 p.m. [[Japan Standard Time|JST]] on 31 October 2021, a man, 24-year-old Kyota Hattori carried out a knife and arson attack on a Keiō Railway train as it was travelling to [[Kokuryō Station]] on the [[Keiō Line]] in [[Chōfu]], a city in the western suburbs of Tokyo, Japan.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=https://bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-59103664|title=At least 17 injured in Tokyo subway knife and arson attack|publisher=[[BBC World News]]|date=31 October 2021|access-date=31 October 2021}}</ref><ref name="JT">{{Cite web |last=Yamaguchi |first=Mari |date=2021-11-01 |title=Man with knife injures 17 people on Tokyo train, starts fire |url=https://apnews.com/article/tokyo-commuter-train-stabbing-90912df8b86c80b9db46bc256eab5124 |access-date=2023-06-30 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref> He injured 17 people, one critically.<ref name="BBC" /><ref name="JT" /> Japanese authorities later identified Hattori and he was arrested at the scene.<ref name="BBC" /><ref name="JT" />

The attack began as Hattori, dressed as [[Joker (character)|Joker]], reportedly sprayed [[pesticide]] into the eyes of the man sitting next to him on the train, before stabbing him in the chest. He then moved to another car and spread lighter fluid across the car in order to start a fire.<ref name=":0" /> Some of the passengers thought the attacker was part of a Halloween stunt, until other passengers began fleeing and Hattori began waving a long bloody knife.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Aitken|first=Peter|date=2021-10-31|title=Man dressed as Joker stabs 17 people on Tokyo train|url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/man-dressed-as-joker-stabs-17-people-on-tokyo-train|access-date=2021-11-01|website=Fox News|language=en-US}}</ref>

After being arrested, the 24-year-old suspect was identified as Kyota Hattori. He allegedly told officers that he wanted to die after having work problems in June of 2021 and that he was no longer getting along with his friends. He allegedly stated that if he had killed at least two people, he would receive the death penalty.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Brown|first=Lee|date=2021-11-01|title='Joker' maniac in Tokyo train attack was suicidal after he 'messed up at work'|url=https://nypost.com/2021/11/01/tokyo-train-attacker-says-he-was-suicidal-after-work-related-problem/|access-date=2021-11-01|website=New York Post|language=en-US}}</ref>

Eight days later on 8 November 2021, a 69-year -old man from [[Fukuoka]] attempted to set a [[Sakura (train service)|Sakura]] [[Shinkansen]] service on fire.<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 November 2021 |title=Man Arrested after Setting Fire on Kyushu Shinkansen Train |url=https://www.nippon.com/en/news/yjj2021110800306/ |access-date=6 September 2022 |website=nippon.com |language=en}}</ref> Although no casualties were reported, the man claimed that the motive of the attack was to replicate the attacks done in Tokyo the week before. The perpetrator was then arrested after the train made an emergency stop at [[Shin-Yatsushiro Station]].

Hattori under wentunderwent a three-month psychiatric examination which was used to determine that he could be held criminally responsible for the attack. Prosecutors then indicted him in March 2022.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=‘Joker’'Joker' suspect denies intent to kill with fire set on Tokyo train {{!}} The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis |url=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14941849 |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=The Asahi Shimbun |language=en}}</ref>

[[Category:Arson in the 2020s2021]]

[[Category:Knife attacks in Japan]]