Suspect Kazutaka Hayashi is seen being sent from Saitama Prefectural Police's Omiya Police Station to prosecutors on June 20, 2021. (Mainichi/Natsuki Nishi)

       SAITAMA -- The suspect in a 32-hour hostage standoff at an internet cafe in this east Japan city over June 17 and 18 had only a few hundred yen at the time of his arrest, the Mainichi Shimbun learned from Saitama Prefectural Police on June 21.

       Kazutaka Hayashi, 40, of no fixed abode or occupation, has been referred to prosecutors on suspicion of abduction, confinement and bodily injury after being arrested for unlawfully confining a female internet cafe employee in the city of Saitama's Omiya Ward.

       Hayashi stayed overnight at the internet cafe on June 16, the day before the incident, and evidence suggests he had stopped by an affiliated establishment in Tokyo. He was also carrying a membership card for another internet cafe.

       Prefectural police set up a special investigation unit on June 21. They intend to examine in detail Hayashi's movements and his motive; it is thought that he may have been living from internet cafe to internet cafe.

       According to sources close to the investigation, Hayashi told prefectural police hostage negotiators via intercom during the standoff that he had no demands.

       Though he has admitted to the charges and cooperated with interviews by investigators, he reportedly told police he does not want to talk about his motive or the purpose of the incident.

       (Japanese original by Hayato Narisawa and Ayako Hiramoto, Saitama Bureau)

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