Metropolitan Police Department investigators and others are seen examining a train car on the Odakyu Odawara Line, in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward on Aug 6, 2021. (Mainichi/Masahiro Ogawa)

       TOKYO -- Police have arrested a man on suspicion of attempted murder over a knife attack on a Tokyo train on the night of Aug. 6 which left 10 passengers injured.

       Yusuke Tsushima, 36, a resident of the city of Kawasaki, just outside Tokyo, was arrested Aug. 7 by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). The attack took place on a train on the Odakyu Odawara Line operated by Odakyu Electric Railway Co. as it was heading through Tokyo's Setagaya Ward toward the capital's center. Ten people were injured, including some who were stabbed.

       Police quoted Tsushima as acknowledging the allegations, and saying, "There's no mistake that I stabbed a woman sitting in the train car because I wanted to kill her." He was also described as saying: "About six years ago I first felt I wanted to kill women who looked happy." The MPD also quoted him as telling them that he attacked people on the train "because there's nowhere to escape and you can kill many people."

       The incident took place at around 8:30 p.m. on Aug 6, inside a rapid express train that departed from Fujisawa Station in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, bound for Shinjuku Station. The attack itself happened as the train was traveling between Seijogakuen-Mae Station and Soshigaya-Okura Station.

       A college student in her 20s residing in Tokyo sustained serious injuries, with stab wounds in seven areas including her back and chest. The other nine people hurt are all believed to have suffered minor injuries, with at least three of them suffering cuts and some others appearing to have been hurt after being hit or from falling over when escaping.

       As a result of the incident, 158 Odakyu Odawara Line train services were suspended between Shinjuku and Mukogaoka-Yuen stations until 12:15 a.m. on Aug. 7, affecting around 49,000 people's journeys.

       (Japanese original by Kazuki Mogami, Takuya Suzuki and Maki Kihara, Tokyo City News Department)

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