Suspect Kyota Hattori is seen on a Keio Line train at Kokuryo Station in the Tokyo suburban city of Chofu, at around 8:00 p.m. on Oct. 31 in this eyewitness provided photograph.

       TOKYO -- The suspect in an Oct. 31 attack on a suburban Tokyo train that injured 17 people, including one seriously, is believed to have begun planning the attack after arriving in the capital about a month before, including buying lighter oil and clothes for the incident, investigators have revealed.

       The investigation headquarters at the Metropolitan Police Department's (MPD) Chofu Police Station is investigating with the view that the suspect, 24-year-old Kyota Hattori, began full preparations for an attack targeting Halloween after arriving in Tokyo about a month earlier. Hattori, of unknown address and occupation, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in relation to the attack on an in-service Keio Line train traveling through the Tokyo suburban city of Chofu on Oct. 31.

       Investigative sources described the suspect telling them: "I bought about 10 350-milliliter cans of lighter oil at a specialist store in Ueno." He also said he bought clothes to make him look like the "Batman" series' villain Joker, who he reportedly admires, and investigators believe he bought bug spray in Tokyo, too.

       A large number of fire department members and police officers are seen amid the commotion at Keio Kokuryo Station in the Tokyo suburban city of Chofu on Oct. 31, 2021. (Mainichi/Masaru Nishimoto)

       Investigative sources described Hattori as telling them: "I quit my job after a complaint from a customer in around June. I wasn't doing well with friends, and I thought that I wanted to kill and be given the death penalty." He said that it was around this time that he bought a survival knife online with about a 30-centimeter blade.

       He left the southwest Japan city of Fukuoka where he was living, and went from place to place in western and central Japan, including the cities of Kobe and Nagoya. He arrived in Tokyo about a month before the attack and stayed at a business hotel in the suburban city of Hachioji by borrowing money from a consumer lender. It appears he regularly used the Keio Line while looking for his opportunity.

       Investigators and others are seen inspecting a train stopped at the Keio Line at Kokuryo Station on Nov. 1, 2021. (Mainichi/Yuki Miyatake)

       At about 5 p.m. on Oct. 31, the day of the incident, Hattori got onto the Keio Line train from Keio Hachioji Station, and at about 6 p.m. he exited via the barriers at the Keio Inokashira Line in Shibuya Station. Regarding his actions, he reportedly said, "I wanted to see Halloween. I wandered around for about 30 minutes." At around 6:40 p.m. he went back into the station and rode a train to Meidaimae Station, where he got off and switched to the Keio Line. At 7:54 p.m., immediately before the incident took place, he got on the express train leaving Chofu Station for central Tokyo.

       The incident occurred at around 8 p.m., as the 10-car Keio Line express train running from Keio Hachioji Station to Shinjuku Station was traveling between Fuda and Kokuryo Station. Hattori was in the third car, the eighth from the front of the train, when he assaulted a 72-year-old man sitting in the car with a spray to kill bugs, and then stabbed him in the chest. Hattori was arrested on the spot on suspicion of attempted murder for trying to kill the man, who is a company employee living in Tokyo. The victim, who narrowly escaped death, is in a serious condition and unconscious.

       Hattori subsequently scattered a liquid appearing to be lighter oil and started a fire which caused minor injuries from smoke inhalation and other issues to 16 people from their teens to their 60s. A junior high school student was among those hurt.

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

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