Yatomi municipal Jushiyama Junior High School, where a student was stabbed with a knife by another student, is seen in Yatomi, Aichi Prefecture, on Nov. 24, 2021, in this photo taken from a Mainichi Shimbun helicopter. (Mainichi)

       NAGOYA -- School and education board officials have said they were unaware of any conflict between a 14-year-old junior high school student who died on the morning of Nov. 24 and the pupil who allegedly stabbed him.

       Aichi Prefectural Police arrested on the spot a 14-year-old third-year student at Jushiyama Junior High School in the prefectural city of Yatomi on suspicion of stabbing Yuzuki Ito with a knife. Police are investigating it as a murder case and have been examining the suspect's motives, including whether the two were in conflict.

       The Yatomi Municipal Board of Education and junior high school affiliates held an emergency press conference following the incident.

       "We also don't know why he did this. We are extremely confused," principal Toshiyuki Kurokawa said, choosing his words carefully as he explained the incident. The middle school had 138 students and usually opens its gates at 7:45 a.m., with "reading time" from 8:10 a.m. Most students and homeroom teachers were in their respective classrooms at just past 8 a.m. when the incident occurred.

       While bleeding from his stomach the victim returned to his classroom, where he collapsed. His homeroom teacher gave him a cardiac massage and informed the faculty room. Loud cries and screams echoed throughout the second floor, and the principal said there was "a considerable amount of blood in the classroom."

       Regarding what had gone on between the two, principal Kurokawa said, "Nothing comes to mind at the moment." He then explained that there was "nothing particularly unusual" in the arrested student's behavior, and that the school was "also quite unsure as to why he did this." The two went on a school trip in mid-November, and there had been reportedly no particular conflict between them before the incident. They were also not mentioned in a bullying questionnaire collected by the municipal education board in early November. Kazuhiro Watanabe, section chief of the municipal education board, only stated, "We do not know whether there was any issue between the students."

       Following the stabbing on the morning of Nov. 24, classes at the school were cut short and exams starting Nov. 25 postponed. Although the school plans to hold regular classes, four students reportedly felt sick after the incident. The school explained to parents the background to the events in a session starting 7 p.m. on Nov. 24. One parent who attended said, "We only heard an explanation of what happened. My child is in shock and has been unable to properly talk about it."

       The municipal education board will dispatch a clinical psychotherapist and other professionals to provide the school's students with mental care, and establish a third-party committee consisting of lawyers and doctors to examine the incident's cause.

       (Japanese original by Tatsuya Michinaga and Ayaka Morita, Nagoya News Center)

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