Tokyo 'Joker' train attacker admits to stabbing passenger in 2021

Kyodo News

<p>TOKYO - A man accused of attempted murder and arson in a 2021 attack on a Tokyo train while dressed in a Joker&#x27;s costume admitted Monday to trying to kill a man he stabbed and starting a fire onboard, but his defense team denied the fire was intended to kill other passengers.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pUItFAfina8?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>Kyota Hattori, 26, made the statement at the opening hearing of his trial at the Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Court. In all, he was accused of the attempted murder of 13 passengers including the man he stabbed.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/multimedia/photo/10/31/21/joker-attacks-tokyo-train-passengers">At least 10 injured in Tokyo train attack by man dressed as &#x27;Joker&#x27;</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/02/21/why-joker-train-attacker-targeted-tokyo">Joker train attacker targeted Tokyo to increase kill count</a></li></ul><p>According to the indictment, Hattori stabbed a man in his 70s in the chest onboard a Keio Line commuter express service headed to Shinjuku, a busy station in central Tokyo, from Hachioji in the west of the capital, on Halloween night.</p><p>He then spread lighter fuel and ignited it with the intention of killing other passengers, the indictment said.</p><p>In the trial, prosecutors quoted Hattori as having told investigators following his arrest, &quot;I don&#x27;t have any worth as a person. I have no choice but to kill a lot of people and get the death penalty.&quot;</p><p>He began harboring such thoughts after encountering trouble at work following his graduation from high school in Fukuoka Prefecture in southwestern Japan, they said.</p><p>Describing the crime as &quot;deliberate,&quot; they noted he had prepared the items he used in the attack beforehand and that by spreading the lighter fuel on the train, Hattori &quot;was aware that multiple people could die.&quot;</p><p>The prosecutors said Hattori conceived the attack on the Keio Line train after seeing media reports about another knife attack on an Odakyu Electric Railway commuter train a few months earlier in which a man stabbed and slashed 10 passengers.</p><p>In this incident, the male suspect spread cooking oil but the oil failed to ignite.</p><p>Hattori&#x27;s defense team, meanwhile, denied his intention to kill other passengers, saying in their opening statement that when he threw a lighter inside the train to start the fire, the passengers had already fled the area.</p><p>The stabbed man was briefly in critical condition. His injury needed around three months of treatment, the indictment said.</p><p>The incident caused panic, and when the train made an emergency stop at a station passengers tried to escape through windows when the doors did not immediately open.</p><div><strong>==Kyodo</strong></div>

A man accused of attempted murder and arson in a 2021 attack on a Tokyo train while dressed in a Joker's costume admitted Monday to trying to kill a man he stabbed and starting a fire onboard.

Tokyo 'Joker' train attacker admits to stabbing passenger in 2021 | ABS-CBN

Entertainment

News

Metro.Style

Sports

More

Overseas

Tokyo 'Joker' train attacker admits to stabbing passenger in 2021

Tokyo 'Joker' train attacker admits to stabbing passenger in 2021

Kyodo News

Published Jun 27, 2023 09:32 AM PHT

Read More:

japan

tokyo

anc

anc promo

crime

ABS-CBN is the leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, offering quality content across TV, radio, digital, and film. Committed to public service and promoting Filipino values, ABS-CBN continues to inspire and connect audiences worldwide.

Corporate

Investors

Governance

International Distribution

Corporate

Governance

Investors

International Distribution

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Advertise with Us

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.