‘Intention of killing’: man in Japan stabs woman randomly in convenience store

The incident involving a 25-year-old unemployed man in Suita has worsened the public’s fears after a string of knife assaults in Japan

A 25-year-old unemployed man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after stabbing a woman in a random attack at a convenience store in Osaka prefecture, the latest in a string of unsettling knife assaults that have rocked Japan.

The incident took place at around 7.40pm on Sunday at a 7-Eleven in a residential district of Suita city, just north of central Osaka. Police said the suspect entered the store and immediately attacked a 28-year-old female customer who was standing in line at the register, stabbing her in the back with a kitchen knife.

The woman, an office worker and a resident, sustained injuries to five areas of her back, according to police reports. Witnesses and store employees subdued the attacker until officers arrived. The woman is in stable condition after treatment in a hospital.

The suspect, also a Suita resident, was arrested at the scene and reportedly admitted to the police that he wanted to murder the victim.

“I stabbed her with the intention of killing her. There’s no mistake,” he told investigators, as quoted by local broadcaster NHK.

Police said there was no relationship between the suspect and the victim. The man claimed he had schizophrenia, prompting investigators to look into his psychiatric history as part of the inquiry.

The stabbing adds to a disturbing series of apparently random knife attacks across Japan, many of which have involved individuals grappling with psychological distress or social isolation.

In May, 43-year-old Yoshitaka Toda was arrested after slashing two passengers with a knife aboard a Tokyo metro train near the Todaimae station. The attack, which appeared random, left both victims with minor injuries. Toda reportedly had no connection to the victims and was restrained by fellow commuters before police arrived.

In January, a 46-year-old man was arrested after fatally stabbing a commuter and injuring three others outside JR Nagano station. The attack, believed to be random, sparked widespread concern over the growing frequency of unprovoked violence in public spaces.

Commenting on that case, Makoto Nakayama, a criminal psychologist at Kansai International University, pointed to a convergence of social breakdown, psychological deterioration and thwarted personal pride as possible triggers for such attacks.

“Weak relationships with family, friends or colleagues can lead to social isolation,” Nakayama said in an interview with Shin-Etsu Broadcasting. “That isolation often causes job instability, which in turn leads to financial hardship. When a person becomes desperate, murder can become a means to release their accumulated frustration.”

Nakayama noted that attackers would often select strangers as victims not out of specific malice, but to generate maximum fear. “They want to plunge ordinary citizens into terror,” he explained. “It’s about demonstrating power – showing the world that ‘I can do something this shocking’ – and in some cases, fulfilling a need for recognition by provoking public outrage and media attention.”

These individuals tend to be self-centred and pridefulMakoto Nakayama, Kansai International University’s criminal psychologist

He also described such individuals as narcissists who were unwilling to accept personal failure. “These individuals tend to be self-centred and prideful. Even when they fail professionally, they don’t acknowledge their own shortcomings. Admitting fault would damage their fragile self-image, so they shift blame onto others – their employers, co-workers – a trait associated with narcissistic personality disorder.”

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While many of the recent attacks have involved adults, a troubling number of cases in recent months have been carried out by teenagers, some targeting family members or random strangers.

In one case, a 15-year-old in Chiba fatally stabbed an elderly woman, later telling police he “decided that [he] should kill anyone” to escape a troubled home environment. Other recent incidents have involved adolescents who acted violently after periods of bullying, academic stress or isolation.

Experts warn that such acts may be contagious.

“Copycat attacks are, I feel, something that is quite unique to Japan,” said Bill Cleary, clinical director of the Tokyo-based TELL Lifeline counselling service, told This Week in Asia in May. “Part of that might be the group-oriented mindset or taking inspiration from methods that have worked for other people.”

Izumi Tsuji, a sociologist at Chuo University, echoed those sentiment. “If someone who is facing similar problems sees this as being ‘successful’, then it is possible that they will want to imitate an attack,” he said. “That is a tragedy, and the authorities need to be ready for anything.”