Man Arrested after 2 Injured in Knife Attack at Todaimae Station; Victims’ Injuries Are Not Life-Threatening

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:42 JST, May 8, 2025

A 43-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a knife attack at Todaimae Station on the Tokyo Metro Namboku Line in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, which left two people injured.

Yoshitaka Toda, 43, whose address and occupation are unknown, boarded a train at about 6:55 p.m. on Wednesday and suddenly brandished a knife, slashing at a 20-year-old male university student while the train was stopped at the station, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

After being subdued by surrounding passengers, Toda was arrested at the scene by a police officer who was present. The man Toda attacked was taken to a hospital with a head wound.

A Nepalese man, 34, who aided in restraining the attacker, sustained an injury to his finger that is expected to take a month to fully heal, the police said. They added that neither injured individual suffered life-threatening wounds.

Toda has reportedly refused to respond to police questioning, but he is not believed to have had any prior connection to the victims, and the police are thoroughly investigating the circumstances of the incident. A kitchen knife with a roughly 20-centimeter blade was collected from the station platform.

The piercing scream of alarm bells resounded across the platform as passengers fled the train, causing a chaotic scene. An eyewitness recounted seeing the man whose head was injured sitting on the platform, his hand pressed to his bloodied temple and ear, with bloodstains spreading out around him.

A 14-year-old junior high school student from Chiba on the train said with a trembling voice, “I can’t believe an incident like this happened on the train I take to school.”