(Update1) Chaos on Tokyo’s Yamanote Line as Passengers Flee from ‘Chef’s Knives’

The Yomiuri Shimbun

9:33 JST, June 26, 2023 (updated at 13:00JST)

Two people suffered minor injuries on Sunday afternoon after a man on the Yamanote Line was seen to be carrying knives, prompting other passengers to run away in fear.

According to the Shinjuku Police Station, a passenger on the loop line noticed at around 4 p.m. that a man was carrying knives. When the train arrived at Shinjuku Station, the other passengers ran away from the train en masse.

One man in his 20s and another in his 50s fell during the rush, the police said. They sustained minor injuries and were taken to the hospital.

According to a senior police officer, the man in question had two kitchen knives with blades about 25 centimeters long, and told the police that he was a chef. The man, who is in his 50s and believed to be a foreign national, said he had quit his job at a restaurant and boarded the train with knives he had been using at work.

Both knives were wrapped in cloth but are believed to have become exposed and visible to the other passengers.

East Japan Railway Co. said the incident caused 14 trains on the Yamanote, Chuo and Sobu lines to be delayed for up to 19 minutes, affecting about 14,000 passengers.