Yoshitaka Toda, the suspect apprehended over the knife attack, leaves Motofuji Police Station in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward on May 7, 2025. (Mainichi/Yuka Asahina)
TOKYO — A man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder for stabbing a male university student at the Tokyo Metro’s Todaimae Station has stated he wanted to highlight the downside of excessive parental pressure over education, investigative sources said.
Yoshitaka Toda, 43, from Ikusaka, Nagano Prefecture, was quoted as telling investigators, “I wanted to show education-obsessed parents who push their children toward the University of Tokyo (called “Todai” for short in Japanese) that excessive pressure could cause their kids to go astray and commit crimes like me.”
Authorities believe Toda aimed to attract public attention by carrying out the attack near the prestigious university.
Investigative sources said Toda had initially remained silent after his arrest but began cooperating on May 8. He reportedly told investigators that when he was in junior high school, his parents’ excessive focus on education led him to stop attending school. Regarding his choice of Todaimae Station in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward, Toda was quoted as saying, “The station’s name includes ‘Todai,’ which I thought would make people easily associate the incident with educational abuse.”
The stabbing took place at around 6:55 p.m. on May. 7. The victim, a 20-year-old university student, was about to board a train when he was attacked from behind with a kitchen knife with an approximately 16-centimeter-long blade. He sustained cuts to the back of his neck, forehead and left hand, requiring about 10 days of hospitalization.
Toda is thought to have been unacquainted with the victim. He reportedly claimed, “I targeted this man just because he happened to be nearby. As long as my message was conveyed, it didn’t matter to me whether the victim lived or died.” Toda also stated financial hardship was partially behind his actions.
According to a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) investigation, Toda traveled from Nagano Prefecture to Tokyo on the day of the incident. At around 4 p.m., he is believed to have been walking near the Tokyo Metro’s Hongo-sanchome Station, which is close to the University of Tokyo.
On May 9, the MPD sent Toda to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on charges of attempted murder and a violation of the Firearms and Swords Control Law.
(Japanese original by Kengo Suga, Yuka Asahina and Yuga Matsumoto, Tokyo City News Department)
AloJapan.com