At a New Year’s Eve party…55-year-old man “bought a kitchen knife and stabbed a classmate to death on the way to the second party” and tasted despair in jail in the New Year.

I’m going to get some cigarettes.”

Saying so, the man left the snack bar where the year-end party was held. He headed for a nearby convenience store. The man bought a kitchen knife with a blade of about 14.5 cm in length and stabbed a classmate deeply in the right side of his body, killing him as he came out of the snack bar after the end of the year-end party.

On January 2, 2011, the Investigation Department of the Osaka Prefectural Police announced the arrest of a suspect, Takashi Inagake (55, Hirano Ward, Osaka City), whose occupation is unknown, on suspicion of murder, for allegedly stabbing his classmate Hiroyuki Nitta, 55, to death on a street in the same ward with a weapon he obtained at a convenience store just after 1 am on December 31, 2010, the year’s Eve. The suspect denies his intention to kill, saying he did not intend to kill.

The snack bar at the scene was the venue of an after-party, which was attended by more than a dozen people. A year-end party had been held the night before by local classmates, and Inakake was very drunk. According to the participants, there was no particular trouble between the suspect and the victim, Nitta-san, during the party.

However, although Inakake denies any intent to kill, the wound on Nitta-san’s right side was 13 cm deep. He must have had a strong grudge against her. As a result of the autopsy, the cause of death was found to be exsanguination.

Lied name told to investigators

After the crime, Inakake fled on a bicycle. It was not until the first day of the new year in 2011 that the suspect was found by investigators of the prefectural police, who were pursuing his whereabouts after receiving a report from a participant of the year-end party.

The location was a street in Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture, where the suspect used to live. When asked his name by the investigators, he initially stated a false name, ‘Miyazaki. He seems to have responded honestly to subsequent questioning.

A year-end party was supposed to be a fun time for classmates to talk with each other after a long absence. What exactly happened between the assailant and the victim? Former Kanagawa Prefectural Police detective and crime journalist Taihei Ogawa speculates.

He said, “From the outside, there may have been no problem, but during the year-end party, there may have been some trouble that only the two of them could have understood. For the suspect, there were probably things said or done that were unacceptable to him. For example, a harsh word that could have damaged his self-esteem. Even if it was a casual remark to the person who said it, the person who was told it may have felt strong resentment.

The fact that the suspect had not prepared a weapon before the year-end party suggests that this was a spontaneous act. For the suspect, it may have been as light-hearted as ‘let’s scare them’ out of a backlash against the unpleasant experience. However, he had no experience in stabbing people, and if he had been drunk, the result would have been irreversible. He didn’t know how to use force, and he wounded his attacker to the point of taking his life. The suspect probably sobered up and turned pale, realizing the gravity of the situation. I think he will experience a sense of hopelessness in the detention center.

Inakake spent the year-end and New Year’s holidays in the worst possible mood. Regretting it will not undo the reality.