The “Joker” who was imprisoned for 23 years: Unexpected Behavior and Changes in Court

I set my sights on ‘The Joker’ in order to get the death penalty.”

On July 31, Kyota Hattori, then 26, who committed the Keio Line indiscriminate stabbing incident, was sentenced to 23 years in prison at the Tachikawa Branch of the Tokyo District Court. The “joker of the Keio Line,” who has been consistently explaining his motives since the beginning of the trial, did not change his expression even after the verdict was handed down.

The incident occurred on Halloween, October 31, 2009. On a Keio Line train in Chofu City, Tokyo, Hattori dressed up as the Joker, the villain of the movie “Batman,” and attacked a passenger, a man in his 70s, with a knife. He also set fire to the train car and attempted to kill 12 people on board. The sight of him smoking a cigarette with his legs crossed as he watched people flee the scene sent shockwaves throughout Japan.

Hattori said his motive was “to find out that his ex-fiancee was getting married” and “to quit his job because he was not satisfied with the company’s unfair personnel transfer. He also attempted suicide, and it is said that he committed the crime indiscriminately because he wanted to be executed.