Grudge Against Agencies Leads Quiet Man to Knife Attack Outside U.S. Embassy

“The staff are intentionally manipulating the climate.”

On October 25, a man walked out of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Akasaka Station with his back hunched and a vacant expression. Even when he noticed the barrage of camera flashes from reporters, he showed no reaction whatsoever, walking expressionless — there was no sign of violence in him at all.

On October 24, three days before President Trump’s visit to Japan, Tatsuya Shiota (38), whose address and occupation are unknown, was arrested in the act on suspicion of obstructing official duties after brandishing a knife near the U.S. Embassy in Minato Ward, Tokyo. Around 2:30 p.m., when a police officer guarding the embassy attempted to question him, Shiota suddenly swung a 17 cm kitchen knife and a fruit knife, stabbing a riot police officer in the right leg as he tried to restrain him, causing serious injuries.

“Apart from a deep 2 cm cut on his right leg, the riot officer also suffered a severed Achilles tendon, an injury that will take three months to heal. Shiota was carrying other items as well — a 20 cm folding saw and scissors.

As for motive, at first he reportedly said he ‘held a grudge against the Meteorological Agency and the National Police Agency,’ but according to investigators, he later claimed things like, ‘The staff are intentionally manipulating the climate.’ The incident happened just three days before President Trump’s arrival, so the scene was thrown into chaos — but the likelihood of terrorism is extremely low,” said a reporter from a national newspaper’s social affairs department.

On November 2, in Kabukicho (Shinjuku, Tokyo), a young woman suddenly pulled out a knife in a movie theater lobby, screaming and rampaging before being subdued by responding police officers. She reportedly made incoherent statements during questioning.

One knife-wielding incident after another has been occurring in the middle of Tokyo. We asked Taihei Ogawa, a former Kanagawa Prefectural Police detective and crime journalist, about this growing trend.

“Since the 2008 Akihabara mass stabbing incident, the number of stop-and-question checks carried out by police has been increasing every year. Even if someone looks ordinary at a glance, if officers observe suspicious behavior or see them carrying items, they will speak to them or inspect their belongings.

As a result, cases have increased where seemingly quiet individuals are found carrying survival knives or switchblades ‘for self-defense’ and are arrested for violating the Swords and Firearms Control Law. In the U.S. Embassy case as well, the stop-and-question may have triggered the incident — but it also prevented a much larger crime from happening.”

Thanks to the swift response of the police, no civilians were harmed this time. But is there any way to deal with such cases?

“In today’s world, economic disparities keep widening, and some people direct their anger toward the government or the police. But if they don’t possess weapons, they can’t commit such crimes. While we can’t restrict items necessary for daily life like kitchen knives, saws, or scissors, it is possible to impose restrictions on the sale of survival knives or switchblades.

It’s difficult for individuals to protect themselves, so the best approach is for communities and local authorities to strengthen cooperation and take neighborhood-wide safety measures.”

Whatever the source of anger may be, hurting people with weapons must never be tolerated.