Polite and Proud Daughter Ikebukuro Pokémon Center Stabbing Incident Neighbor Reveals Victim’s Gentle Side

The weapon was wrapped in a towel and tied with rubber bands

Inside Sunshine City in Ikebukuro——At the “Pokémon Center Mega Tokyo,” which is bustling with many children and fans, around 7:15 p.m. on March 26, multiple emergency calls to 110 were made, saying:

“Someone inside is rampaging with a bladed weapon”

“There are two people, a man and a woman, lying on the ground bleeding”

The scene was a commercial facility on a weekday evening during spring break. Customers fleeing in panic, store employees screaming. A once-happy space instantly turned into an inescapable murder scene.

By piecing together testimonies from investigators and security camera footage, extremely strong intent to kill and obsession on the part of the suspect, Hirokawa Daiki (26), comes to light.

On the day of the incident, Hirokawa had lunch with his mother in the morning, but after parting ways, his movements were essentially a countdown to the atrocity.

Around 6:45 p.m., he arrived at the basement first floor of Sunshine City and was seen peering inside the store twice from outside. He is believed to have been checking Harukawa Mei’s (21) work situation.

“About 10 minutes before the incident, the suspect entered a restroom near the store. He left his backpack in a stall and submerged his smartphone in the toilet bowl. It is likely he intended to cut off external communication and destroy evidence,” said a reporter from a national newspaper.

After leaving the restroom, Hirokawa entered the store without hesitation. The target, Harukawa, was inside the counter area. Hirokawa went around to the inside of the counter and, without giving her any chance to resist, stabbed her multiple times in the neck and other areas with a knife-like weapon wrapped in cloth.

“From the start of the attack until the suspect cut his own neck and lost consciousness, it was only about one minute. The weapon left at the scene was wrapped in a towel and tied with rubber bands, suggesting it may have been carefully prepared even for ease of carrying and preventing slipping during the act,” said the same national newspaper reporter.

Hirokawa continued attacking his former girlfriend while screaming and shouting, and immediately afterward took his own life as well. There were other employees and customers nearby, but Hirokawa did not look at anyone else and is said to have targeted only Harukawa.

She was such a bright and kind child

Regarding Harukawa, who was the victim, a female neighborhood resident told this website in an interview:

“She was truly polite and such a proud daughter,” she said tearfully.

“Mei-chan had been living here since before she entered elementary school. She was the eldest of three siblings, and she was a very responsible child who often took care of her younger brother and sister. On weekends, I often saw the whole family going shopping together, and her helping carry the bags. She was always bright and kind, someone who cared deeply for both her father and mother.” (same neighborhood resident)

She was someone deeply cherished and mourned.

Harukawa, who enjoyed playing basketball since childhood, was always the first to greet neighbors with a cheerful “Good morning” whenever they passed each other. The dream she finally achieved was working part-time at this Pokémon Center.

“For her, working here seems to have been something she admired. Even when police, for safety reasons, advised her to change jobs, she reportedly strongly insisted, ‘I don’t want to quit my job’ and ‘Working here is my dream.’” (investigation source)

It is said that Hirokawa repeatedly pressured Mei, saying:

“(The Pokémon Center) isn’t suitable for you, so quit.”

“It is unclear whether this was the sole decisive reason for the breakup, but there is testimony that, for Mei, having her cherished dream denied was one of the major factors in deciding to end the relationship. It was the place where she had finally achieved her dream. Attempting to take that away must have been an unbearable betrayal for her,” said the same investigation source.

Harukawa, who continued to try her best to live until the very end at her dream workplace. And Hirokawa’s distorted mixture of love and hatred, which rendered ineffective all legal restraining orders and even her mother’s request for monitoring. The Metropolitan Police Department plans to refer the case to prosecutors on a suspect deceased basis on murder charges, but the stolen future will never return——.