10 Devious Details Surrounding Kyota Hattori, Who Dressed As The Joker And Stabbed Tokyo Subway Passengers

6 /10 Looking For Death Penalty

Local news outlets said that Kyota Hattori had wanted to kill someone since June. He quit his job that month and was having difficulties maintaining a good relationship with friends.

When questioned by the police, Hattori referenced an August incident on an Odakyu Electric Railway commuter train in which a man stabbed ten passengers.

It was a deliberate attack, something he had planned several months earlier. Hattori decided to commit his crimes on Halloween, improving his chances of bumping into a large crowd therefore killing or inflicting injuries to more victims.

5 /10 Serious Wounds And Minor Injuries

In addition to the 72-year-old man being stabbed and rendered unconscious, at least 16 others were injured. According to the Tokyo Fire Department, three victims suffered from severe wounds.

The rest of the victims sustained minor injuries from smoke inhalation. Following the emergency stop, panic passengers scrambled to find a quick exit.

Some were observed as escaping the attacker through a connecting door between carriages and climbing over train windows.

Witnesses said Hattori held a plastic bottle (most likely the lighter fluid) and knife while chasing other passengers.

4 /10 Admiration For The Joker

Hattori didn’t make any attempt to evade the police when they arrived at the scene following the attack, so it probably was true he wanted to be arrested and awarded the death penalty.

He also admitted to having copied the Joker in the attack, both the wardrobe and behavior. He admired the Joker because the character always seemed remorseless despite all his crimes, including murders.

As for the cabinet, Hattori purchased the purple and green suit, especially for the occasion. He needed a crowd to execute his plans, and he knew Tokyo would be crowded on Halloween.

3 /10 Arrested Without Violence

Videos of the incident, recorded by some passengers, soon made their rounds on social media.

People were stumbling to get out of the train, mainly through the windows, because the doors did not open immediately after the emergency stop.

While other passengers screamed and ran, Hattori was seen sitting alone on an intact train seat, smoking a cigarette.

In another video, he was seen being surrounded by the police. Kyota Hattori was arrested without violence. He wanted to be taken into custody, tried, and sentenced to death, to begin with.

2 /10 High-Profile Attacks

According to Shunsuke Kimura, one of the passengers who captured the horrifying moments on video, the train doors were still closed after the train stopped, and many passengers had no idea what was happening on the 8th car.

When finally they realized something had gone wrong, they decided to exit the train through the windows. In recent years there have been several high-profile attacks in Japan.

Although violent crimes are relatively rare overall, nearly every incident caused injuries in multiple victims, even deaths.

1 /10 Previous Incidents

The incident reminded the Japanese of the sarin gas attack by the Aum Shirnikyo cult on the Tokyo subway system in 1995. The attack killed 14 people and injured thousands of others.

Sarin did not immediately kill people; instead, it turned the nervous system against the body, resulting in uncontrollable behaviors before eventually the body could not take sustain it any longer and shut down.

More recently, in late August, also on the subway, an attacker sprayed sulfuric acid to another man’s face. On October 15, two men were stabbed at JR Ueno Station.