Woman Stabbed to Death at Tokyo Pokemon Center; Suspect Dead After Slashing Own Neck

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:55 JST, March 27, 2026

A female clerk in her 20s was stabbed in the neck and other parts of her body by a man wielding a knife at Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo in the Sunshine City shopping complex in Toshima Ward, Tokyo, on Thursday night, according to the police.

The man allegedly slashed his own neck and arms after stabbing her. Both died after they were taken to the hospital.

A bloodstained knife, believed to be the murder weapon, was found at the crime scene on the second floor of Sunshine City.

“The store was full of families with children, as well as foreign tourists, and there was panic. I was very scared,” said a woman who witnessed the events, her voice trembling.

On Friday, the Metropolitan Police Department announced that the victim was a 21-year-old woman from Hachioji who worked part-time at the store, and the man was a 26-year-old of unknown address and occupation. The two had been in a relationship until July of last year. The MPD arrested the man in December, suspecting him of violating the Anti-Stalking Law.

According to the MPD, the two met around December 2023 at a fast-food restaurant in Hachioji, where she worked part-time, and they were in a relationship from around October 2024 until around July of last year. The man reportedly started stalking her after they separated, and she went to the Hachioji Police Station to seek advice on Dec. 25, 2024.

When police officers escorted her home that day, they found the man nearby and arrested him.

He reportedly told the police: “I wanted to get back together with her. I regret what I did.” As a fruit knife was found in the car he had driven to her home, the MPD referred the man to a public prosecutor on Jan. 8, on suspicion that he had violated the firearms and swords control law. On Jan. 15, he was rearrested on suspicion of secretly filming the woman. On Jan. 29, the man was given a restraining order under the Anti-Stalking Law, and the following day, he was summarily indicted on three charges and released.

Following advice from the MPD, the woman took refuge at a relative’s home for a month until early February. Although she was advised to change jobs, she reportedly said that it had been her dream to work at the Pokemon Center, a store selling merchandise related to the popular Pokemon games.

The MPD had contacted the woman nine times between December, when they first received her report. This included three regular phone check-ins. There were no confirmed reports of the man showing up at her home or workplace after the restraining order was issued.

“We believe we took the best possible measures,” an MPD official said.