Tokyo Police Rearrest GSDF Officer For Alleged Knife Possession While Trespassing at Chinese Embassy

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:39 JST, April 14, 2026

The Metropolitan Police Department on Tuesday rearrested a GSDF officer, who was arrested on suspicion of trespassing on the premises of the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo, for the alleged illegal possession of a kitchen knife at the time.

According to MPD sources, the 23-year-old second lieutenant stationed at the Ebino Garrison in Ebino, Miyazaki Prefecture, allegedly had in his possession a kitchen knife with a 18-centimeter blade without legitimate reason while trespassing on the Chinese Embassy’s premises in Minato Ward, Tokyo, at about 8:55 p.m. on March 24. The sources said he said, “I’ll remain silent,” during his interrogation.

According to the Defense Ministry and other sources, after graduating from a private university in Tokyo, he joined the GSDF in March 2025. He finished the GSDF’s Officer Candidate School and was in charge of howitzers at the Ebino Garrison. There were no issues with his work performance, according to the sources.

He reportedly took time off on March 23 and headed to Tokyo. On the early morning of the following day, he bought a kitchen knife at a store in Tokyo’s Ginza district. After spending hours at an internet cafe, he visited the neighborhood of the Chinese Embassy about an hour before trespassing onto its grounds. He is believed to have gained entry to the embassy premises by scaling a fence from an adjacent building.

He allegedly walked around and hid on the embassy’s grounds for about several minutes. Leaving a kitchen knife in the shrubbery, the man talked to an embassy official and demanded a meeting with the ambassador. He was then restrained.

“I wanted to tell the ambassador to refrain from hardline remarks against Japan,” he was cited as saying during the MPD’s interrogation. “If my request was rejected, I was determined to kill myself.”