- Asia
- Japan
Driver tried to flee on foot but was apprehended
Alisha Rahaman SarkarMonday 24 November 2025 11:34 GMTComments
Tokyo hit-and-run (AP)
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A man was killed and at least 10 people were injured in a hit-and-run during Japan's national holiday on Monday.
The driver reportedly fled the scene after hitting people on Tokyo's National Highway Route 4 shortly past noon. He was later apprehended by police, authorities said.
The driver allegedly ploughed his car into pedestrians on a crosswalk, then mounted a sidewalk and hit more people. The car eventually crashed into a guardrail about 300m away, NHK reported.
The driver tried to flee on foot, the Metropolitan Police Department said, adding that he was being investigated for violation of the road traffic law.
A man in his 80s was confirmed dead at a local hospital while a woman in her 20s was reported to be in a cardio-respiratory arrest.
Police said the car bore no licence plate and authorities had received a call about two hours before the incident reporting that a male customer had stolen a display vehicle. Police said they were investigating whether the two events were connected.
The incident came a few months after a man in Osaka was arrested for driving his car into seven schoolchildren who were walking home.
Police were treating the case as attempted murder rather than reckless driving after the suspect, Yuki Yazawa, 28, told investigators he was “sick and tired of everything” and drove his car into the children to kill them, officials said.
The schoolchildren were aged 7 and 8 and were walking home from an elementary school nearby, police said. A 7-year-old girl suffered a broken jaw while the rest, all boys, were slightly injured, Osaka police said.
Although violent crimes are rare in Japan, there have been a number of high-profile attacks involving knives or home-made explosives in recent years.
In 2008, a man drove his truck down a street in the Akiharbara shopping area of Tokyo, crashed into a crowd of people and killed three, then got out and stabbed four to death.
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