Kawasaki man arrested over murder of Sapporo woman

Friday 20th November, 09:58 AM JST

SAPPORO —

Police on Thursday arrested a 20-year-old man for allegedly stabbing a woman to death in Sapporo’s Chuo Ward. Police said they responded to a call from a resident on Thursday evening, reporting a woman screaming.

Police found a woman in her 20s lying on the street. She had been stabbed in the chest and other parts of her body tens of times. She was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead soon after.

Police arrested Atsushi Yoshizawa, 20, a Kawasaki-area student, who was near the scene of the crime and holding a knife, for attempted murder. Yoshizawa was quoted as saying that he was trying to get back together with the girl but “she refused, and I just lost it.”

According to police, the weapon was a cooking knife with an 18-cm blade. The incident occurred about 3 km from Sapporo station in a residential neighborhood.

News reports

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15 Comments

numbskull at 10:10 AM JST - 20th November

Yoshizawa was quoted as saying that he was trying to get back together with the girl but “she refused, and I just lost it.”

Yeah, he "just lost it" and an 18 cm knife magically appeared in his hand. Sure.
chotto at 11:50 AM JST - 20th November

"I just lost it". What a loser.

I bet this girl had everything going for her, and just didn't want to be dragged down by this emotionally immature, unstable, low-life scum. Lock him up for life.
Tahoochi at 12:27 PM JST - 20th November

Jeez... some people's kids.

Chotto:

I bet this girl had everything going for her

She could have been a cheating tramp with no job and a drug addiction, but that still doesn't justify this moron's actions. Why would you assume that she had everything going for her? Did you read something about her in a different article?
Maria at 01:08 PM JST - 20th November

So he "lost it" and just happened to have an 18-inch cooking knife on him? Sounds a bit premeditated to me.
chotto at 01:14 PM JST - 20th November

I said "I 'bet'" which means I don't know, but I would assume, given the number of lives of young bright people that are taken in such a selfish manner.

But like you say, whatever kind of person she was, it doesn't justify this low-life's crime,
MadokaKato at 01:58 PM JST - 20th November

So I guess it's ok to stab your ex-girlfriend once she refuse to get back together??

That is a very lame excuse.
Yelnats at 02:09 PM JST - 20th November

I bet she was stabbed in the neck too as that is what they like to stab here.
Tahoochi at 02:41 PM JST - 20th November

A Yahoo Japan news article says the guy said: "よりを戻そうと思ったが、こんな結果になってしまった" (I was intending on getting back together with her, but this is how it ended up).

An MSN Japan news article says the guy said: "平間さんとよりを戻そうとしたが、断られたのでやった" (I was trying to get back together with Hirama san but she refused and that's why I did it).

And JT quotes this guy as saying something totally different as well...

...I didn't realize how loosely the media quotes people. Although whatever this guy actually said doesn't let him off the hook, I'm kind of disappointed to say that I now find it hard to believe what the media "quotes" people as saying.
davidrhys at 06:53 PM JST - 20th November

Lock the evil scumbag up, and let someone on the inside "lose it" with him.
Shaolin7 at 06:57 PM JST - 20th November

Yes I agree Tahoochi, the translations are different, some parts get excised or "edited", re-pieced together, etc. Regardless, this murderer and this crime continue to exhibit the very desperate need for adequate counselling / proper resources available to those who need it (that applies to both the poor victim and now murderer, in this case).
dolphingirl at 09:25 PM JST - 20th November

Rejection is a powerful emotion and although it's definitely a lame exuse, unfortunately it is not unusual. In fact, being rejected is probably the most common motive driving men to kill women. Very sad. I hope justice is served for this woman.
Fadamor at 12:53 AM JST - 21st November

Tahoochi, you can assume she had everything going for her because she was smart. You can infer she was smart because she was bright enough to realize this guy was not a good "catch" and decided to "release him back into the pond". Where she erred was in letting him get near her again. Moral of the story: Never let your ex into your kitchen where the knives are. Nothing good will come of it.
Nessie at 04:38 PM JST - 25th November

...I didn't realize how loosely the media quotes people.

Japanese is tricky that way. The closer you try to get, the more slippery and pear-shaped your translation goes.
Nessie at 04:39 PM JST - 25th November

I heard it was at South 14, West 1. Anyone else hear where?
Nessie at 04:40 PM JST - 25th November

Good thing they got him, or they'd have had the j-satsu coming round ringing the gaijin doorbells like they do.