Man arrested for attempted murder after pushing woman off platform at Tokyo station

Tuesday 24th March, 09:19 AM JST

TOKYO —

A 24-year-old man was arrested for attempted murder on Monday night, accused of pushing a 60-year-old woman off a platform and onto the train tracks at Tokyo station.

Police said the woman was waiting for a Chuo line rapid train on platform 1 of Tokyo station, when she was pushed from behind onto the tracks at about 8.10 p.m., and hit by the train arriving at the platform. The woman suffered injuries to her head and body, but was in a stable condition in hospital, police said Tuesday.

Police said Shusuke Ota, reportedly unemployed and suffering from a mental disability, ran away after pushing the woman off the platform but was caught and held by a station staff member and two other men until police arrived.

An eyewitness told police that one of the men yelled at him asking him if he knew what he had just done, and said that Ota was screaming that he had failed an employment exam and that the world did not need him. Ota later admitted to police he pushed the woman off the platform, saying he wanted to die, and did it to get the death penalty.

The woman was pushed from the platform where the front car of the train was about to stop. The train driver said he saw the woman on the tracks and applied the brakes. The train made contact with the woman at a low speed, police said.

News reports

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Latest 15 of 59 Total Comments Show All

ca1ic0cat at 09:19 PM JST - 24th March

He is right that the world doesn't need him but what does pushing a woman off a train platform do to resolve that problem? Mentally diminished is right - like, completely over the edge.
grafton at 12:02 AM JST - 25th March

I have a suspicion this sort of thing will increase in the coming years as the parents of the older otaku start dying off & they are forced out of their nests & into the real world, a world that they know nothing about.
Ke11iente at 01:26 AM JST - 25th March

What a jerk. HE wanted to die, so he thought the best way was to kill someone else and get the death penalty. I can't STAND it.
yawmin at 01:46 AM JST - 25th March

she lived and he had mental problems, i can predict he wont serve anytime, just get saying sarcastically mental "help".
medievaltimes at 09:05 AM JST - 25th March

In other words, Japan is no worse or better than any other developed nation in this respect.

Not true. Of course there are mentally disturbed people everywhere, we all know that. But to say Japan's mental health services are "developed" is silly. All cultures are NOT the same. There are differences between them.

Why was he allowed to be in public without a guardian in the first place? What was the mental disability? Was he on meds? Why wasn't he deemed a danger to himself or others by his mental health care professionals? Does he have a previous criminal record? Could/should this have been prevented?

Personally, during my time in Japan, I have seen a shockingly large number of mentally disturbed people roaming around in public. And what is more shocking is they are usually alone and not accompanied by a guardian.
khemet at 01:21 PM JST - 25th March

I think the only mental illness many people have here is weakness. I have noticed that men here in Japan that decide take their frustrations out do so by chosing the most vulnerable person they can find. Like with the stabbings incidents that go on, majority of the incidents are men stabbing women or children. In this incident its a 20 yrs old male pushing a 60 yrs old woman onto the train track. Maybe its just me that has noticed this observation but if you look at about 90% of the crimes here that involve people getting hurt, its a man hurting elderly, delicate women, and children. I am sure in this case there were hundreds of people to push over the edge (dont know why he chose to do that) but he chose a combination of the vulnerable, an elderly woman. I have lost a lot of respect for the dudes here because of that. If it is truly a mental illness that is causing such misfortunes the men really need some type mental health treatment and self confident classes on some ole- look and the mirror and tell yourself this every morning: "I am man, I don't have to pick on children, women, and elderly to feel better about myself."
TheguyNextdoor at 01:32 PM JST - 25th March

They do have issues with men attacking women and children over here. Not saying it doesn't happen anywhere else, but men here seem to take their frustrations out on innocent people. Think they need the "I am somebody" speech when they wake up. Listen to some MJ, man in the mirror.......punks.
IchyaWarFare at 01:43 PM JST - 25th March

Man and woman do it alike here, men are just more prominent here. They can not take life so they take another so someone will take their lives for them. Even if we take away the death penalty, the suicide rate would just climb or some other statistic.
Nessie at 03:40 PM JST - 25th March

Ota later admitted to police he pushed the woman off the platform, saying he wanted to die, and did it to get the death penalty.

Well now we know why he failed his employment exam. Fries with that, Ota?
NoUseForaName at 09:04 PM JST - 25th March

frontandcentre Perhaps the guy had been shoved one too many times by an Obasan rushing for a seat and was expressing his pent-up anger and frustration.

Nice, I initially thought the same thing. But on a serious note, I've seen more mentally unstable people roaming the streets of Aichi than I've seen in the more then 20 countries I've visited! And also been harassed on three separate occasions by mentally disturbed men, two of which occurred at a station. All of which no one stepped in to assist!? I'm surprised the station staff was quick enough to grab him and hold him until the police arrived.
flammenwerfer at 08:28 AM JST - 26th March

...if I had been one of the bystanders restraining him, I would have cinched an aikido elbow lock on him so hard that it would have busted his elbow. Lock this oxygen thief away and throw away the key.
Mz at 11:38 AM JST - 26th March

I so don't get this - you have your problems so you kill, or try to kill, someone else? How many crimes in the last few months have been committed and the perp says "I was upset/frustrated/having a bad day/angry about something"....Very scary.
Castella at 12:04 PM JST - 28th March

How deplorable mental health assistance is in this country! The Japanese *still *consider counseling to be a stigma, and the number of qualified counselors are few.

Yet the government continues to ignore the problem. How sad....
boboh at 05:23 PM JST - 29th March

Like most J-guys, not real smart this one. Just jump in front yourself next time, little coward man.
nurse13 at 08:48 AM JST - 30th March

Unbelievable and frightening at the same time. I’m glad to hear that this elderly woman wasn’t killed and is on the road to recovery. Whitepocky, I agree with you that there are some mentally disturbed people in Japan and do fit perfectly in society. Unfortunately, these disturbed people are difficult to distinguish from the normal people. One has to be cautious and should assess his or her surroundings for potential threats/dangers. One should always heed his or her instinct and if uneasy at any moment, should remove oneself from such environment immediately. Stay safe everyone.