Restaurant owner stabbed to death by regular customer in Osaka

Tuesday 05th August, 03:53 PM JST

OSAKA —

A 69-year-old restaurant owner was stabbed to death on Monday night by a 57-year-old regular customer in his restaurant in Naniwa, Osaka. Police arrested the suspect after he turned himself in at a local police station.

Masayuki Kuchiishi was arrested for allegedly stabbing restaurant owner Takichi Aso in the stomach with a knife around 8:45 p.m. Aso was taken to hospital but died soon after arrival.

According to police investigations, Kuchiishi appeared at the restaurant around 8 p.m. and was drinking alone near the victim who was managing the cash register. Kuchiishi suddenly stabbed the victim with a 25-centimeter-long knife, witnesses told police.

Kuchiishi was arrested about 25 minutes later after he appeared at the police station. Police said the two had been in a dispute over a monetary loan.

11 Comments

romulus3 at 05:22 PM JST - 5th August

money and friendship/patronage don't mix. everyone knows this.
thepro at 06:11 PM JST - 5th August

Did you ever notice that in a lot of crime stories it says that the suspects turn themselves into the police? Do they really kill someone and then just walk up to a koban and say, 'woops, I killed somebody'?
Nippon5 at 06:28 PM JST - 5th August

thepro--- It would seem so, Maybe thats why J cops cant solve a crime if the criminal doesnt walk in the door of the Koban.

I always see people talking to the J cops in the Koban near my house and wonder did they just kill someone??? Maybe its just me
sensei258 at 07:40 PM JST - 5th August

More criminal psychology on parade. "You owe me, so I'm gonna kill you and spend the rest of my life in prison, just to teach you a lesson."
OgieDoggie at 12:24 AM JST - 6th August

This is one thing that I don't understand about Japanese news reporting.They never seem to ask WHY did this person do this.They just love to report a good stabbing. The guy who did it was a regular customer (I mean I would hate to be stabbed by a total stranger) so something had to get him mad enough to stab the owner - maybe the owner was watering down the drinks - but there had to be more to this - come on you news people dig into the story!
MrMukatsuku at 12:50 AM JST - 6th August

More criminal psychology on parade. "You owe me, so I'm gonna kill you and spend the rest of my life in prison, just to teach you a lesson."

Or possibly "I owe you, I cannot pay, you're pi$$ing me off by always asking me to pay, I'll teach you not to pi$$ me off."

As OgieDoggie says: Dig deeper you journalists. Otherwise your readers are left with nothing to do but speculate on the intentions of the players.
medievaltimes at 01:31 AM JST - 6th August

Whats the motive?
wower at 10:36 AM JST - 6th August

I only see two solutions to this problem. Either ban all knifes or hand out guns to everyone. Problem solved.
Sarge at 10:41 AM JST - 6th August

Gotta watch those regulars.
PepinGalarga at 12:01 PM JST - 6th August

if that was a regular, i worry what the new customers may do.

the customer is always right??
Notginger at 03:36 PM JST - 6th August

I would have thought this kind of behaviour was rather irregular.