Tokyo
police have arrested a 42-year-old man accused of stabbing 22-year-old YouTuber
Airi Sato (最上あい) to death while she was livestreaming on a
street in Shinjuku. The
attack occurred Tuesday near Takadanobaba train station. Witnesses and viewers
of the stream said Sato began screaming for help before the broadcast suddenly
cut out. She was taken to the hospital with serious injuries but did
not survive.
The
attacker, Kenji Takano (高野健一), was arrested at the scene and is suspected of attempted murder. According
to several media reports, Takano knew Sato through her livestreams and they had
met several times. A financial conflict between them is believed to have arisen
since 2022, when Takano began lending him money.
Media
outlets such as NHK in Japan report that Takano had won a court order for Sato
to return a large sum of money, but she failed to pay. Takano apparently traveled
from Oyama, a city about 160 kilometers from Tokyo, to carry out the attack
after tracking her location during the livestream on the app WhoWatch.
A witness said he saw a man wearing a black hat and mask attack Sato, then hold his cell phone over her. On social media, Sato's followers began posting messages of concern such as " Where is he? " and " Someone help! " Although Japan has one of the lowest crime rates in the world, there have been several cases of knife and homemade weapon attacks in recent years , causing concern among the public. And of course, the case did not go unchallenged:
- " It seems the
anti-fan was caught red-handed ."
- " Lately, everyone
has been showing off on streams without any problems, but I think they
should be more aware of the danger of earning someone's hate; you never
know when or why it might happen ."
- " It appears that
the perpetrator, right after stabbing her, took the victim's phone, showed
it on the live stream, and said something like, 'Is she dead?' That's
not something a sane person would do ."
- " Another one of
those guys who thinks he's invincible because he spends a lot of money? "
- " Theory: The
attacker was a fan who spent a lot of money on the stream. It's
a high-risk job ."
- " It's close to
where I live, but it's still scary ."
- " Security has
gotten much worse lately ."
