Pokemon shop employee stabbed to death in Tokyo's commercial district
The suspected assailant also died after stabbing himself in the neck.
A Tokyo Fire Department's van in front of a commercial complex where a female employee at a Pokemon merchandise shop was stabbed to death in the Ikebukuro district in Tokyo, Japan, on Mar 26, 2026. (Photo: Kyodo via Reuters)
TOKYO: An employee at a Pokemon merchandise shop was stabbed to death in Tokyo's commercial district on Thursday (Mar 26), and the suspected assailant also died after stabbing himself, shocking shoppers during the children's spring break season in Japan.
The woman, in her 20s, was stabbed in her neck at 7.16pm local time (6.16pm, Singapore time) in a commercial complex by a man also in his 20s, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said.
The attacker then stabbed himself in the neck, the police said, adding that both the attacker and victim were in critical condition when they were taken to hospital and were later pronounced dead.
The victim was an employee of the Pokemon store on the second floor of the popular Sunshine City building.
Broadcaster TV Asahi said the perpetrator was wielding knives in both hands.
The motive remains unclear, local media reported.
Videos posted on social media showed shoppers running away from the site as ambulances converged on the building, located just a few hundred metres away from the Ikebukuro terminal, one of the busiest train stations in Tokyo.
A spokesperson for Pokemon Co, which operates about two dozen stores in Japan selling merchandise from the popular franchise, was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters.
Strict gun controls in Japan mean knife attacks are a more common form of public violence, with multiple stabbing incidents on trains and at railway stations in the past few years.
