At least fourteen people were injured on Friday after a violent attack at a factory in central Japan, where a suspect allegedly carried out multiple stabbings and sprayed an unidentified liquid, according to emergency services officials.
The incident occurred at around 4:30 pm local time (0730 GMT) in the city of Mishima, located in Japan’s Shizuoka region. Emergency responders received a distress call from a nearby rubber factory reporting that “five or six people had been stabbed by someone” and that a “spray-like liquid” had also been released during the attack, said Tomoharu Sugiyama, a firefighting department official in Mishima.
“Fourteen people are subject to transportation by emergency services,” Sugiyama told AFP, adding that ambulances were rapidly dispatched to the scene. At least six of the injured were taken to hospital in a fleet of ambulances, though the full extent and nature of their injuries remained unclear.
Japanese media outlets, including public broadcaster NHK, reported that police arrested a man at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder. Authorities have not yet released details about the suspect’s identity or motive, and investigations are ongoing.
NHK reported that all of the victims were conscious following the attack, offering some reassurance despite the seriousness of the incident. Officials have also not confirmed what kind of liquid was sprayed or whether it posed a chemical hazard, though emergency crews secured the area as a precaution.
The factory where the attack took place is operated by Yokohama Rubber Co., a major manufacturer whose operations include producing tyres for trucks and buses, according to information published on the company’s corporate website.
Violent crime remains relatively rare in Japan, which has one of the lowest homicide rates globally and enforces some of the world’s strictest gun control laws. Nevertheless, the country has experienced sporadic violent incidents in recent years, including knife attacks and rare shootings.
High-profile cases include the 2022 assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe and a 2023 shooting and stabbing rampage that left four people dead, including two police officers, for which a Japanese man was sentenced to death in October. More recently, in May, a 43-year-old man was charged with attempted murder following a knife attack at Tokyo’s Toda-mae metro station.
Friday’s attack has once again raised concerns about workplace safety and rare but alarming acts of violence, as authorities work to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident and prevent similar occurrences in the future.
