Photo/Illutration Sociologist Shinji Miyadai, a professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Police on Nov. 30 were searching for a man who seriously injured a noted Japanese sociologist by repeatedly stabbing him on a university campus in Tokyo the previous day.

Shinji Miyadai, a 63-year-old professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University, was cut in the neck, the back of the head, his armpits and knees, and he also suffered defensive wounds on both arms, the Metropolitan Police Department said.

He is conscious and his injuries are not life-threatening, police said.

Investigators said Miyadai said he “could not identify the man because it was dark.”

Police received a report from a witness at 4:15 p.m. on Nov. 29 that “a man had been stabbed” on the university’s Minami-Osawa campus in Hachioji, a city in western Tokyo.

According to the Minami-Osawa Police Station, the suspect approached Miyadai from behind on a street within the campus, struck him on the back of the head and then stabbed the professor.

A security camera caught the suspect running north from the site of the attack.

Police said the suspect is about 1.8 meters tall and was wearing a dark jacket and dark pants. They are investigating the case as an attempted murder.

No knives or other weapons were found at the crime scene.

In response to the attack, the university at 5:50 p.m. urged students to return home in groups, with the help of staff members.

The university held classes as usual on Nov. 30, but it stationed security staff at multiple locations in the Minami-Osawa campus.

A 24-year-old student at the university’s graduate school said she was in a research room around 5 p.m. when she heard a campus announcement: “Please do not go outside because there is a suspicious person.”

“I was surprised,” she said. “I thought something terrible had happened.”

She said she had received a message from a worried friend along with a link to a news site that reported the attack on the campus.

Related News