By KIRIKO NEMOTO/ Staff Writer
December 15, 2025 at 13:01 JST
An area of the Boss E-Zo Fukuoka entertainment complex in Fukuoka is cordoned off after a woman was stabbed on Dec. 14. (Masaru Komiyaji)
FUKUOKA--A 30-year-old man was arrested on Dec. 15 on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with two back-to-back knife attacks on the previous day, police announced.
Naoya Yamaguchi from Itoshima, Fukuoka Prefecture, is suspected of stabbing a 44-year-old male company employee around the chest within the Mizuho PayPay Dome Fukuoka, the home stadium of the SoftBank Hawks professional baseball team, in the city’s Chuo Ward around 5 p.m.
Yamaguchi, unemployed, admitted that he stabbed the man with an intent to kill, according to Fukuoka prefectural police.
He was carrying two knives, which police believe were used in the attacks.
About one minute later, a 27-year-old female company employee from Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, was stabbed in the back at the Boss E-Zo Fukuoka entertainment complex, about 80 meters from the Fukuoka Dome.
Neither victim’s injuries are life-threatening.
Yamaguchi indicated he was involved in the second attack, police said.
Yamaguchi, who fled the scene, called police from a pay phone in Kasuga, Fukuoka Prefecture, around 2 a.m. to report that he had seen the man involved in the attacks.
He later identified himself as the assailant during the phone call, and police detained him at a convenience store where the pay phone was installed.
According to police, the male victim encountered a man in front of an elevator near the first-floor parking area at the Fukuoka Dome.
He told the man that he was not allowed there because the area was restricted to authorized personnel.
At that point, the man suddenly attacked without saying a word, police said.
The victim later made his own way to the Boss E-Zo Fukuoka facility and was transported to a hospital in Fukuoka.
The female company employee was attacked when she was entering the entertainment complex.
After being stabbed, the woman collapsed while trying to return toward the entrance, police said.
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