A Tokyo company employee who said he flew into bouts of "rail rage" due to overcrowded trains and has confessed to ripping down hand straps has been arrested on suspicion of destruction of property, police said Tuesday.
Michio Matsumuru, 63, of Adachi Ward, was arrested Saturday evening on a Chiyoda Line subway train between Machiya and Kitasenju stations, the police said.
He allegedly grabbed a hand strap with both hands, twisted it and applied his body weight before breaking it off.
Matsumura told the police he was angry because the train was crowded.
According to investigators, he said: "I got tired of standing, so I thought I would cause trouble for the railway company. I started doing it in March this year."
Some 200 hand straps have been reported stolen from railways and subways since January last year. The police are now trying to determine if Matsumura was responsible for all of them.
He was caught on a security camera pulling off another hand strap in a train carriage on the Chiyoda Line on the evening of April 5, the police alleged.