A teenager held a 9-year-old boy hostage at knifepoint for more than two hours on a street in Tokyo's Minato Ward Thursday before being arrested by metropolitan police.
The boy was identified as Natsu Fukuda, a third-year elementary school student who lives near Odaiba Kaihinkoen station where the incident took place. He was reportedly unharmed.
Passersby notified police that the teen had put a sharp instrument to the boy's throat at around 4:30 p.m. He then holed up in the lobby of a nearby condominium complex and demanded to talk to the press or the chief justice of the Supreme Court, eyewitnesses said. Police are still trying to determine the teen's motive.
Police attempts to coax the youth into releasing the boy failed, and police charged toward him and rescued the boy at about 6:45 p.m., officials said.
The incident took place in front of the Odaiba Kaihinkoen station on the Yurikamome transport system line, and police cordoned off the area in order to deal with the young man.