One man was killed Saturday and eight people were injured, one seriously, after an 11-vehicle pileup on the Tomei Expressway in Shimizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, police said.
Hiromitsu Hosoya, a 41-year-old company manager from Yokohama's Aoba Ward, died in an accident triggered by cargo falling from a large truck around 6 a.m.
Police said 10 other vehicles were involved in rear-end collisions after some 25 paper bags of powdered industrial material fell off the truck. The highway near the accident site was closed for over four hours.
Police arrested truck driver Yoshikazu Maekawa, from Izumi, Osaka Prefecture, at the scene for driving under the influence of alcohol.