A group of men stormed a hostess club in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on Thursday morning, fatally stabbing the manager and tying up the other 10 people in the establishment during a robbery, police said. Investigators believe the culprits may be Chinese.
The attack occurred at around 2:10 a.m. at the club Venus, located on the sixth floor of a building in the Kabukicho entertainment district near the metropolitan government headquarters.
The robbers made off with 3 million yen from the club, as well as customers' cash, cash cards and watches.
Police identified the 59-year-old stabbing victim as Ryuzaburo Ito. Two other club employees sustained slight wounds, mainly on their right arms.
According to police, five or six men stormed into the club and stabbed Ito, who was at the counter, with a knife before tying up customers and employees with adhesive tape. The men spent about an hour in the club before fleeing, police said.
Police have confirmed that, aside from Ito, 10 others were at the club at the time of the raid -- five hostesses from Taiwan, Thailand and China and five Japanese male customers.
Ito started working as the club's manager this month.
Police said the robbers were heard speaking Chinese and broken Japanese. One wore a white T-shirt and black pants, and all concealed their faces with panty hose.
The club is usually open from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m., but that night it had stayed open longer.
A 24-year-old computer engineer who passed by the scene saw medics giving Ito artificial respiration as they were taking him out and the women looked pale with shock.