Five people were killed and another was seriously injured in a road accident in Itako, Ibaraki Prefecture, early Monday, police said.
The accident occurred at around 1 a.m. when a car veered across a two-lane prefectural road and slammed head-on into an oncoming car, according to a police spokesman.
The driver of the car that crossed the centerline, 23-year-old Satoru Arano, a company employee from Aso, Ibaraki Prefecture, was killed, the spokesman said.
Ichiro Minowa, a 50-year-old farmer from Aso, Ibaraki Prefecture, is believed to have been driving the other car. He and three other passengers in his car were also killed, the spokesman said.
The other passenger in Minowa's car is in a coma, he said.