A man who almost daily withdrew cash from a bank for a pachinko parlor was beaten and stabbed by four men Friday morning after he took out almost 70 million yen, but his assailants fled without the cash, police said.
Kazuhiko Kimura, who works for a wholesale company that sells the prizes pachinko parlors offer their customers, was stabbed in the chest and abdomen seven times immediately after withdrawing 69.92 million yen from a pachinko parlor's bank account at Asahi Bank's Waseda branch in Shinjuku Ward.
The four men attacked Kimura at around 10:10 a.m. in the bank's parking lot, but fled the scene without the money, according to police.
The men attacked Kimura from behind after he placed the cash on the back seat of his car. Two of the attackers appeared to be about 30 years old and 170 cm tall. They were wearing black shirts. Kimura told police his attackers spoke a foreign language, possibly Chinese.
Kimura withdrew cash from the same branch for the pachinko parlor almost every day at around the same time, police said.
Jun Ibe, a senior officer at the bank's Waseda branch, said he heard a shout and rushed outside to find Kimura on the ground, covered in blood. Kimura was rushed to a nearby hospital and is in serious condition, police said.
A nearby neighbor saw a group of men get out of a silver minivan parked on the street about 10 minutes before the assault, with one carrying what appeared to be a metal tool in his pocket. The car drove off about five minutes after Kimura was attacked, the witness said.