A 21-year-old man arrested Monday evening after hijacking a Tokyo-Nagano bus with 33 passengers aboard has told investigators that he was planning to kill himself after arriving in Nagano, according to police.
Joji Hino, from Tochigi Prefecture, also told the driver before surrendering that life was no fun because he had been fired from his job, Nagano Prefectural Police said.
According to police, Hino hijacked the inter-city bus, which had left Tokyo's Shinjuku terminal and was bound for Nagano, on the Joshinetsu expressway at knifepoint early Monday evening and surrendered to police less than an hour later. No one was hurt in the incident.
Hino was arrested at Joshinetsu's Matsushiro parking area after he handed over his knife to the bus driver and allowed him to leave. The passengers, 13 men and 20 women, were released after the bus arrived at the parking area shortly after 7 p.m.
Police said Hino held the driver, Osamu Obinata, 54, hostage at the parking area for about half an hour.
Hino allegedly commandeered the bus at around 6:40 p.m. while it was on the Joshinetsu and ordered it driven to the Matsushiro parking area, about 17 km away.
Police stormed the bus and arrested Hino after the driver persuaded him to hand over his knife and exited the vehicle.
Hino later reportedly told investigators he was tired of dealing with people and hijacked the bus "out of self-recklessness."
The driver said Hino told him he had been fired shortly after he found a job and he is "fed up with life."
"I have been fired. Life is no fun," Hino reportedly told the driver during the standoff.
Hino had been working part-time jobs after he dropped out from high school. He recently quit a job at