A 61-year-old woman suffered serious stab wounds in the back and arm Wednesday afternoon in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, and a woman in her 70s was later arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, according to police and fire officials.
The police are checking if the suspect, who claims to be from Fukuoka, is mentally competent to be held criminally liable, as she has made strange comments, including: "I got upset from being stared at," police officials said.
The victim suffered three wounds and was taken to a hospital, but her injuries are not life-threatening, the officials said. She told authorities she did not know her assailant.
The stabbing took place around 4 p.m. in a corridor near the first floor of Tokyu Department Store's Toyoko outlet, which was closed Wednesday. But people walking near Shibuya Station's Tokyu Toyoko Line connection in an adjacent building were briefly in panic.
The police later found the suspect, holding a knife, about 20 meters from the site.
A 23-year-old graduate student who had been waiting for her friend said: "I heard a woman scream. Then people ran and yelled 'Go!' and pushed me away. That made me panic, too."