The Nagasaki District Court sentenced a German man to six years in prison Wednesday for an attempted murder committed when he was traveling in the southwestern city last year.
Tobias Gross, 25, stabbed a Japanese man in his 50s multiple times in the neck on a street in Nagasaki early on Aug. 3, 2017, according to the court. He also set a shirt on fire in his hotel room before going outside and assaulting the man.
Gross said he committed the crime to vent his anger after being turned down by women.
The defendant "was upset at failing to pick up women at a bar that night and decided to express his anger by killing someone," Judge Taku Komatsumoto said in handing down the sentence. "His motive was extremely malicious and he had a strong intent to kill."
Prosecutors had sought a 12-year sentence during the lay judge trial. But the court reduced it believing the victim's injuries were relatively light.
Lawyers defending Gross had argued that the crime was committed under the influence of alcohol which they said caused a "different personality to come to the fore."