A man was arrested Sunday after a local assembly member in Chiba Prefecture was found to have been stabbed to death at his condominium.
Norihisa Ishikawa, a 71-year-old assembly member of the city of Kisarazu, was found by his wife lying face down in the entrance to their 12th-floor condominium at around 8:50 p.m. on Saturday. His death was confirmed about one hour later.
Shoichi Ishikawa, 44, was arrested at a station in Tokyo, possessing a knife. He is the husband of Norihisa's daughter.
The son-in-law reportedly admitted stabbing Norihisa after hitting him on the head, but denied he had intended to kill him, according to investigators.
Norihisa lived with his wife in the condo. She had gone out around 7:30 p.m. that day after dinner and when she came back she found her husband with multiple wounds, according to the police.
Norihisa, who joined what was then the Construction Ministry after graduating from the University of Tokyo in 1970, was serving his first term in the city assembly.
According to sources close to the family, Shoichi wanted to succeed his father-in-law and run in nationwide local elections in April, but had to give up the plan because tensions arose between the two.
