TOKYO—A 25-year-old factory worker arrested over the killing of seven people in a frenzied attack on a crowd of shoppers in Tokyo has told police he wanted someone to stop him, Japanese media said on Thursday.
Tomohiro Kato posted dozens of warning messages on a mobile phone website ahead of the attack, media have said, raising questions about whether the crimes could have been prevented.
In one message posted just before the attack on Sunday, Kato said he was going to kill people in Akihabara, a popular area for buying discount electronic goods and the centre of Japan's "nerd" culture of video games, comic books and maid cafes.
He is suspected of having driven a truck into a crowd of shoppers in Akihabara at lunchtime, killing four, then getting out and stabbing three more to death, injuring a further 10 in a crime that horrified Japan.
Newspapers published details of Kato's advance planning, saying he had visited the area the day before the attack and questioned several people about road closures.
"I wanted someone to call the authorities and stop me," the regional Tokyo newspaper quoted Kato as telling police. He also said he felt sorry for the seven who died, the paper said.
Akihabara's main street is closed off to vehicles on Sunday for an event called a "pedestrian's paradise" that draws throngs of shoppers.
The local Chiyoda ward called on Thursday for the weekly event to be suspended after the stabbings and because it felt recent street performances had "gone too far".
A woman was arrested in April for lifting her skirt and showing off her underwear as men took pictures, media reported.
While it was hard to say whether the road closure had played a part in the stabbings, residents and shop owners felt there was a need to ensure the safety of the area, the head of the ward said in a statement.
Black-clad family members and friends gathered to mourn the victims at funerals and wakes on Wednesday and Thursday.
Friends of one victim, 21-year-old music student Mai Muto, wiped tears from their eyes as they walked into a hall near their university in Tokyo, some carrying musical instruments to play a last farewell.
"She was a kid with a great future," the Nikkei newspaper quoted Muto's former elementary school teacher as saying. "I wish I could give her my own life."
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