YOKOHAMA -- Ichiro Kojima, 22, has been put in special detention since Friday to assess his fitness to bear criminal responsibility for charges of murder and attempted murder aboard a Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train.
According to sources in the Kanagawa prefectural police, Kojima has acknowledged harboring resentment toward society but his explanations of his motive have been inexplicable, requiring him to be evaluated by a specialist.
Interviews with his family and others indicated that Kojima, who is from Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, was isolated from society and had been unable to find a place where he felt he belonged.
'Point of desperation?'
Kojima's parents and grandmother attempted to visit him at the Odawara Police Station on June 14, five days after his arrest.
He reportedly opened the door to the interview room, stared at them for a few seconds, and then closed the door. He also refused to accept gifts they had brought and to meet with them the following day.
"Did he reach a point of desperation? It's terrible that things came to this," his grandmother said.
Kojima was arrested and sent to prosecutors for killing a man and injuring two women aboard a Shinkansen train traveling between Shin-Yokohama and Odawara stations on the evening of June 9.
Sources said he has repeatedly spoken of long wanting to kill someone and go to prison.
Investigative sources said he has responded to questioning calmly, with an unvarying facial expression.
When asked why he decided to commit murder, he reportedly said, "My grandmother told me, 'I'm cutting ties with you.'" When pressed further, he said, "I'm done," and offered no further explanation.
According to relatives and others, Kojima stopped attending a junior high school in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, and developed a bad relationship with his father.
On the recommendation of his mother, he entered a facility that supports self-reliance, where he became more stable. He attended a part-time high school and job-training academy, then found work.
A source at the facility said: "[Kojima] didn't behave problematically. I don't think he felt like he belonged anywhere [before coming here]."
Yet he had difficulty with interpersonal relations at his job at a machine repair company in Saitama Prefecture. He returned to Ichinomiya after less than a year.
After the incident, his mother recalled in her comments that, "He lost all confidence and would hint at committing suicide."
Last autumn, when Kojima was 21 years old, he was adopted by his maternal grandmother, who lives in Okazaki. This was his mother's idea. Nevertheless, he continued to say things like, "I'm worthless. I want to kill myself," and left home repeatedly.
'I'm not happy'
In November, Kojima found a job in Okazaki. According to his former employer, on Dec. 20 he suddenly announced: "I'm quitting. I can't stand this life. I want to be homeless."
Soon afterward he left home and lived outdoors in places including a park in Agematsu, Nagano Prefecture, according to the prefectural police.
After the incident, he reportedly told investigators: "I went by bicycle. I'd taken several trips to Nagano and liked it."
During this time, his mother and grandmother were unable to contact him, until he finally got a cell phone this spring. His grandmother urged him to come home, but also asked him, "You're happy bouncing around wherever you want to go, aren't you?"
He responded, "I'm not happy."
According to the prefectural police, he may have felt lonely and that he had been abandoned.
That phone call with his grandmother would be his last contact with his family before being arrested. In an interview, his grandmother denied telling Kojima she was cutting ties with him.
According to the prefectural police, Kojima bought a hatchet at a hardware store in Nagano Prefecture on June 8, the day before the attack. The next day he traveled to Tokyo, where he boarded a Shinkansen train to Shin-Osaka Station and allegedly attacked three passengers with the hatchet.
"I think he decided to commit the crime around the time of the last phone call with his grandmother. It's like some thread snapped," an investigative source said.
In her comments, his mother said: "His grandmother adopted him and gave him a place to be, but in the end he couldn't take it. I regret not forcibly bringing him back after he left home [before the incident]."
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