TOKYO (TR) – Earlier this yr, Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested a 51-year-old man over the alleged deadly stabbing of a bar hostess exterior her high-rise residence constructing in Shinjuku Ward.
At round 3:00 a.m. on Might 8, Manabu Wakui, of no recognized occupation, allegedly used a fruit knife to repeatedly stab Toshino Hirasawa, 25, within the abdomen, neck and again in a courtyard of the constructing in Nishi Shinjuku.
Hirasawa was later confirmed lifeless at a hospital.
“I’m not a stalker!” Wakui yelled earlier than police arrived on the scene. Officers later discovered him to be possession of a blood-soaked knife.
Regardless of the claims of Wakui, who’s from Kawasaki Metropolis, Kanagawa Prefecture, about not being a stalker, data with the police say in any other case on this story of one-way affection that resulted in violence.
“I needed to bruise her physique”
Wakui arrived on the residence a number of hours earlier than the incident to lie in watch for Hirasawa. After seeing her arrive, he chased her for a number of dozen meters and stabbed her to demise with the fruit knife, inflicting dozens of wounds to her neck, abdomen and again.
“I needed to bruise her physique,” he later informed police. “I gave her 18 million yen on the situation that we get married, and he or she didn’t pay me again.”
Nevertheless, based mostly on a narrative on the positioning of Shukan Shincho in August, there isn’t any recognized historical past of a relationship between Wakui and Hirasawa. What is thought is his historical past of stalking her.
Hirasawa had expertise as a bar hostess all throughout Tokyo. In posts on social media, she is usually seen surrounded by costly bottles of champagne as she flashes the peace signal. Wakui was acquainted with Hirasawa by way of his visits to her bars.
“Two or three years in the past, Wakui began frequenting the ladies’ bar in Shinjuku that Hirasawa ran, persistently hitting on her,” a police reporter says. “He’d wait at her house, which prompted hassle. In December 2021, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police gave him a verbal warning. Nevertheless, he confirmed no indicators of stopping his stalking.”
In Might 2022, police arrested him for violating the Stalking Prevention Act. The next June, they issued him a one-year restraining order.
A yr later, in July 2023, when Tokyo police checked on the scenario, Hirasawa stated, “I’m wonderful now.” Because of this, she didn’t ask for an extension, which prompted the restraining order to be lifted.
Nevertheless, Wakui’s resentment continued to develop.
“You by no means know when a buyer will go away”
Hirasawa was a well-liked hostess within the ritzy Ginza quarter and Ueno leisure district. Under is a submit that she made on social media throughout her time in Ginza, together with a selfie of herself sporting glittering jewellery and holding a bottle of LOUIS XIII Cognac. In it, her need to be the number-one hostess on the membership is obvious.
“It’s not unusual to overlook out on the number-one spot by a couple of thousand yen,” she wrote. “So, you find yourself regretting not having had a drink at the moment [with a customer]. In case you say, ‘I’ll meet you subsequent week, so let’s have champagne then♪’ after which lose contact, you’ll remorse not having had champagne that day. You by no means know when a buyer will go away.”
She additionally wrote about beginning out within the enterprise, when she was 18 and dealing in Ginza. At the moment, she was typically ignored and unable to get prospects.
“After I lastly began at X (the title of a membership in Ginza), I went to work every single day,” she wrote. “Even when there have been prospects with a reservation, I all the time sat down when a drop-in buyer got here in,” she wrote. “I wrote down my buyer notes and gross sales every single day with out fail. I began with zero prospects, however within the fourth month I lastly grew to become No. 1, and I maintained that place till I stop, and that’s how I received to the place I’m at present.”
A month earlier than she was killed, Hirasawa was energetic on Twitter.
“I do know that whenever you’re not [making money], you are likely to suppose negatively, however that feeling is conveyed to [your] prospects, and your product worth goes down,” she wrote on April 16, “and you need to be conscious that you’re making a unfavourable loop (like I used to do). In case you brainwash your self into believing that you’re primary, you’ll steadily acquire confidence and it’ll actually occur. I believe the premise is brainwashing your self, onerous work and persistence.”
The subsequent day, she wrote, “Don’t surrender when everybody else provides up. Preserve operating when everybody else stops. Lastly, your targets will turn into outcomes, your desires will come true, and you’ll turn into a singular individual. Till now, neither males, pals, cash, nor jewels have made me pleased. I believe my happiness can solely come from the outcomes of my work. How a lot of my life am I prepared to wager on?”
“There’s nothing extra necessary than life”
A police supply tells Shincho that there are quite a few stalking circumstances that result in tragedy.
“Whereas a restraining order is in place, the police will test on the sufferer’s security as soon as a month and can contact the sufferer and warn them if there are any indicators of suspicious habits, and supply private safety,” the sources says. “Nevertheless, males who repeatedly stalk don’t cease after being warned or warned once more. They blame the girl who dumped them for his or her monetary difficulties and proceed to harbor a grudge.”
Within the case of Hirasawa, the restraining order may have been prolonged, the supply provides.
“Evidently Tokyo Metropolitan Police weren’t consulted after that, however it appears onerous to imagine that he out of the blue surfaced after two years, so there will need to have been some form of warning,” the supply continues. “What’s most regrettable is that Hirasawa didn’t transfer and Wakui nonetheless knew his tackle. There’s nothing extra necessary than life. Even whether it is bothersome, it is vital for many who have been victims of stalking to maneuver out as quickly as attainable in order that they’re by no means adopted once more.”
“There’s nothing extra necessary than life”
With a view to enhance gross sales, hostesses regularly use their intercourse attraction to captivate male prospects, creating what will be seen as “pseudo-romance.” This appears to have been the case with Wakui and Hirasawa.
After Wakui was arrested, his father informed reporters that his son offered his automotive and motorbike to lift money.
“He out of the blue stated he was going to marry his girlfriend and was leaving the home,” Wakui’s father informed Shincho. “As quickly as he gave her some cash, she was chilly to him when he went to the bar and so they began combating. So, when he requested for his a reimbursement, he was banned from the bar and handled like a stalker. Folks name him a stalker, however that’s not true. The girl was making an attempt to trick him, and he fell for it. He’s silly.”
