NHK has learned that a man arrested on suspicion of killing a livestreamer on a Tokyo street told investigators he wanted to hurt the victim after she cut off contact with him.



Sato Airi, a 22-year-old resident of Tokyo's Tama City, was fatally stabbed on Tuesday while livestreaming in the Takadanobaba area of Shinjuku Ward.



Police arrested a man at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder. He was identified as Takano Kenichi, a resident of Oyama City in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo. The police are now treating him as a murder suspect.



The police said Takano denies intending to kill the woman. They quoted him as saying he lent Sato more than two million yen, or about 13,500 dollars, to cover her mobile phone fees and other spending, but that she had not paid him back.



The police also revealed that the suspect first came across Sato's livestreams around December 2021, then began visiting the eating establishment where she worked around August the following year.



They quoted Takano as saying he traveled to Tokyo from Tochigi Prefecture because he learned the victim would be livestreaming a walk along Tokyo's Yamanote train line. He said he located her by watching the livestream.



Takano is believed to have used his survival knife to stab the victim dozens of times.



Police suspect the assailant harbored a one-sided resentment toward the victim after losing contact with her amid financial issues.