Intruder in prince’s school critical of imperial system

May 3, 2019

Tokyo--The 56-year-old man who was arrested Monday for unlawfully entering the junior high school Japan's Prince Hisahito attends has criticized the Imperial system during questioning, investigative sources said Thursday.

Although no link has been found so far between the arrested man, Kaoru Hasegawa, and any particular thought, Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department suspects that his thinking about the Imperial system led him to commit the misconduct, the sources said.

According to the MPD, shortly past noon on Friday (3 a.m. GMT), two fruit knives attached to an aluminum pole were found on the prince's desk at Ochanomizu University Junior High School in Tokyo.

The knives were placed on the desk apparently while Prince Hisahito, 12, the only grandson of Emperor Emeritus Akihito, was away for a class outside.

Hasegawa is seen to have entered the school building at around 10:50 a.m. on the same day.

Just before that, a security camera near the school caught a man in work clothes with a helmet, who was apparently Hasegawa.

He has admitted to entering the school and leaving the knives on the prince's desk.

Each desk in the classroom was labeled with the student's name.

Prince Hisahito, the youngest child of Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, became second in line to the throne with the enthronement of his uncle, Emperor Naruhito, on Wednesday. Jiji Press