Japan man arrested for killing father with chopstick

Police said the 51-year-old did not intend to kill his father, 80, but was merely trying to stop his parents from arguing.

TOKYO // A Japanese man who stabbed his father to death with a chopstick was arrested on Thursday.

Michikazu Ikeuchi, 51, admitted that he stabbed his 80-year-old father in the throat with a 30-centimetre long wooden cooking chopstick on Wednesday night after a quarrel at their home in Osaka, western Japan, police said.

“Ikeuchi told us he had tried to stop his parents from arguing and he did not intend to kill his father,” an Osaka police official said.

“He said in his anger he waved the chopstick in front of his father but before he knew it, it got stuck in him,” the officer said.

Ikeuchi, who lives with his parents and his brother’s family, called emergency services for an ambulance after stabbing his father.

* Agence France-Presse