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During this time, one person died and at least 10 people were injured in a hit-and-run. JapanMonday is a national holiday.
Driver allegedly fled from the spot after hitting people TokyoNational Highway Route 4 shortly before noon. Officials said he was later caught by the police.
The driver allegedly drove his car into pedestrians at the crosswalk, then mounted the sidewalk and hit several people. The car eventually crashed into a guardrail about 300 meters away, NHK reported.
The Metropolitan Police Department said the driver tried to flee on foot and was being investigated for breaching road traffic laws.
A man in his 80s was confirmed dead at a local hospital, while a woman in her 20s was reported to have suffered cardio-respiratory arrest.
Police said there were no license plates on the car and officers had received a call about two hours before the incident reporting that a male customer had stolen a display vehicle. Police said they are investigating whether the two incidents are linked.
The incident comes just months after a man was arrested in Osaka for running over seven schoolchildren walking home in his car.
Authorities said police were treating the case as attempted murder rather than reckless driving, because the suspect, 28-year-old Yuki Yazawa, told investigators he was “sick and tired of everything” and drove his car to kill the children.
Police said the schoolchildren were aged 7 and 8 and were walking home from a nearby primary school. Osaka police said a 7-year-old girl suffered a broken jaw, while the other boys suffered minor injuries.
Although violent crimes are rare in Japan, there have been several high-profile attacks involving knives or homemade explosives in recent years.
In 2008, a man drove his truck down a road in Tokyo’s Akiharabara shopping area, crashed into a crowd of people and killed three people, then got out and stabbed four people to death.