EXCLUSIVE: Tokyo Audio Firm Head Murder Possibly Linked to Bonus Cut

Tokyo, Jan. 11 (Jiji Press)–The suspect in the murder of the president of an audio equipment-related company in Tokyo suggested that a bonus cut had led him to attack the victim, investigative sources told Jiji Press on Sunday. Masahiro Yamanaka, 45, who was arrested on Friday by Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department, told investigators that “I had my bonus reduced without being told the reason,” the sources said. Yamanaka explained that he had conveyed various frustrations from the field in the past to the president, Akihiro Kawashima, 44. The suspect told investigators that he had come to believe that if verbal warnings were not understood by the president, it might be necessary to make the president reconsider his thinking, even by using violence. According to sources close to the investigation, Yamanaka said in voluntary questioning that “my bonus, which had been equivalent to 1.5 months of salary, was reduced to the equivalent of one month of salary” and that “I was not given a reason.” A bonus statement equivalent to about one month’s salary, paid last December, was found at the suspect’s residence. The suspect had worked in various industries, including the advertising and apparel sectors. Kawashima invited Yamanaka to join his company about four years ago, saying, “I want to improve my company.” The suspect said the treatment at the company was better than at his previous job, according to the sources. The suspect is believed to have waited for Kawashima’s return to his apartment in Tokyo’s Ota Ward on Wednesday night and entered the victim’s room to attack him. About 30 minutes after leaving the apartment, the suspect met a friend at a restaurant and went to several other establishments until the small hours of Thursday. Kawashima was found dead on Thursday morning, stabbed in more than 10 places, including his neck and stomach. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]