A 56-year-old man was arrested Monday on suspicion of trespassing into the premises of the junior high school Prince Hisahito attends, police said, after knives were found on the prince's classroom desk last week.
The man, identified as Kaoru Hasegawa and who was held in Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo, admitted to the allegation, according to the police.
Two knives were found Friday on the desk of the 12-year-old grandson of Emperor Akihito, with security camera footage showing a helmeted middle-aged man clad in blue and wearing a mask and gloves entering Ochanomizu University Junior High School in Tokyo, according to investigative sources.
The man in the surveillance footage was suspected of having tried to avoid being identified and leaving fingerprints, and a person resembling him was seen in security camera footage at a nearby subway station, the sources said.
The discovery of the knives occurred ahead of the abdication of the 85-year-old emperor on Tuesday and the enthronement of Crown Prince Naruhito the following day. The imperial succession will promote the young prince to second in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne.
(Prince Hisahito, center, is pictured with his parents, Prince Fumihito and Princess Kiko, on April 8, 2019)
Prince Hisahito, who began attending the school this month after graduating from the national university's elementary school on the same campus, was attending classes outdoors at the time and the classroom was empty when the two knives were left there.
When the man was entering the school premises, he identified himself as a plumber to the school staff via the intercom, according to an investigative source.
The hilts of the knives were attached by adhesive tape to a stick and the combination was placed across the prince's desk and the one next to it. The blades of the knives were painted pink.
Each desk in the classroom bears a piece of a tape with a student's name on it, which may have indicated where the prince sits, according to the sources.
Related coverage:
Knives found at Prince Hisahito's desk at Tokyo school
Prince Hisahito attends entrance ceremony for junior high school
