Former Japanese bureaucrat stabs 44-year old son to death

Fearing that his reclusive son might cause the public harm, a former top bureaucrat in Japan stabbed the 44-year-old to death, domestic media said, days after a mass stabbing by another recluse shook the nation.

Hideaki Kumazawa, 76, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of killing his 44-year-old son, Eiichiro, according to Tokyo police. Investigators on Monday were seeking an indictment from prosecutors in the case.

Kumazawa, a retired agricultural vice minister and former envoy to the Czech Republic, told cops he "thought my son might harm others" after finding out about an unconnected stabbing rampage Tuesday that resulted in two people dead and 17 wounded, according to Kyodo News.

In that incident, the suspect was also a middle-aged social recluse -- known in Japan as "hikikomori" -- who rarely left the house where he lived with his elderly aunt and uncle. He killed himself soon after the stabbings.

The stabbing took place around 3:30 p.m. Saturday after an argument in which he scolded his son for getting angry at noise from a sports event at a nearby school.

When investigators arrived at the home, they discovered Eiichiro collapsed on a futon that was covered with blood and a kitchen knife nearby, Kyodo News reported. He later died at a hospital.

Kumazawa told investigators he thought he had to do something to make sure his son would not cause harm to the others, NHK reported.