Commuters wear masks at a Tokyo train station while waiting on Tuesday. Japanese media said the country may expand its state of COVID-19 emergency to the western prefectures of Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo on Wednesday. Photo: VCG

The suspect in a Halloween stabbing and fire attack on a Tokyo train expressed admiration for infamous comic villain the Joker, Japanese media reported, with authorities describing the incident as "atrocious and brutal" on Monday. 

Police said they arrested a 24-year-old man for attempted murder over the Sunday evening attack which caused 18 people to be hospitalized, as videos aired of officers surrounding a man in a purple suit with a bright green shirt and tie, reminiscent of the Batman villain. 

The incident sparked panic and chaos in a country where violent crime is rare, and TV footage showed terrified passengers running through the train as smoke filled the carriage.

"With a knife he was carrying, the man stabbed the right side of the chest of a male passenger in his 70s sitting in the train, but couldn't achieve his aim [of murder]," a Tokyo police spokesperson told AFP.

"He told police he wanted to receive a death sentence by killing someone," the spokesperson added.

The elderly man is in a critical condition after being stabbed, according to media reports.

Top government spokesperson Hirokazu Matsuno described the incident as "atrocious and brutal" on Monday.

The attacker told police he admired the Joker, Kyodo News and the Sankei Shimbun daily reported.

He said he had "failed in jobs and friendship and wanted to die but couldn't die himself," the Sankei said.

AFP