[10] On 8 June 2008, Tomohiro Katō drove a five-ton, rented Isuzu Elf truck into a crowd at the crossing of Kanda Myōjin-dōri and Chūō-dōri streets in Akihabara, Chiyoda, Tokyo.

[11][12] While Kanda Myōjin-dōri was open to vehicular traffic, Chūō-dōri was closed for the convenience of shopping pedestrians,[11] a practice observed during Sundays and holidays.

[20] According to police and hospital officials, six of the seven victims who were killed were men, including Kazunori Fujino and his friend Takahiro Kamaguchi (both 19), Katsuhiko Nakamura (74), Naoki Miyamoto (31), Mitsuru Matsui (33), and Kazuhiro Koiwa (47).

[21] Communication records showed that Mutō probably made an emergency call to police from her mobile phone, though she left no message.

[28][29] There, his class academic ranking fell to 300 (of 360 students) and he failed entrance examinations for the prestigious Hokkaido University, eventually training as an auto mechanic at Nakanihon Automotive College.

[25] Katō was hired as a temporary worker at an auto parts factory in Shizuoka Prefecture, though he had been recently told that his job was to be cut at the end of June.

[25] Three days before the attack, on 5 June, Katō accused people at his workplace of hiding his work clothes and left the premises immediately afterwards.

[48] While being positive about his capacity to be held criminally liable,[7] the Prosecutor's Office decided by 20 June to demand that Katō's detention for a psychiatric test be authorized by the Tokyo District Court.

[7][48] Katō erased all contacts and communication records from his mobile phone just prior to the attack, the purpose of which he confessed was to avoid annoying those around him.

[50][51] Katō came to Akihabara the day before the attack to sell his personal computer and some software to raise money to rent the truck.

[51][52] The Akihabara attack made global headlines and sent shock waves across Japan,[53] shaking public confidence in what is traditionally considered a society safe from violent crime.

[58] On 17 June 2008, convicted serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki was executed by hanging, which was suspected to be a reaction to Katō's massacre.

[59][60] The massacre also sparked many conversations in Japanese blogs when it was discovered that two Ustream users had broadcast live video streams of the tragedy, attracting a viewership estimated at between 1,000 and 3,000 people.

[63] Konami canceled three launch events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots in Tokyo, with the "safety of participants in mind" as a result of the attack.

After the attack, which occurred the day immediately after the daggers made their debut in the series, both Bandai (the company that makes the toy versions of the weapons) and Toei (the company that produces the TV series) changed their names to "Switch Funshaken Rocket Booster(s)" and re-designated them as "swords" rather than "daggers" out of respect for the victims of the attack, and to lessen any trauma in the 6-to-8-year-old audience that the tokusatsu franchise regularly targets.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who visited the site a week after the massacre to offer prayer to the victims,[76] said that he "is worried that similar cases occur about ten times a year in Japan.

[89] A 19-year-old man who made an Internet threat to go on a 15 June stabbing spree at Tokyo Disney Resort was arrested by police.