Yasuaki Uwabe, a 35-year-old former architect, drove a car into Shimonoseki Station and then stabbed passers-by at random, killing five people and injuring 10 others, before being arrested at the scene.

As he ran out of money, he received a loan to buy a light truck and began work in the delivery service industry, a job which did not require interpersonal relationships.

His delivery company was successful until September that year, when his truck was lost in a flood due to Typhoon Bart, and his loan was recalled.

[2] On 29 September 1999, at around 4:25 pm, Uwabe, who was still working in the transportation industry, drove a rented car[3] into the east entrance of Shimonoseki Station hitting at least seven people, two of whom died at the scene.

[6] Looking back on his early life, he described how, after graduating as a first-class architect from a national university of Japan, he found it hard to open his own design office and began to blame his parents and society for his frustration.

[7] Uwabe underwent a psychiatric evaluation which concluded that he had paranoid personality disorder, and his defence lawyer argued that he believed he was being unfairly persecuted by society.