{"id":693849,"date":"2026-05-25T16:31:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T16:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/693849\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T16:31:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T16:31:17","slug":"at-least-20-injured-by-a-substance-sprayed-at-tokyo-shopping-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/693849\/","title":{"rendered":"At least 20 injured by a substance sprayed at Tokyo shopping centre"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 20 people have been injured at a luxury shopping complex in central Tokyo after a man sprayed a substance inside, police and fire department officials said.<\/p>\n

The road in front of the shopping centre, located in the touristy and upmarket shopping district of Ginza, was blocked off following the incident.<\/p>\n

The Tokyo Fire Department said people complained of suddenly developing throat pain and felt unwell near the Ginza Six shopping complex with more than 20 people taken to a hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their symptoms were believed to be mild, officials said.<\/p>\n

Fire department and police officials said an investigation was underway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Tokyo police examine the scene after a person allegedly sprayed a substance that caused an odour. (AP Photo: Eugene Hoshiko.)<\/p>\n

Television footage showed fire trucks lining the street while firefighters and officials in hazmat suits assisted people, with some being brought out of the building.<\/p>\n

Tokyo police spokesman Yusuke Koide said a man sprayed a substance at an ATM on the ground floor of the building.<\/p>\n

One 70-year-old woman who was at the mall told Japan’s public broadcaster NHK that her throat started “stinging and hurting” as she approached the ATM.<\/p>\n

“By the time I arrived, the commotion had already started, and I thought there might have been a small fire or something.<\/p>\n

“Once I went into the ATM corner, my throat felt scratchy, almost numb,” she said.<\/p>\n

Yuzo Tsuda, a 78-year-old Tokyo resident, told The Associated Press that he walked toward the shopping complex after having lunch with friends, when he suddenly felt pain in his throat and started coughing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said the ache in his throat subsided about an hour later and he did not plan to go to the hospital.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Tokyo Fire Department at the scene of a shopping centre in Ginza. (AP Photo: Eugene Hoshiko)<\/p>\n

Violent crime is relatively rare in Japan, which has a low murder rate and some of the world’s toughest gun laws.<\/p>\n

But Japan remains shaken by the memory of a major subway attack in 1995 when members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult released sarin gas on trains, killing 14 people and making more than 5,800 ill.<\/p>\n

Five members of the Aum cult dropped bags of Nazi-developed sarin nerve agent inside morning commuter trains on March 20, 1995, piercing the pouches with sharpened umbrella tips before fleeing.<\/p>\n

AFP\/AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 20 people have been injured at a luxury shopping complex in central Tokyo after a man…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[338437,43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-693849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-ginza","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}