Vietnamese Man, 44, Arrested at Scene for Attempted Murder After Allegedly Cutting Vietnamese Coworker With Blade in Kirishima, Kagoshima
This article organizes publicly available information into a single account. Where it describes an arrest or an ongoing investigation, that reflects only one stage of criminal procedure and does not mean guilt has been established (the presumption of innocence applies). We will update this article as new information becomes available, including the outcome of prosecution, non-prosecution, or trial. This article is not intended to unfairly disparage any individual, group, nationality, ethnicity, or belief, and aims to provide objective, fact-based information.
Kagoshima Prefectural Police's Kirishima Station announced on August 2, 2026 that it had arrested Tran Van Trulin (44), a Vietnamese company employee living in Makizono-cho, Kirishima, on suspicion of attempted murder, catching him at the scene. He is accused of visiting the room of a 48-year-old Vietnamese coworker at around 1:20 p.m. that day, with whom he worked at the same company and shared communal living quarters, and repeatedly cutting the man's chest and right hand with a blade-like object in an attempt to kill him.
Acquaintances were present in the victim's room at the time and called the fire department. The victim sustained cuts to his chest and right hand requiring about two weeks to heal. Tran is believed to have been drinking at the time, and has reportedly partially denied the allegations under police questioning, saying, "I hit and kicked him, but I didn't use a blade." No blade was found at the scene, and police are investigating the background, believing some kind of trouble had arisen between the two men.
Current status: Whether the case will be referred for prosecution or indicted, and the detailed circumstances of the incident, remain unclear as of this writing. This article will be updated as further details emerge.
Some social media posts sharing news of this case framed it with commentary such as "Vietnamese again" and "we just keep accepting them, and it's Japanese people who suffer," but primary reporting from multiple mainstream media outlets (including the Minami Nippon Shimbun, MBC Minami Nippon Broadcasting, and KKB Kagoshima Broadcasting) indicates that the victim was also a Vietnamese national, and that this was a dispute between coworkers who shared the same workplace and living quarters. The premise implied in some of that social media sharing, that the victim was Japanese, does not match the facts, and the incident should be understood based on an accurate account of both parties' nationalities.