A 24-year-old female company employee, Megumi Katayama, was fatally stabbed in the elevator of her apartment building in Kobe's Chuo Ward on August 20, 2025. The suspect, 35-year-old Masashi Tanimoto, was arrested on August 22 in Okutama, Tokyo, on suspicion of murder. Tanimoto had reportedly been staying at a hotel near the victim's workplace for several days prior to the attack and followed her for over 50 minutes, covering approximately 4 kilometers from her workplace to her home, including time on trains and at stations. Surveillance footage captured him tailing the victim and entering the apartment building. After the stabbing, Tanimoto took a taxi to Shin-Kobe Station and boarded a Shinkansen to Tokyo, with evidence suggesting he had purchased the ticket about a month earlier, indicating premeditation. The suspect has stated that he stabbed the victim once or twice in the abdomen but claimed not to know if he had murderous intent and that he did not know the victim. Police are investigating the motive and any possible connection between them, though no relationship has been confirmed. Tanimoto has a prior criminal record, including a conviction three years earlier for attempted murder involving strangulation of another woman in Kobe and previous stalking allegations dating back five years. Police searched his residence in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward and recovered a blood-stained knife with a blade length of approximately 15 centimeters. The investigation is ongoing. Separately, on August 26, a 39-year-old man was arrested in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, on suspicion of attempted murder after injuring three elderly people with a knife in a residential area; two of the victims are in serious condition. Authorities have not linked this incident to the Kobe case.