A Japanese man has been arrested under a rarely used 19th-century law against duelling after a late-night street fight in Tokyo that police say was arranged in advance left another man dead, fuelling wider concern about Japan’s violent amateur fight culture online.
Police said Fuzuki Asari, 26, from Yachiyo in Chiba prefecture, was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of duelling and causing injury resulting in death under a statute enacted 137 years ago.
The case centres on a late-night altercation in Kabukicho, Tokyo’s most notorious nightlife district, on September 23.
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According to police, Asari had been drinking and playing shogi, a Japanese board game similar to chess, with Naoya Matsuda, 30, when the two men got into a heated argument around 4am.
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Asari is accused of challenging Matsuda to a fist-fight, after which the pair went to nearby Toyoko Square.
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