Ibaraki Prefectural Police have arrested a 41-year-old employee after he seriously injured a male colleague with an air compressor in Kamisu City, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Mar. 7).

At around 2:00 p.m. on February 6, Naoki Takahashi allegedly used the air compressor to fire air up on the anus of his colleague, a 32-year-old temporary employee, and into his body.

After the colleague collapsed, Takahashi alerted emergency services. The victim is currently hospitalized in serious condition.

Upon being arrested on suspicion of inflicting injury, Takahashi admitted to the allegations, the Kamisu Police Station said.

According to police, the victim was wearing pants during the incident. In carrying out the act, the suspect placed the hose of the compressor over his pants near the anus before the air was fired.

Police are now investigating the circumstances that led to the incident.

Other cases

The case is not a first for Japan, nor for Ibaraki. In 2018, an employee at an equipment manufacturer shot air from a compressor up the anus of a male colleague, 46, at the factory where they worked in Tsukuba City.

The colleague was taken to a hospital after he felt sick. He was later confirmed dead at a hospital, police said at the time. However, the cause of death was not immediately revealed.

That case was not the first fatality. The year before, police in Saitama Prefecture arrested two men after a 44-year-old colleague died in a similar incident.

The incidents have not been limited to civilians. In 2013, two Air Self-Defense Force members at Komatsu Air Base in Ishikawa Prefecture injured one another with an air compressor during horseplay while inflating tires.