One person died and two others were injured in a knife attack outside a train station in central Japan, authorities said.
Police were looking for a suspect who fled after the attack in Nagano on Wednesday night.
Nagano police and fire department officials said a 49-year-old man was pronounced dead in hospital.
Those attacked described the suspect as an unfamiliar middle-aged man, the Kyodo News agency reported.
The stabbing occurred near a bus terminal outside Nagano station.
Violent crimes are rare in Japan, which has strict gun control laws.
But in recent years there have been a number of high-profile cases involving random knife attacks and arson on subways.
