Man arrested for chopping off ballet teacher’s thumb

In a most bizarre story from Tokyo, a man has been arrested after having chopped of the thumb of a ballet teacher in her dance studio.

Hiroaki Hashimoto is a 41-year-old chiropractor who used to study at the school. His motivation, according to The Japan Times, was that, “She harassed me by not informing me of lesson schedules since last August… she wouldn't let me study”.

Hashimoto pushed the 24-year-old to the floor and held her by the throat until she passed out. He proceeded to cut of her thumb using “a hammer and tools” and then phoned the police to confess.

When police arrived they found the teacher on the floor surrounded by blood and they arrested the man on the spot.

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.