Police in Japan have arrested a 26-year-old for fatally assaulting a man following a duel last year.
The suspect, identified as Fuga Asari, reportedly conspired with a Mongolian national to fight Naoya Matsuda on a pavement in the Kabukicho red light district of Tokyo last September.
During the fight, Mr Asari allegedly threw Matsuda to the ground, inflicting severe head injuries, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police.
Matsuda, 30, died from multiple organ failure in October.
Police were investigating the incident as a "duel", which was outlawed in Japan over a century ago. Duels are prohibited under the 1889 “Duelling Crimes” law, which prescribes prison terms of between two and five years for those who take part, according to the newspaper Asahi Shimbun.
The ban extends beyond the act. Issuing or accepting a challenge, witnessing a duel or even providing a venue for one are all criminal offences under the statute.
The suspect, a native of Chiba prefecture, admitted to the charges and said he was “very sorry that my opponent died”, the newspaper reported local police as saying.
Mr Asari claimed that he met the victim for the first time on the day of the duel and that it was "something trivial that triggered the encounter", suggesting they barely knew each other.
The Mongolian man, reportedly in his 40s, was at the scene and suspected by police of inciting the duel. He was subsequently deported for illegal residence.
Last October, a high school student and a man were arrested in Gunma prefecture on suspicion of duelling.
