Man allegedly killed woman to simulate video games

KUSHIRO, HOKKAIDO – A 20-year-old man who pleaded guilty to the murder of a beautician in Hokkaido last year wanted to replicate killings he had simulated in video games, prosecutors said Tuesday. The man pleaded guilty in the Kushiro District Court to the murder of 31-year-old Erika Konno and the destruction of her body in August last year in Hokkaido's Tokachi region. His name is being withheld because he was 19 -- a minor -- at the time of the incident. The prosecutors said in their opening statement that he started taking an interest in death and dead bodies when he was in high school. "He committed the crime after deciding that he wanted to kill someone with a knife the way he would in video games to see how he would change as a person," they claimed.