Japan is coming to terms with a stabbing rampage which left seven dead and 12 wounded.

A knifeman ran amok on Sunday lunchtime in Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district after driving a two-ton truck into a crowd of pedestrians.

Police said they arrested Tomohiro Kato, 25, at the scene.

The assault shocked Tokyo, which has a relatively low murder rate, because of its seeming mindlessness.

Guns are tightly restricted in Japan, and shootings are extremely rare, with the one exception being gangsters, who most often use them against each other and do not generally victimise the general public.

Stabbings are less rare. In March, one person was stabbed to death and at least seven others were hurt by a man who went on a slashing spree with two knives outside a shopping mall in eastern Japan.

In January, a 16-year-old boy attacked five people in a shopping area, injuring two of them.

A spate of knife attacks also have occurred in schools, the worst on June 8, 2001, when a man with a history of mental illness burst into elementary school near Osaka killing eight children. He was executed in 2004.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.