All Nippon Airways Flight 857

At around 11:45 a.m., a single hijacker took control of the Boeing 747 aircraft while it was flying over Yamagata Prefecture, and took the 365 passengers and crew hostage.[2]

The hijacker claimed to be a member of the Aum Shinrikyo religious cult, which was then under investigation for its role in the Tokyo subway sarin attacks.[3] The hijacker claimed to be in possession of plastic explosives and sarin gas, and used these assertions to threaten the crew.[4] At the time, Japanese law enforcement and the public were worried that the hijacking may have been part of a plan to conduct terrorist attacks in order to ensure Asahara's post-apocalyptic Japan visions would be fulfilled.[3]

After the aircraft landed in Hakodate at 12:42 p.m., the hijacker demanded the release of Aum Shinrikyo leader Shoko Asahara, and that the plane be refuelled and returned to Tokyo.[5][6] He only spoke through the cabin crew, and refused to allow food or drinks to be brought into the aircraft.[7]

In Tokyo, a task force was established consisting of Chief Cabinet Secretary Kozo Igarashi, Japanese Transport Minister Shizuka Kamei and the Public Security Commission chairman, Hiromu Nonaka to oversee the incident.[3]

As the stand-off progressed that evening, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police led a nationwide background search of each passenger on the flight and concluded that the hijacker was the only suspicious individual on board. This conclusion was supported by communication from the pilot and from passengers with mobile phones, who told police that the hijacker was acting alone.[8] One of the passengers in contact with police was folk singer Tokiko Kato, who was en route to a scheduled concert in Hakodate.[9] The Japanese Self-Defense Forces were placed on high alert throughout the incident.[10][3]

The next day, at 3:42 a.m., at the direction of Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, the aircraft was stormed by Hokkaido and Tokyo police units that had previously been monitoring the aircraft from outside. The hijacker was arrested. One passenger was lightly injured and required an ice pack, but otherwise the occupants were unharmed.[7]

Some of the officers from the Hokkaido Prefectural Police masqueraded as airport employees when they made the arrest.[9]

The hijacker apologized for his actions and said that he had to do it when he was detained by police.[11]

The incident generated a great deal of live news coverage within Japan while it was ongoing.[3] Nippon TV carried live coverage following the end of a scheduled baseball game, while TV Asahi pre-empted halftime of a live J-League soccer match for live coverage of the incident.

NHK shipped a newly-developed video camera from Tokyo to Hakodate in order to provide clearer news footage of the incident, and provided live footage of the aircraft's landing in Hakodate from a robotic camera positioned at the airport. This was said to be the first live coverage of a landing of a hijacked aircraft.

Several major newspapers published extra editions on the morning of the hijacker's arrest, as it occurred shortly after the deadline for their usual morning editions.

F-15 fighters were dispatched from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force Chitose Base to escort the hijacked aircraft to Hakodate. SAP forces were carried from Haneda to the site by JASDF Kawasaki C-1 transport aircraft based at Iruma Air Base.[16]

• Itō, Kōichi (2004). The truth of the Metropolitan Police Special unit (in Japanese). Dainihon-kaiga. ISBN 978-4499228657.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)