An intercity bus was hijacked Wednesday by a knife-wielding teenager, but all passengers were freed soon afterward unharmed, police and local media said.

The suspect, who was carrying two knives and claimed to be 14 years old, held the driver and 10 passengers captive for about 45 minutes before giving himself up, a local police official said.

The bus was traveling along the highway to Tokyo from Nagoya in Aichi prefecture (state), about 170 miles west of Tokyo, said the Aichi police official who refused to give his name, citing department policy.

National broadcaster NHK said the hijacker told police he wanted to shock people.

Police convinced him to give himself up, Japanese media reported. Television showed the bus parked at a highway rest stop surrounded by police cars.

Crimes involving knives have been on the rise recently in Japan.

On June 8, seven people were killed in the Tokyo neighborhood of Akihabara. Tomohiro Kato, a 25-year-old factory worker, is alleged to have slammed a rented truck into a crowd and then jumped out to stab people at random before being subdued by police. He is still detained but not yet charged.

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.