>>> Item number 16267 from WRITERS LOG9308D --- (115 records) ---- <<< Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1993 11:42:11 JST Reply-To: WRITERS Sender: WRITERS From: Mike Barker Subject: NEWS: Kidnap, Ransom, And Murder in Japan 8/18/93 Today's big news on the tube here is an apparent kidnap/ransom attempt that ended in murder. According to the reports, on 8/10 (last Tuesday), a 19 year old girl in a bank was called on the telephone by a man who claimed to be a journalist working for one of the popular young ladies magazines. He said he wanted to interview her and take pictures. When she agreed, he said he would send a taxi for her. A taxi arrived and took her to a coffee shop. At the coffee shop, she got another call from the reputed journalist, telling her to go to a nearby gas station. At the gas station, he called again, telling her to go to a nearby highway edge. From that point on, no one knows exactly what happened to her until yesterday. With the girl vanished, the man then called the bank and demanded 45,000,000 yen (roughly 450,000 dollars). The bank and police, in a fine display of confusion, managed to deliver the money 10 minutes before police arrived at the rendezvous spot. During the week, apparently the man called and talked at length on the telephone several times. The news reporters had a table of nine calls. For some (yet unexplained) reason, the police either failed to trace or failed to locate him following these calls. If I understood correctly, they did trace at least twice and missed. The last time (Monday, I think), he called and demanded the same amount of money again. This time, the bank and police managed to deliver the money and arrive on the scene together, but 45 minutes late. The man never appeared (after that delayed delivery), although they let the money sit overnight. Yesterday, the body of the young girl was found on a river side near the original and later meeting spots. The taxi driver has been located, and apparently has no connection with the crime(s). The coffee shop and gas station workers also have been interviewed by police, without providing much information beyond tracing her movements up to the point when she went to the highway. That's the news - now for my reactions... My initial reaction was disbelief - not that the girl would fall for the scam of someone offering publicity and fame (that happens too often), but that she would willingly follow this multiple step pickup. People, I don't care what the nice man offers you, think a little before getting in the car or shuffling along to his tune... I'm also suspicious about the strange amount of money (strange because it isn't an even number), and the oddly poor coordination of police and bank. Odd crime case, made even odder by happening in Japan. 8/25/93 The case has been solved. Curiouser and curiouser. The Japanese police tried a new tactic (here) on this. They provided copies of the taped telephone conversations to the news, which were played repeatedly, along with requests that anyone recognizing the voice or having any information call a "free dial" number. However, this was not involved in the solution. The kidnapper had borrowed money from the same bank and tried this method of paying the loan back. He turned himself in to the police after they questioned him (and others) as to their whereabouts in a routine check of people who had borrowed money from the bank or had other connections with the bank. Incidentally, as of yesterday the police would only say the loan was about 50,000,000 yen. Any bets? I have this weird suspicion that it was almost exactly 45,000,000 yen. He killed the girl the first day he was holding her. His employer, friends, etc. repeatedly have told reporters that the man was a quiet family man, very dedicated and hard-working. A psychologist has stated that this kind of earnest, hard-working person is very likely to feel pressured by a loan and go to unusual lengths to try to pay it back quickly. I don't think this makes much sense (most people with loans don't try kidnap and ransom, do they?), but the local news is making quite a point of this "rationale" for the man's actions. I suspect the problem is that from the reports of acquaintances, this man appears almost as a stereotypical or "model" Japanese man, but.. he committed kidnap and murder to repay a loan. Providing some kind of explanation for how an apparently socially acceptable person could also be so far outside the socially acceptable circle is almost a necessity. I'm waiting for them to come up with some excuse (medical, psychological, whatever) which "proves" he isn't really a typical Japanese. The pressure of a loan doesn't seem distinctive enough to me to provide the necessary separation of this man from the social group. To a large extent, the crime isn't nearly as interesting as the massive media reaction. First, the level of reaction helps provide evidence for the relative rarity of such crimes here. Second, though, the reaction is steeped in questioning of Japanese society - could pressures of a loan really lead to such actions? How could someone kill someone who lived less than 500 meters away (this point keeps being raised)? And so on... Yet another wrinkle from the Far East tink (maybe I was Marco Polo in a previous life?)