10 Creepy Unsolved Mysteries from Japan That'll Keep You Up at Night
Unsolved mysteries from Japan are surprisingly rare. Though the reality behind the number is a point of contention, Japan does boast a 99% conviction rate. Violent crimes are rare. The murder rate is under one per 100,000, less than a quarter of the rate in the US. For this reason, these bizarre Japanese crimes are all the more striking.
These murders, disappearances, and other unsolved mysteries are the strangest and most interesting to come from the land of the rising sun. This is Japan-level weirdness. Many of these mysteries have gone unsolved for decades. Some will probably never be solved.
In Japan, tales of people being spirited away have existed for centuries. These stories are just accepted. People would walk off to the mountains and be swallowed up by the spirit world. While police are looking for more corporeal causes, what did happen to these people? Who was really responsible?
Whatever the case, these are accounts of the facts. This is what we do know about these unsolved mysteries. It is up to you to fill in the blanks.
10 Creepy Unsolved Mysteries from Japan That'll Keep You Up at Night
1. The Setagaya Family Massacre - No Killer Identified, Despite DNA Evidence.
One of the ways I know that the year has gone by quickly, and its December 30th already is the annual pilgrimage of police officers, to the scene of the Setagaya family murders. There are very few crimes in Japan but, as I have said before in this blog, when they do happen, they tend to be bizarre. And the Setagaya murders were just that....
2. The Yonaguni Ancient Underwater Pyramid of Mystery.
On the southern coast of Yonaguni, Japan, lie submerged ruins estimated to be around 10,000 years old. The origin of the site is hotly debated - many experts argue that is man-made, while more conservative scientists insist it was carved by natural phenomena...
3. Pregnant Woman in Nagoya Murdered, Her Unborn Baby Cut from Her Stomach.
Japan is a relatively peaceful society as modesty, politeness, and compliance are highly valued traits throughout the generations. However, when a crime is committed - particularly murder - tensions rise due to the heinous nature, and actions brought about by hatred and jealousy. One such case of deliberate cruelty is the ‘Nagoya Pregnant Ripper Case’, which remains unsolved to this day....
4. The Inokashira Park Dismemberment - Body Parts Found in a Bag.
Today we’ll be talking about one of Japan’s many incidents of “barabara satsujin” (scattered murder), a method of killing so seemingly popular in the country, that it has its very own page on the Japanese Wikipedia....
5. Junior High Students Find a Body in a Futon Bag, Authorities Still Don't Know Who Did It.
On April 21, 1996, while coming home from school, a group of junior high school students were looking through a bamboo grove in the Haga district of Tochigi Prefecture, when they noticed a barely-closed futon bag. The kids had seen the bag laying there for almost a month, and curious about what might be inside, one of them poked it with a stick....
6. The Disappearance of Yuki Onishi - A Girl Vanishes Into Thin Air.
Greenery Day, a national holiday in Japan meant to appreciate nature, is observed every May 4th. From its establishment in 1989 until 2007, however, it was celebrated every April 29th. In 2005, as part of a Greenery Day celebration, a bamboo shoot digging event was held in Kanagawa Prefecture’s Goshikidai Forest. ...
7. The Cyanide-Poisoned Oolong Tea Murder.
A case of poisoning that has hit the quiet, rural communities of Nagano Prefecture may have been the act of a person familiar with the operation of the local supermarket where cyanide-laced cans of oolong tea were placed, police officials said Friday....
8. The Eerie Murder of Two Year Old Makiko Tsuchiyama.
On November 21, 1984, around 2:10 PM, a 2-year-old girl named Makiko Tsuchiyama was found fallen, on her face in a drainage ditch in an alley behind her home in Higashi-osaka city. Makiko was unconscious, and her neck seemed as though it had been strangled with a cord. Although she was rushed to the hospital, Makiko died 9 hours after being taken there....
9. The Murder of Yoko Yoshida.
On September 29, 2000, around 1 PM, a census taker collecting information in a Tokyo apartment complained to management, about a room that had a terrible smell coming from it. When management sent a janitor to check the room out, he found that the door was unlocked. Inside, he found the body of the woman who was living there, a 28-year-old manga artist named Yoko Yoshida....
10. The Murder of the Miyazawas.
On the morning of December 31, 2000, a relative of the Miyazawa family in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward found father Mikio, his wife Yasuko, their daughter Niina, and their son....
Music: Kevin Macleod
Artist:
US-Japanese: Are we on a Collision Course?
Title
U.S.-Japanese relations are we on a collision course? / Mitsuya Goto.
Author
Goto, Mitsuya, 1929-
Institute on World Affairs (1992 : Iowa State University)
Alternate title
United States-Japanese relations.
Related Titles
Series: University lecture series (Iowa State University) 1992.
Creation Date
1992
Format
1 sound cassette : analog.
Notes
Recorded at Iowa State University on November 4, 1992, as part of the Institute on World Affairs: The New Economic Order.
Language
English