Japan - Miyazawa family of 4 murdered, Setagaya, Tokyo, 30 Dec 2000 #2

[Interested_But_Confused]

Bringing across part of my last post from the previous thread:

"Due to Japan's rules (or lack of specific rules) on using DNA, they're effectively where other countries were 25+ years ago. Having access to copious amounts of the killer's DNA is useless if LE can't do anything with it.

As I understand it, Japanese LE can only use DNA to compare against an already-known suspect--and that requires having a suspect."

So many cold cases from around the world have been solved since DNA testing became available, and particularly since familial DNA comparisons became legal. It's all moot if Japan's laws remain as they are currently, but if Japan does ever change its laws on using DNA, I suspect and hope this case could be solved very quickly.

Assuming there isn't a reason why the TMPD doesn't want to publicly solve it.

 

[Charlot123]

If I were to guess, and it is a complete guess, the killer would be nominally Christian - go through the motions, make all the right sounds, but in his heart there is nothing but himself.

Right. If we go by Tokyo police assessment of 2001 that "the perp's Y-haplotype is met in 1/5 Korean men and 1/13 Japanese men, hence, he is more likely to be Korean", made little sense in 2001. The population of Japan was 126 mln, South Korea - 46 mln, so the probability of the man coming from So. Korea and Japan was still comparable. (Unless they were already thinking he could be coming from the US). Today, one haplogroup doesn't tell us anything given where genetics is. The geneticists go much deeper. But I was interested in religious beliefs of the person, if any, and came to the conclusion that if, indeed, he is of mixed Asian descent and lives in the US, his chance of being a Christian and a American-Korean is higher than of American-Japanese. Also, he might be coming across fine, but mentally, he is not OK at all. I also felt that he had nothing to do with that Jizo figurine. Maybe one of his ex-friens did, maybe even one of the skaters, but not him. To me, Jizo still shows compassion. This man doesn't have it in him, to see what the cycle that he has set up.

 

[TokyoSleuth]

I always thought it was left nearby, on the other side of the canal. I'm actually not sure on this point! Japanese speakers, does this page shed light on it? https://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/jiken_jiko/ichiran/ichiran_11-20/seijo.files/jizo_jp.pdf

At any rate, so many of the actions of the killer inside the house make it hard to picture him carrying out this almost tender gesture (ignoring the risk of returning to the area too). But I suppose people have changes of heart...

Here is a translation of the flyer for anyone interested. The bottom section is just details on how to contact the police involved in the specific case.

It was found at "4 Chome Kamisoshigaya" by the river. Type that into google maps and you will see the area it denotes, The family lived at "3 Chome Kamisoshigaya" which covers the area directly across the river from this.

 

[Charlot123]

There are a handful of other family murders in this vein around the world but none that I know of that match the conditions and timeframe of the Setagaya case. Of course, it's possible that the killer struck again but changed his MO after Setagaya -- there's just no way to know that for us, though. Unless he leaves behind a trove of evidence again like he did in this case. And we can bet that he won't want to ever again bleed all over another crime scene etc.

The TMPD won't be doing anything with the killer's DNA profile because, in a nutshell, it is not legal for them to do so. They have to think about the end game in court. It would be like contacting psychics in the US for their view on this. Ultimately, the judge in the Tokyo court would have to appraise something legally invalid. That's why they can't share the DNA with US authorities (assuming they even want to). For this reason, Chief Tsuchita is campaigning to change the laws / bring awareness to this problem. Until that law changes, DNA is essentially useless in this case. Unless, of course, the killer commits another crime in Japan and they swab him at a police station.

Now: I do not think he spoke about dead animals on chan2. But there seem to be two different animal lines in the case. In Japanese Wikipedia, they wrote about mutilated animals (tail-less cats, etc) found in the park. This is not the guy who was a vet. That person they never found. This is someone who came to the park. It could have been our murderer who started with animals and progressed to people. (I even wonder if he started with squeezing sparrows in his hands, hence, sparrow feathers, guano and willow leaves found in his pockets.) Starting with animals and progressing with people is not uncommon in serial killers, but the opposite he can do too.
So, I wonder if any animal murders around the area where he lives should be checked.

 

[lonewanderer]

I am in South Korea at the moment.

The flight from SoKo to Japan is only two hours.

I speculate the sand found from the Air Force base was more than likely from taking a "Space-A" flight, a military flight from stateside to Asia.

I don't know what the Space-A schedule looked like during these times, and the sites for it today can still be a little confusing.

These flights often take little small trips before reaching its destination, as many people need to get to many established places (Korea, Japan, Hawaii, Guam, etc), this causes many service members to be stuck in those places for hours or days.

Active duty service members on orders, and their families, from all branches are usually put on these flights first before flying commercial.

My leading theory in this case is that the perp was an active duty US military member's (no reason to suspect a certain branch) son. As for the hand injury, they may or may not have known a few tricks to keep their hand in good enough shape until they were able to visit a hospital.

Japan has VERY strict privacy laws, mix that with likelihood this person's medical care was at a US hospital on a military post, this person being a minor, AND the possibility this person was either adopted or was a stepson to an active duty service member and you may never figure out who it was.

 

[Charlot123]

I am in South Korea at the moment.

The flight from SoKo to Japan is only two hours.

I speculate the sand found from the Air Force base was more than likely from taking a "Space-A" flight, a military flight from stateside to Asia.

I don't know what the Space-A schedule looked like during these times, and the sites for it today can still be a little confusing.

These flights often take little small trips before reaching its destination, as many people need to get to many established places (Korea, Japan, Hawaii, Guam, etc), this causes many service members to be stuck in those places for hours or days.

Active duty service members on orders, and their families, from all branches are usually put on these flights first before flying commercial.

My leading theory in this case is that the perp was an active duty US military member's (no reason to suspect a certain branch) son. As for the hand injury, they may or may not have known a few tricks to keep their hand in good enough shape until they were able to visit a hospital.

Japan has VERY strict privacy laws, mix that with likelihood this person's medical care was at a US hospital on a military post, this person being a minor, AND the possibility this person was either adopted or was a stepson to an active duty service member and you may never figure out who it was.

Could be also NPE, it is not uncommon. Keep in mind, because of mom's haplogroup, we are subconsciously thinking, South Europe. In fact, she could be Druze, Lebanese, Northern African. The kid may look very different from what we picture in our heads. But I think he stood out at the base as "strange", JMO.

P.S. Enjoy! I loved the country, great museums and best food in the world.

 

[Charlot123]

I have a question, to @FacelessPodcast and also whoever knows

Shiki Theatre Company

Shiki Theatre Company presents a wide variety of theatrical productions, ranging from musicals to straight plays, throughout all of Japan.

www.shiki.jp

Is this the theater Mikio was involved with?

I paid attention that it has lots of child plays but also invites foreigners. Could it have been the opposite? The base has open doors days, but the theater invites the foreigners from the base to visit and see a play? That could have been the connection.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

Bringing across part of my last post from the previous thread:

"Due to Japan's rules (or lack of specific rules) on using DNA, they're effectively where other countries were 25+ years ago. Having access to copious amounts of the killer's DNA is useless if LE can't do anything with it.

As I understand it, Japanese LE can only use DNA to compare against an already-known suspect--and that requires having a suspect."

So many cold cases from around the world have been solved since DNA testing became available, and particularly since familial DNA comparisons became legal. It's all moot if Japan's laws remain as they are currently, but if Japan does ever change its laws on using DNA, I suspect and hope this case could be solved very quickly.

Assuming there isn't a reason why the TMPD doesn't want to publicly solve it.

Here's hoping, Interested.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

Right. If we go by Tokyo police assessment of 2001 that "the perp's Y-haplotype is met in 1/5 Korean men and 1/13 Japanese men, hence, he is more likely to be Korean", made little sense in 2001. The population of Japan was 126 mln, South Korea - 46 mln, so the probability of the man coming from So. Korea and Japan was still comparable. (Unless they were already thinking he could be coming from the US). Today, one haplogroup doesn't tell us anything given where genetics is. The geneticists go much deeper. But I was interested in religious beliefs of the person, if any, and came to the conclusion that if, indeed, he is of mixed Asian descent and lives in the US, his chance of being a Christian and a American-Korean is higher than of American-Japanese. Also, he might be coming across fine, but mentally, he is not OK at all. I also felt that he had nothing to do with that Jizo figurine. Maybe one of his ex-friens did, maybe even one of the skaters, but not him. To me, Jizo still shows compassion. This man doesn't have it in him, to see what the cycle that he has set up.

To clarify for anyone who hasn't seen this yet, it's not actually the Tokyo MPD's assessment. It was a university that the TMPD reached out to for a second opinion. Someone at that university then leaked the information about the killer's DNA being consistent with genetic markers typically found in 1/4 Korean men, 1 in 10 Chinese, and 1 in 13 or 14 Japanese. This individual also floated the idea that the killer was 'mixed' based, I think, on the mito DNA. Due to the problems inherent with this, the TMPD actually asked wikipedia to remove this information from their Setagaya murders page. (Wikipedia said no). For this reason, the TMPD says nothing about the killer's DNA on their website or any of their information-appeal materials.

Only 1% of Japan is Christian, as you say, far higher in Korea. As for the jizo statue, my feeling is some well-meaning person local to the area simply left it there and it goes no deeper than that. And I agree with you, the man who killed the Miyazawas is incapable of human compassion.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

Here is a translation of the flyer for anyone interested. The bottom section is just details on how to contact the police involved in the specific case.

It was found at "4 Chome Kamisoshigaya" by the river. Type that into google maps and you will see the area it denotes, The family lived at "3 Chome Kamisoshigaya" which covers the area directly across the river from this.

Very kind, thank you, Tokyo. Yes, my understanding was always that the statue was left directly across the water from the house. It's actually very tranquil and scenic around there, particularly walking along the water. It wouldn't surprise me if someone who frequently passes the house, a local, thought of the victims and left the statue as opposed to some gesture of twisted irony from the killer (much less contrition).

 

[FacelessPodcast]

I am in South Korea at the moment.

The flight from SoKo to Japan is only two hours.

I speculate the sand found from the Air Force base was more than likely from taking a "Space-A" flight, a military flight from stateside to Asia.

I don't know what the Space-A schedule looked like during these times, and the sites for it today can still be a little confusing.

These flights often take little small trips before reaching its destination, as many people need to get to many established places (Korea, Japan, Hawaii, Guam, etc), this causes many service members to be stuck in those places for hours or days.

Active duty service members on orders, and their families, from all branches are usually put on these flights first before flying commercial.

My leading theory in this case is that the perp was an active duty US military member's (no reason to suspect a certain branch) son. As for the hand injury, they may or may not have known a few tricks to keep their hand in good enough shape until they were able to visit a hospital.

Japan has VERY strict privacy laws, mix that with likelihood this person's medical care was at a US hospital on a military post, this person being a minor, AND the possibility this person was either adopted or was a stepson to an active duty service member and you may never figure out who it was.

lonewanderer, that's really interesting about the flights. Is Space-A different from Patriots Express? That's the one I've often read about or heard mentioned. Are you in the military (or were?)

And your theory is my theory too! I suspect USAF given Edwards and Yokota are both floating around the clues but Miura has Yokosuka which is Navy and the killer had sand from that area too. Great point re: the hand injuries too and knowing how to deal with those. The person of interest I have in this case definitely would have been exposed to first aid classes or knowledge given his father was a military doctor.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

Could be also NPE, it is not uncommon. Keep in mind, because of mom's haplogroup, we are subconsciously thinking, South Europe. In fact, she could be Druze, Lebanese, Northern African. The kid may look very different from what we picture in our heads. But I think he stood out at the base as "strange", JMO.

P.S. Enjoy! I loved the country, great museums and best food in the world.

Korean food is exquisite. I never had much of an appreciation for it until I moved to Los Angeles. Now I that I live back in Europe, I miss it all the time...

 

[FacelessPodcast]

I have a question, to @FacelessPodcast and also whoever knows

Shiki Theatre Company

Shiki Theatre Company presents a wide variety of theatrical productions, ranging from musicals to straight plays, throughout all of Japan.

www.shiki.jp

Is this the theater Mikio was involved with?

I paid attention that it has lots of child plays but also invites foreigners. Could it have been the opposite? The base has open doors days, but the theater invites the foreigners from the base to visit and see a play? That could have been the connection.

RE: Mikio's theatre group, it's two separate things. It seems as if he was involved in theatre in his youth/university. We also know that he was involved in animation (he worked on the Inspector Gadget series). But the significance of the local theatre group that supposedly connects the killer: Mikio apparently had that group saved on his internet favourites tab which the killer may or may not have clicked on. I've only ever had it confirmed that the killer logged on to the computer, looked around the desktop, created a new folder, then logged off. Now, given we know he used the computer for no less than 5 minutes, that doesn't seem like a lot. That said, it was the year 2000, so who knows how long it took the computer to boot up etc. Either way, in short: I don't know which theatre group Mikio was with. It's possible he was "with" none, merely had an interest in it.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

From Monazite's blog (the google translate is bad but you'll get the gist): 負け犬の遠吠え

"It was in November, about a month before the incident, that I received a phone call from Kihachiro Kawamoto for the first time in over ten years. The request was, ``I want you to color a model of a passenger plane by the end of the year.'' This appears to be related to Mikio's company, which has been making proposals to major airlines to change the design of passenger planes. Mr. Kawamoto introduced a model production company. A model production company painted two or three passenger plane models red and blue and delivered them to Mikio's company at the end of the year, just before the incident."

We know that JAL is still a client of Interbrand to this day. Obviously, we spoke about that JAS plane calendar that he had on the wall (for more than one year, seemed to be re-occurring). I can't help feeling that has to be some connection between the USAF and Mikio's involvement / interest with planes. Mikio was basically a designer after all.

 

[dms]

We know that JAL is still a client of Interbrand to this day. Obviously, we spoke about that JAS plane calendar that he had on the wall (for more than one year, seemed to be re-occurring). I can't help feeling that has to be some connection between the USAF and Mikio's involvement / interest with planes. Mikio was basically a designer after all.

Over and over I find myself thinking, "If only Mikio had had social media"

 

[Charlot123]

Over and over I find myself thinking, "If only Mikio had had social media"

He was into anime.

Social media existed, in some form. I remember that before 1999, Columbine killers had the game, and were communicating with other gamers, telling them personal things. The better known social media outlets, MySpace and Friendster were launched in 2003, but surely, there were tons of chat groups in 2000? AOL had them, for example. One just needs to find out what the world used most, or what anime aficionados used.

 

[AnyNameIWish]

I'm thinking back to late 90s in Japan and this is my 2yen, a married office worker dad probably wouldn't be that active on message boards / social media- in Japan there was no Friendster or social media equivalent that was common back then. My workplace used an Intranet (look that up, kids!) For reference, we had flip phones or bricks and texted using T9.

Some homes did have fast internet by that time in the form of a DSL line(does that sound right?), I had dialup at my place, but someone with a home office probably had something more reliable.

 

[TokyoSleuth]

It wouldn't surprise me if someone who frequently passes the house, a local, thought of the victims and left the statue as opposed to some gesture of twisted irony from the killer (much less contrition).

That's my thinking too. The only slight thing that niggles my brain is the carving on the bottom. Someone carved the number 6, the age of Rei. So it is almost as if the statue was intended solely for Rei, not Nina. But then again it could have no relevance, or have been there already.

 

[lonewanderer]

lonewanderer, that's really interesting about the flights. Is Space-A different from Patriots Express? That's the one I've often read about or heard mentioned. Are you in the military (or were?)

And your theory is my theory too! I suspect USAF given Edwards and Yokota are both floating around the clues but Miura has Yokosuka which is Navy and the killer had sand from that area too. Great point re: the hand injuries too and knowing how to deal with those. The person of interest I have in this case definitely would have been exposed to first aid classes or knowledge given his father was a military doctor.

I was active duty army for WAY too long, and now I am a contractor. Thank you for you interest!

Patriot Express is the charter version of military flights, its more like a brand name. It is used for people flying on official orders, which is active duty military (I think DA civilians on orders too). If on orders, its fairly unusual to not have to use Patriot Express. Space-a means space available. So if they are not active duty (contractor, retiree, etc) and do not have official orders, or just want to take a trip home for leave, they may be eligible to fly Patriot Express depending on the space available on the flight. This can be trickier for the flyer, because the flights times are subject to change without much warning, and getting a flight back can be a gamble. I am getting a little off track with the explanation, but this blog explains it very well: Flying Space-A on the Patriot Express: 12 Things to Know - Poppin' Smoke

Here's some food for thought, too, about how convoluted a potential suspect could be based on my own real-life family:

My oldest child is not biologically mine (not that it makes any difference to me) and we lived together in Germany between 2016-2019. From Germany, we went all over the continent travelling. I took a job in Turkey (She never visited there, but I did bring her things when I visited home) from 2019-2022, and now I work in South Korea. The whole family now lives in SoKo since March 2023. Since she has been here in South Korea, she has been to Philippines and Thailand. Her great-grandmother was 100% Lithuanian. I give you all of this information to put into perspective how tangled the investigation could get if she had committed the crime. Military families tend to be diverse and usually take the opportunities to visit places when they get stationed overseas. My first thought when I heard this case was pretty much "Yea I bet that was a dependent with their own unique backstory." The AF base sand, the diverse blood typing, the clothing from several places in the world, the ability to not have their injuries pop up on the radar.

 

[fridaybaker]

Noooooooo! Did Cleo throw their baby over the cliff???