Japan - Miyazawa family of 4 murdered, Setagaya, Tokyo, 30 Dec 2000 #3

[Sor Juana]

I believe there was a big connection between Mikio and his love for animation that I read over the threads, but as for the Ghibli museum nearby it did not open until the end of 2001… I am a very big fan of those movies myself and it’s a place on my bucket list to visit, but in relation to this case unfortunately the family were dead before it was opened.

RSBM
Corrected in #630. The quote was from the wrong link.

 

[Incoherent]

Yeah you're spot on here. It isn't the same as some middle ages European monastery. Most of the "monks" at Japanese temples are actually regular people who devote some of their free time to helping maintain the temple and perform some of the rituals. And there is also a big difference between temples and larger shrines which often does not come across on English Google Maps.

Funnily enough, there is a case of a Japanese serial killer taking refuge in a temple complex. He convinced a monk that he was a lawyer and wanted to help an appeal the monk was working on. This monk was married with two kids. One of his daughters recognized the man from a wanted poster and told her father, who then alerted the police.

So the idea of the faceless man fleeing to a temple and somehow disappearing by being taken into to some monastic community is not realistic at all.

My ENT doctor is a monk on the weekends actually, he’s a really cool guy and tells me about what he does while looking deep into my nasal passages. If you ever need a great ENT let me know haha.

 

[TokyoSleuth]

Wrongdoers don saffron robes to conceal their crimes .


Thailand. The Somkid Pumpuang case. Known as the "Jack the Ripper of Thailand," Somkid Pumpuang was a serial killer convicted of murdering five women in 2005. After being released from prison on parole, he committed another murder in 2019. During his time on the run, he disguised himself as a monk and sought refuge in a temple, blending in with the monastic community.
Sri Lanka. The Wasantha Karunaratne case. Karunaratne was involved in a series of violent crimes, including murder.
He fled to a remote Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka, where he lived for several months disguised as a monk. He was eventually discovered and apprehended by the authorities.

Some 19 Buddhist monks arrested, hiding from their criminal past

As alluded to above, comparisons in this sense with Thailand and Sri Lanka are not helpful. Buddhism is a philosophy which took on forms of religions in each country it spread to. The way Buddhism functions in Japan is entirely different to how it functions in SE Asia, South Asia, and Tibet. As indeed does the way temples and monasteries are run and maintained. It is the equivalent of comparing the situation of a pre-reformation English monastic community, with members of a small town American church community who volunteer free time to help with events and times of importance.

As I mentioned, most people working in such places in Japan do so in their spare time alongside other jobs in society, with only a couple of people based there full time. Most of them have families and function more like a village vicar or town pastor does in the UK or USA. In the example I referred to, the killer only managed to avoid detection for one day before being recognized. Even then, he was there under the pretense of helping a monk with a legal case, not trying to blend in as a monk.

Not trying to discredit your opinions or evident hard work and care about this, but just want to clear this up as knowing how these places function in communities here, it just isn't a possibility.

 

[Sor Juana]

Cuts to the offender's own hand--unintentional self-infliction in the course of knife attacks - PubMed

In a knife attack the perpetrator can unintentionally injure his own hand, if the knife does not have an adequate handguard and the tip of the blade hits a solid, mostly bony structure while being violently thrust into the victim's body. The injuries occurring under these conditions are...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Just wanted to add why I think the cut was made with a reverse-edge-in grip. The killer used his fists or something else to hit the women. If the cut had been on the internal side of the fingers, he wouldn’t have been able to do it. With the cut on his palm, he could continue to attack. JMO.

 

[Sor Juana]

As alluded to above, comparisons in this sense with Thailand and Sri Lanka are not helpful. Buddhism is a philosophy which took on forms of religions in each country it spread to. The way Buddhism functions in Japan is entirely different to how it functions in SE Asia, South Asia, and Tibet. As indeed does the way temples and monasteries are run and maintained. It is the equivalent of comparing the situation of a pre-reformation English monastic community, with members of a small town American church community who volunteer free time to help with events and times of importance.

As I mentioned, most people working in such places in Japan do so in their spare time alongside other jobs in society, with only a couple of people based there full time. Most of them have families and function more like a village vicar or town pastor does in the UK or USA. In the example I referred to, the killer only managed to avoid detection for one day before being recognized. Even then, he was there under the pretense of helping a monk with a legal case, not trying to blend in as a monk.

Not trying to discredit your opinions or evident hard work and care about this, but just want to clear this up as knowing how these places function in communities here, it just isn't a possibility.

Could you provide some supporting information for your statement? For instance, how do Zen or Shinto-influenced Buddhism practices address the issue of a criminal seeking refuge within temple grounds (that is not allowing it), compared to Theravada Buddhist temples in Thailand?

As of recent estimates, there are approximately 40,000-50,000 Buddhist monks in Japan. Out of them, 10-20% live on-site. The data is current, but I would assume that in 2000, the percentage was no less, and likely more.

Large Zen temples, such as those in the Rinzai and Soto schools, may have around 10-30 monks living on-site full time. Examples also include Eiheiji Temple and Sojiji Temple, which are major training monasteries with large resident communities. Shingon temples, like Koyasan, can also have a number of resident monks often in the range of 10-20 monks. Medium-sized temples may have 3-10 monks living full time, and small temples 1-3 monks. Training monasteries associated with specific Buddhist schools often have more monks living on-site due to their rigorous training programs. In Tokyo, Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa and Zojo-ji Temple in Minato have 3-10 monks living on-site. Setagaya hosts 4 temples with monks living there, in small numbers though.

"Everything that can be invented has been invented." - Thomas Edison, 19th century.

 

[Hausos]

There's plenty of ads for pads on Japanese television. I think it's reasonable to associate pads with blood. It's possible he could have just been rummaging around the bathroom and its drawers and saw the pads. Even if he didn't know what a pad was, perhaps the pads were in a box (I keep mine in the original box they comes in), and saw the obvious depiction of it and assumed it would help his bleeding.

On a personal note, my teenage brother (16+) definitely knew what pads were. Did he find them gross and uncomfortable to talk about? yeah. But he knew that women bled and used pads for the bleeding. jmo/anecdotal.

Japan is definitely more of a pad country. I assume the vast, vast majority of household has pads or has had them at one point if there's a woman present. "According to a 2022 survey, 75.5% of Japanese respondents use sanitary pads daily during their period, while only 2.8% use tampons daily."

I assume two decades back, pads were probably even more popular.

 

[Sor Juana]

Life in a Japanese Buddhist Monastery

Buddhist temple sites contained (and still do today, of course) a multitude of buildings, each with a specific function and all contained within a particular area. There are buildings for worship, meetings, prayers, training, to house relics and artworks and all living quarters and facilities necessary for the monks' daily needs. Prior to the medieval period, it was considered auspicious to have a particular arrangement and number of buildings within a complex, but this idea gave way to the practical consideration of meeting the needs of the monastic community.

When not meditating, monks are otherwise occupied in such tasks as studying religious texts, performing necessary labour tasks such as cleaning, gardening, and food cultivation or asking for alms from the outside local community. For temples which are popular tourist attractions, monks may be on hand to help visitors and act as guides. Meals are communal and often taken in silence.

A typical day of a modern Zen Buddhist monk is as follows:

4 am Wake up
4.10 - 5 am Sutra chanting
5- 7 am Zazen and interview with abbot
7 am Breakfast of rice gruel, salted plum, and pickles.
8 - 10.50 am Cleaning and work duties
11 am Lunch, typically barley rice, miso soup, cooked vegetable, and pickled radish
1 - 3.50 pm Work duty
4 pm Light meal similar to lunch
5 - 8.30 pm Zazen and interview with abbot
9 pm Lights out
9 - 11 pm Night sitting.

Sleep Like a Monk: Temple Stays in Japan

 

[Charlot123]

Just wanted to add why I think the cut was made with a reverse-edge-in grip. The killer used his fists or something else to hit the women. If the cut had been on the internal side of the fingers, he wouldn’t have been able to do it. With the cut on his palm, he could continue to attack. JMO.

We don't know if he used his hands. Horrible to write, but could have used his feet as well. ((( In fact, given that he was taller than women, it is possible. How much anger did a person need to have.

 

[FlowersInBloom]

We don't know if he used his hands. Horrible to write, but could have used his feet as well. ((( In fact, given that he was taller than women, it is possible. How much anger did a person need to have.

Both of them were lying down on the floor at the top of the stairs too, and I also just recall saying Niina had been “beaten” but not how. Perhaps the killer kicked her repeatedly in the face once she had been stabbed and was lying down? Sorry for the awful visuals here… but I agree perhaps it was not his fists that he used…

 

[Charlot123]

I agree with you. I’ve also read up on lots and lots of crime/murder cases in Japan. I feel like the killer here isn’t that much different from other killers. There have even been young adults in Japan who’ve killed or helped killed and when given their sentences they’ve said things like “don’t care” or smiled and yelled something crazy like “Merry Christmas!”

If you go on the darker corners of the Japanese internet you’ll see people writing things like “I’m so mad, I want to stab someone”. Or Japanese 2channers talking about how they want to go on stabbing sprees. Morbid, and likely trolls, but there’s certainly something to it.

Just feel that with everything considered, including the possible motive, the killer still feels so Japanese to me. (US military have certainly committed crimes in Japan but the vast majority of them are either sexually related, burglaries/stealing, or car accidents resulting in someone’s death).

Also, Faceless releasing his podcast in Japanese would be AMAZING. Would love to hear their thoughts regarding the podcast and new theories surrounding the case. Keeping interest alive in this case is so, so important. Maybe the Japanese can advocate for some change regarding the DNA laws (doubt it but maybe the government can make an exception for serious crimes?)

All of the above is my opinion, ofc.

I have a question - to you and to anyone who's aware of Japanese mentality.

I can imagine how a killer like this would look like; but I can't say that they don't stand out. They do, although it is impossible to predict what they'd do.

So I assume that the killer ought to have stood out in a way. I can imagine an outgoing, social and charming man still being capable of such behavior (Eric Harris looked rather charming), but it is not the most typical situation. Yet I assume that he is Japanese, and avoided capture by not standing out at all. Meaning, being like every average Japanese man. Total outliers are scrutinized and rejected by the community, and an outlier with scarred hands would cause questions.

So what do you think is protecting him from being paid attention to? Is he not what we think he is? Or, is he masking too well due to high, not low, IQ? Does he have parents who are so protective that they normalize and conceal his behavior? Is he in some mental institution or a group setting? Or did he commit suicide?

 

[Charlot123]

Both of them were lying down on the floor at the top of the stairs too, and I also just recall saying Niina had been “beaten” but not how. Perhaps the killer kicked her repeatedly in the face once she had been stabbed and was lying down? Sorry for the awful visuals here… but I agree perhaps it was not his fists that he used…

You know, I can imagine the mother, in a desperate attempt to protect her child, getting double strength. If she were taller, she could go for his eyes, but as I can imagine, the Miyazawas were on a smaller side, and the attacker, taller. But maybe Niina, seeing that her mother was attacked, tried to reciprocate in some way, too, maybe bite him, or something like it. He could have merely thrown her away, like a kitten, and maybe just kicked to incapacitate, then killed the mother and finished with Niina. I think they were no match to him. Also, this is why I can't rule out him being an animal attacker; the posters were writing about kicking dogs, and maybe he didn't write, but was the visitor of the boards? Also, is it possible that he would come to attack animals in the park by the evening, as in daytime there were people around, and one night, having not found an animal, he progressed with the humans from the house next to the park? I have a feeling he might have been carrying a skateboard with him, as it gave him the reason to come to the park, but it was more of a decoy. This could be another reason for people not to pay attention to him, a skateboarder, no big deal, daytime or evening. He probably crossed the park to get back home, and he probably did have a board. Maybe at home, he explained the bloodied hand by falling off the board?

Also, on the skateboard, could he get home sooner? Was he less noticeable?