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

[Lalalacasbah]

Re: handkerchiefs and hip bag…
I’ve been looking over that today and have spotted a few things.

According to this article, the hip bag had a hole in the bottom and a few other smaller holes. The image attached is from the TMPD DVD on the case but it is not clarified whether this is the real bag or a replica.
Regardless, if you look at the white circle you can see a hole in the bottom. Other circles show smaller holes:
View attachment 531596
From memory the knife was slightly too big for the bag, so I’m wondering if, after it slicing a hole in the bottom, the killer used a handkerchief to cover the end of the knife to prevent more holes and that’s why it ended up with a slice in it. Rather than using the handkerchief as a specific method to grip the knife to stab reminiscent of fish mongers and certain Asian countries, it was just due to trying to protect the bag from being damaged further. I’m neither here nor there with this, just what I noticed.

And now just on the hip bag itself, I was trying to see if I could find who exactly manufactured the bag. It was said to be made down in Osaka and sold up in Tokyo with 2850 units made, but I couldn’t find the name of who made it exactly from my searches. I just so happened to do an image search on that particular style of bag, and what came up were almost exact replicas… all being sold as military special operations equipment in Japan. It seems this style of bag, though bought in Japan, may have been sold under military equipment. See screenshot:View attachment 531595

Nice sleuthing and good catch @Incoherent! Amazing!!! Military again... This case needs international attention to get pressure needed to push the DNA and international processes along.

Might be a bit out there and maybe already done but @FacelessPodcast I know you've done so much hard work on your articles and podcast, have you ever thought about approachin any of the big US stations that do the true crimes shows (20/20, Dateline, so many of them, etc.) with your work, findings and theories? I feel since a Japan crime many folks (even crime buffs) I've mentioned this story to have never heard about it!!

Those shows have a large US based audience and a viewer might recognized something familiar, ie: clothes, hip bag, or person fitting the profiles, friend of friend, son of an acquaintance/friend that rings a bell... something/anything!

 

[tenko]

I strongly believe I found out who the POI is. Actually, I’m thinking about 2 boys in particular, maybe 3 but I’m not convinced about the third one at all. I’m leaning towards one a little bit more, considering all the informations that I gathered while attentively reading the threads. If that’s him, then his name is indeed kind of common and it’s very hard to find concrete informations about him without using the right tools or having connections with experienced people who could have access to the background of anyone. But, there are still some “handcrafted” ways to find things out, if you’re cunning enough.

Now, I don’t know what can be done with that. I believe it’s been a year since Nicolas uncovered some kind of truth, a promising lead at least. How can things move forward now? What can be done? Is being very patient part of a strategy?