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

[Lalalacasbah]

This doesn't add up for me. Firstly, we know that USAF members / familial dependents can easily eat at the many restaurants in the local area around base. Not only that, many of the establishments actively court their custom. So, the killer could've been Japanese, or he could've been American and eating in Japan, or he could've been from Tuvalu for all we know. I don't think the contents of someone's stomach tell you much other than what he felt like eating anywhere in the last 30ish hours.

As you say, he might've eaten dinner at a friend's house (though in my own anecdotal experience, home visits in Japan are rare-- @Incoherent can talk more eloquently to that, no doubt). And I guess, just to play devil's advocate, he wouldn't even necessarily have to have been in Japan to eat that food. He could've been anywhere in Asia and then jumped on a plane. For all we know, he could've been on a flight from Los Angeles and simply elected the Asian menu, washing his sesame spinach down with a Singapore Sling.

RE: the USAF base, he's huge -- some 12,000 people give or take. There are countless eateries / canteens. A Subway, even. On youtube you can find videos uploaded by former students going on excursions off-base or into Tokyo. Basically, in that city back in 2000, there are 31 million people. I don't think the contents of his stomach tell us much about where he's from per se.

Gotcha, thanks! Learning so much! Didn't realize home visits are rare although I recall it mentioned on the thread knocking on someone's door is rare. So much to absorb here

Yes maybe @Incoherent can clarify, I got the impression the meal wasn't one typically served in restaurants or somethign bought but was more a home prepared one but what do I know! JMO

 

[Incoherent]

RSBM; further to this (without naming any names), I’ve seen there are people off WS making public enquiries and posting a POI’s name.

It’s not the same one that I’ve got. So, already, we can see the issue.

This is how innocent people get harmed by armchair detectives and exactly why I posted my previous comment.

Gotcha, thanks! Learning so much! Didn't realize home visits are rare although I recall it mentioned on the thread knocking on someone's door is rare. So much to absorb here

Yes maybe @Incoherent can clarify, I got the impression the meal wasn't one typically served in restaurants or somethign bought but was more a home prepared one but what do I know! JMO

The meal eaten by the killer is one that is incredibly common and could be found in any restaurant, and bought fresh in supermarket in Japan too. To me it doesn’t say much about him, just that he was in Japan and ate some Japanese-style food.
It doesn’t indicate that he must be Japanese and cannot be American either for example, because if you were to examine the contents of my stomach and basing that on who I was you’d likely never guess I’m originally from and was raised in a small town in southern England, UK.
To add, being an American doesn’t necessarily mean you’re heading for the mashed potatoes and pork chops (sorry for the generalisation here), especially if you’ve already been raised on Asian-style dishes.

As for eating at a friend’s house during the time period of a few days before December 30th - unlikely. It was a very busy time, offices and companies and closed, families had all gathered and were cleaning and preparing for celebrations, it wouldn’t be usual or appropriate.
To add on here, a person turning up at the Miyazawa’s at 11pm on a Saturday, December 30th, asking to be let inside for whatever reason would be so incredibly rude and inappropriate that even if it was Mikio’s own cousin he still wouldn’t have done it. Let alone some potential piano teacher asking for wages or someone needing the toilet. JMO.

 

[Lalalacasbah]

The meal eaten by the killer is one that is incredibly common and could be found in any restaurant, and bought fresh in supermarket in Japan too. To me it doesn’t say much about him, just that he was in Japan and ate some Japanese-style food.
It doesn’t indicate that he must be Japanese and cannot be American either for example, because if you were to examine the contents of my stomach and basing that on who I was you’d likely never guess I’m originally from and was raised in a small town in southern England, UK.
To add, being an American doesn’t necessarily mean you’re heading for the mashed potatoes and pork chops (sorry for the generalisation here), especially if you’ve already been raised on Asian-style dishes.

As for eating at a friend’s house during the time period of a few days before December 30th - unlikely. It was a very busy time, offices and companies and closed, families had all gathered and were cleaning and preparing for celebrations, it wouldn’t be usual or appropriate.
To add on here, a person turning up at the Miyazawa’s at 11pm on a Saturday, December 30th, asking to be let inside for whatever reason would be so incredibly rude and inappropriate that even if it was Mikio’s own cousin he still wouldn’t have done it. Let alone some potential piano teacher asking for wages or someone needing the toilet. JMO.

Ah ok, thank you. Good to get solid info on the food thing. I had read it was more a homemade meal somewhere but you've clarified it's all over the place so nothing special. I totally get the food doesn't really define this guy unless there was something about the food but there's not! So enough about beans lol

So is this another clue about the killer? That he wasn't with family during these hours and possibly during this celebratory time. I'm guessing it was discussed here with people who know about base curfews. What would a base curfew be and is it different for teens, young adults under 20 let's say?

 

[Lalalacasbah]

What are everyone's thoughts of the killer before and after the crime? Do you all think this was his first time and do you think he killed again after?

Part of me thinks he might want the notoriety or acknowledgement if he killed again after this and would make it known it was "him again".

The other part of me thinks maybe he got spooked with being wounded so bad and went under the radar or led a normal life after getting this out of his system. I'm torn on this.

 

[tenko]

What are everyone's thoughts of the killer before and after the crime? Do you all think this was his first time and do you think he killed again after?

Part of me thinks he might want the notoriety or acknowledgement if he killed again after this and would make it known it was "him again".

The other part of me thinks maybe he got spooked with being wounded so bad and went under the radar or led a normal life after getting this out of his system. I'm torn on this.

He’s probably living normally now, trying to stay away from his past actions, thinking he’s in the clear. But I believe what he did is something he still thinks about frequently. Maybe he dreams of it, maybe after 24 years he still fears being caught. Who knows.

 

[tenko]

顔なき人
冬夜に消えた
秘密だけ

 

[tenko]

Once you commit such a crime, as hard as you try to move on and build a normal life, things can never be normal below the surface. The soul is stained and blackened. Some might live in fear, and to live in fear is not to live at all.

 

[Incoherent]

So is this another clue about the killer? That he wasn't with family during these hours and possibly during this celebratory time.

RSBM: yes, it tells us a lot about him.

It made it a lot more difficult to think of him as Japanese, especially when the TMPD revised his age down to 15-24 and said he was living a student lifestyle. Someone of that age and occupation would generally have a family he would need to be with, obligations, expectations, and be very busy during that time period. Someone like him would be noticed if he was not there, if he declined to return to his family, or hid away, etc.
I’ve said it before but the days before and after new year is the one time in Japan you can guarantee people are all together with their family.

As with everything there are always exceptions. When the age range was still much broader I could imagine him as a Japanese man estranged from his family, or perhaps didn’t have one, a loner, someone who jumps from job to job. But when that was all revised it made it much more difficult to imagine.

What it says to me is that he wouldn’t be missed by going out that night to kill or he could explain it away without much issue. Someone from somewhere where there isn’t such obligation and expectation to clean the house and pitch in with everyone to make the holiday special. Someone who if he wanted to hide away after the murders he wouldn’t be bothered by most people. Someone who had a way out.

All of this is of course JMO.

But just to add, I do also think someone in his family knows what he did and helped him with that way out.

 

[tenko]

But just to add, I do also think someone in his family knows what he did and helped him with that way out.

It also seems plausible to me

 

[FacelessPodcast]

What are everyone's thoughts of the killer before and after the crime? Do you all think this was his first time and do you think he killed again after?

Part of me thinks he might want the notoriety or acknowledgement if he killed again after this and would make it known it was "him again".

The other part of me thinks maybe he got spooked with being wounded so bad and went under the radar or led a normal life after getting this out of his system. I'm torn on this.

My gut feeling, which is all I can give, is that he had engaged in violence before, though likely not murder. Certainly, not in Japan. Though there's every chance he fell through the gaps (we have seen spates of murders linger on for years when the killer merely had to move from one US state to the other), we shouldn't forget that there is a red notice out across the world for his arrest through Interpol.

In short, I think he has violence in him. A volcanic rage. But it has remained beneath the surface since 2000. As per my podcast, various experts said the same thing. That it is a fallacy to think killers, once they kill, must do it again and again. Plenty of them to a thing once, particularly in their youth, and it strikes the fear of God into their hearts once they realise what they've done and what could now happen to them. They go on to lead normal lives. And, as I've often pointed out, half of murders in the US go unsolved. I think he's hiding in that number.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

He’s probably living normally now, trying to stay away from his past actions, thinking he’s in the clear. But I believe what he did is something he still thinks about frequently. Maybe he dreams of it, maybe after 24 years he still fears being caught. Who knows.

Totally agree. That would be my guess, too.