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

[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.

 

[Deleted member 347117]

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.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

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.

And to underpin all these points, we know the TMPD descended on the hospitals throughout Tokyo, fingerprinting men with hand injuries. They found no record of him. There is some nebulous talk of the train station hand injury man though LE seem to put very little stock in that (and were reluctant to say why). There is also some mention of a man that came into an unnamed hospital seeking treatment for a knife injury to his hand but was treated without papers or any kind of records being kept about him. That second one seems like BS to me. So, with that in mind, we're talking about a young man able to negotiate the societal mores on Japan, without anyone seemingly suspicious of his knife injuries, who is somehow able to seek medical attention on the black market? Alternatively, he is not subject to the above. A young man on Yokota, for instance. Able to seek medical attention beyond the reach of the TMPD...

 

[Deleted member 347117]

@FacelessPodcast so what is your next move, if you have one?

 

[FacelessPodcast]

@FacelessPodcast so what is your next move, if you have one?

From here on in, I'll keep mention of the POI to a minimum / focus my replies to posts only on the case itself.

I am not going to be explaining the ins and the outs of my investigation, nor am I going to be sharing details that I am unable to with any one of you.

I am working hard to make it a reality.

Apologies for the long post, guys. That is all I'm going to say on this.

I very much do have a next move, @tenko. But as above.

I'm sure you all understand why I can't discuss it further. Thank you.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

Interesting post recently from Monazite (note, as the author of this thread, I believe I'm not required to post a link but just be careful posting from his blog here as I'm not certain it's an approved source -- I take his writings with a pinch of a salt as he's a 'blue sky thinker' but also he is an excellent resource. I've met him and I vouch for him, he merely wants the truth in this case). Hopefully it's fine for you to simply reply to my thoughts on his latest post as he raises some interesting points and I'm curious to see what you think:

*He suggests the possibility of a link between the animal abuse cases in the area prior to the murders and the Tokyo University of Agriculture. The inference being, I think, that the killer is able to carve up humans so callously due to a background in dissection and so forth. I don't buy that link on any level but it's an interesting idea and I just figured I'd mention it here. He does, however, make the suggestion that the traces of flora in the killer's jacket could match with the campus in Shizuoka (800m+ above sea level) as he doesn't think the local trees in the area necessarily explain those traces. He goes further in that, at the time of year the Uniqlo jacket went on sale, Tokyo temperatures wouldn't have warranted such a warm garment. However, if you were higher up in terms of altitude...

*He suggests that there were many jizo statues around Kyodo Station which seem similar to the one left near the house. He wonders if that's mere coincidence.

*Most interestingly to me; he suggest An Irie's family were watching a TV drama (The 300m Yen Robbery) until 11:20PM on the night of the murders and that Mikio shut his computer down around 10:50PM with the criminal breaking in around that first given time. He also suggests that time of death was 11:30PM based on police estimates (obviously there is a wrinkle with those numbers but he does use the word estimate).

Just wondering what the group makes of these ideas. As I say, I don't have links for them but interested to hear if any of the above moves the needle for you.

 

[Deleted member 347117]

Interesting post recently from Monazite (note, as the author of this thread, I believe I'm not required to post a link but just be careful posting from his blog here as I'm not certain it's an approved source -- I take his writings with a pinch of a salt as he's a 'blue sky thinker' but also he is an excellent resource. I've met him and I vouch for him, he merely wants the truth in this case). Hopefully it's fine for you to simply reply to my thoughts on his latest post as he raises some interesting points and I'm curious to see what you think:

*He suggests the possibility of a link between the animal abuse cases in the area prior to the murders and the Tokyo University of Agriculture. The inference being, I think, that the killer is able to carve up humans so callously due to a background in dissection and so forth. I don't buy that link on any level but it's an interesting idea and I just figured I'd mention it here. He does, however, make the suggestion that the traces of flora in the killer's jacket could match with the campus in Shizuoka (800m+ above sea level) as he doesn't think the local trees in the area necessarily explain those traces. He goes further in that, at the time of year the Uniqlo jacket went on sale, Tokyo temperatures wouldn't have warranted such a warm garment. However, if you were higher up in terms of altitude...

*He suggests that there were many jizo statues around Kyodo Station which seem similar to the one left near the house. He wonders if that's mere coincidence.

*Most interestingly to me; he suggest An Irie's family were watching a TV drama (The 300m Yen Robbery) until 11:20PM on the night of the murders and that Mikio shut his computer down around 10:50PM with the criminal breaking in around that first given time. He also suggests that time of death was 11:30PM based on police estimates (obviously there is a wrinkle with those numbers but he does use the word estimate).

Just wondering what the group makes of these ideas. As I say, I don't have links for them but interested to hear if any of the above moves the needle for you.

Interesting… should be exploited, just in case. But I doubt we’ll be lucky enough to find the yearbooks online for that one.

Does Monazite have someone in mind?

 

[Lalalacasbah]

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

I would agree. I find it strange that no one has come forward (that we're aware of or privy to knowing by TMPD/media) to recognize any of the items put out there. Especially with a reward!

 

[Eliver]

Interesting post recently from Monazite (note, as the author of this thread, I believe I'm not required to post a link but just be careful posting from his blog here as I'm not certain it's an approved source -- I take his writings with a pinch of a salt as he's a 'blue sky thinker' but also he is an excellent resource. I've met him and I vouch for him, he merely wants the truth in this case). Hopefully it's fine for you to simply reply to my thoughts on his latest post as he raises some interesting points and I'm curious to see what you think:

*He suggests the possibility of a link between the animal abuse cases in the area prior to the murders and the Tokyo University of Agriculture. The inference being, I think, that the killer is able to carve up humans so callously due to a background in dissection and so forth. I don't buy that link on any level but it's an interesting idea and I just figured I'd mention it here. He does, however, make the suggestion that the traces of flora in the killer's jacket could match with the campus in Shizuoka (800m+ above sea level) as he doesn't think the local trees in the area necessarily explain those traces. He goes further in that, at the time of year the Uniqlo jacket went on sale, Tokyo temperatures wouldn't have warranted such a warm garment. However, if you were higher up in terms of altitude...

*He suggests that there were many jizo statues around Kyodo Station which seem similar to the one left near the house. He wonders if that's mere coincidence.

*Most interestingly to me; he suggest An Irie's family were watching a TV drama (The 300m Yen Robbery) until 11:20PM on the night of the murders and that Mikio shut his computer down around 10:50PM with the criminal breaking in around that first given time. He also suggests that time of death was 11:30PM based on police estimates (obviously there is a wrinkle with those numbers but he does use the word estimate).

Just wondering what the group makes of these ideas. As I say, I don't have links for them but interested to hear if any of the above moves the needle for you.

I have read through all the original Japanese blog post you have mentioned. Here's my two cents.

I believe that Monazite is in absolutely good faith and also has access to a lot of sources that non-Japanese speaking people clearly have not, however some of his theories are just that: theories.

Like you, I also don't give too much credit to the linking of the animals' killings and the Miyazawa case.
As for the Jizo statues, I already said what I think some pages ago: I believe it's linked to the murder but only in the sense that someone unrelated to the case left it there to pay homage to the children.
For the all Shizuoka thing I don't know, it's a little far-fetched in my opinion.

Again, I don't doubt in the slightest about Monazite's good faith or how well he's informed about the case. Probably more than a lot of people in this thread, me included.

However the thing I find most interesting is the TV thing when talking about An Irie.
That could very well be the case.

I say this because soundproofing notwithstanding I believe the thud that was heard of the ladder would be around the time frames provided by Monazite. Also there are a lot of things that I just can't figure out when it comes to the sounds (or lack thereof).
Yes, the whole thing could have happened in complete silence, but I also believe the last part of it (Yasuko and Nina being attacked in the attic, Yasuko and Nina going down the ladder) made quite the commotion.
I'm really torn on this point.

It's also true that we should also keep into account not only the soundproofing, but also he position of the people in Yasuko's mother house.

Do you believe that the fact they were watching the TV might have further covered the sounds of what was happening next door?

 

[Lalalacasbah]

Welp I went down a bit of a rabbit hole and probably off my rocker a bit as it doesn't seem to tie in with the the main theory on here unless anyone has ideas... but will share anyways

I did a Google image search of Mikio's sweatshirt the killer wore/took with him. Found a used one for sale on the Malaysia Carousell site, looks to be sold by a guy in Malaysia and listed over a year ago. I don't think I can post the link here, but you can probably easily find it by Google image search.

Now, I only thought interesting as IIRC didn't someone mention the killer's possible eating habits (eating with hands and not using utensils for melon and ice cream was a Malaysian thing? But this goes against the military brat idea). I know the POI you all have in mind is deemed not Malaysian but I thought funny coincidence Malaysia in general came up! There is also Uniqlo clothing for sale (no jackets) - I'm assuming that's just a popular brand in general?

Here is the ad screenshots that I think okay to post but I won't post the seller. I used Google translate for the highlighted text and it reads: There are no holes and tears. There is a yellowish color on the collar that needs to be washed.

P.S.: For some reason I find this eerie to see and look at. Not sure why, just sad and unsettling even though I know it's not THE shirt!

 

[Lalalacasbah]

*He suggests the possibility of a link between the animal abuse cases in the area prior to the murders and the Tokyo University of Agriculture. The inference being, I think, that the killer is able to carve up humans so callously due to a background in dissection and so forth. I don't buy that link on any level but it's an interesting idea and I just figured I'd mention it here. He does, however, make the suggestion that the traces of flora in the killer's jacket could match with the campus in Shizuoka (800m+ above sea level) as he doesn't think the local trees in the area necessarily explain those traces. He goes further in that, at the time of year the Uniqlo jacket went on sale, Tokyo temperatures wouldn't have warranted such a warm garment. However, if you were higher up in terms of altitude...

RSBM: I am still at a loss over the killer's choice of clothes. Who wears a mostly white shirt and white shoes to a knife murder? The jacket might be used to cover the white shirt, but still an odd choice to dress in. He could dress in black and still fit in, no? This almost sounds more impulsive to me. He bought the knife the day before, you think he'd dress in something easier to move around it (sans hat and scarves) but it seems he must've been around people who know him at some point and had to dress in his usual attire to not look suspicious of his plan. MOO

 

[Deleted member 347117]

@Lalalacasbah did you contact the guy selling the sweater to know where he got it from?

 

[Deleted member 347117]

How rare is this sweater? There could be a possibility that it belonged to Mikio, and transited all the way to Malaysia as a second hand clothing.

 

[Cryptic]

"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.

As a distant side note, military wound bandages can resemble both the 'pad' and 'tampon' type designs.

When I trained as a reservist, each non medic soldier would carry a 'pad type' bandage on the same place on their uniform. Unit medics had the full bandage variety in their kits.

So, if 'sanitary products' in the home included tampons, and these were used, it could further imply a military connection.

 

[Deleted member 347117]

I might be able to get the Yokota 2001 yearbook soon. I’ll give an update.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

Welp I went down a bit of a rabbit hole and probably off my rocker a bit as it doesn't seem to tie in with the the main theory on here unless anyone has ideas... but will share anyways

I did a Google image search of Mikio's sweatshirt the killer wore/took with him. Found a used one for sale on the Malaysia Carousell site, looks to be sold by a guy in Malaysia and listed over a year ago. I don't think I can post the link here, but you can probably easily find it by Google image search.

Wow, This is a great catch, @Lalalacasbah. I think the chances of it being Mikio's are low --just by the numbers-- but you just never know. Given the size of the sweater, the size of it, the label and its condition, in theory, it could've been bundled away somewhere and then ended up in a charity haul recently.

Was it still for sale when you saw it? It was already sold when I clicked on it. At any rate, it belongs with the TMPD for them to eliminate. Or, on the off-chance this contains the killer's forensic material, that could obviously be huge.

Now, I only thought interesting as IIRC didn't someone mention the killer's possible eating habits (eating with hands and not using utensils for melon and ice cream was a Malaysian thing?

He ate with one hand because the other one was injured. I think it probably also informed his choices; he wasn't about to start making a stir-fry with his preferred hand injured.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

RSBM: I am still at a loss over the killer's choice of clothes. Who wears a mostly white shirt and white shoes to a knife murder? The jacket might be used to cover the white shirt, but still an odd choice to dress in. He could dress in black and still fit in, no? This almost sounds more impulsive to me. He bought the knife the day before, you think he'd dress in something easier to move around it (sans hat and scarves) but it seems he must've been around people who know him at some point and had to dress in his usual attire to not look suspicious of his plan. MOO

He went to a house with his face covered and a knife in his bag. To me, that's a stronger indicator of a plan to kill than his white shoes / shirt being an indicator of spontaneity. JMO.

 

[atomicsciencegal]

Wow, This is a great catch, @Lalalacasbah. I think the chances of it being Mikio's are low --just by the numbers-- but you just never know. Given the size of the sweater, the size of it, the label and its condition, in theory, it could've been bundled away somewhere and then ended up in a charity haul recently.

Was it still for sale when you saw it? It was already sold when I clicked on it. At any rate, it belongs with the TMPD for them to eliminate. Or, on the off-chance this contains the killer's forensic material, that could obviously be huge.

He ate with one hand because the other one was injured. I think it probably also informed his choices; he was about to start making a stir-fry with his preferred hand injured.

A stir fry?! How have I missed that.