List of major crimes in Japan

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Major crimes in Japan

Date	Name	Deaths	Location	Summary
1893	Kawachi Ten Person Murder	13	Osaka	Kumataro Kido and Yagoro Tani murders 10 people and an infant motivated by grudges against the victims. They commit suicide after the murders. The murder is known as Kawachi Juningiri.
1923-1924	Sataro Fukiage	6?	Kantō and Chūbu	Serial killer Sataro Fukiage rapes and murders six girls. He also rapes and murders a girl in 1906. Fukiage is executed in 1926.
1925	Aoyama-kai / Mitani-kumi gang war	3+	near Yokohama	In one of the largest battles between Yakuza groups, members of the Aoyama-kai and around thirty gangs led by the Mitani-kumi are involved in a dispute over a construction contract for Tokyo Denryoku Construction in Kanagawa. Aoyama-kai is a subcontractor of Shimizu-gumi and Shimizu-gumi is losing trust due to Hazama-gumi's obstruction, which is regarded as Mitani-kumi's instruction. After six hours of fighting, reports between 600 to 2,000 gangsters are involved with weapons including rifles, pistols, swords and farm implements. The Tokyo police and the Kempei-Tai were called in after the Kawasaki police became unable to handle the situation and, although Japanese officials declared martial law, fighting did not end until a cannon was brought in by the Aoyama-gumi. The battle injures over 150 people and kills at least three.
1936	Sada Abe	1	Tokyo	Sada Abe strangles her lover Kichizo Ishida and cuts his penis. Because her way of killing him is erotic, her crime gives an influence on Japanese films.
1938	Tsuyama massacre	31	rural hamlets near Tsuyama, Okayama	After cutting off electricity to black out the village, 21-year old man Mutsuo Toi goes on a late-night murder spree with a hunting rifle and sword before killing himself.
1941-1942	Hamamatsu serial murders	9-11	near Hamamatsu, Shizuoka	A deaf boy Seisaku Nakamura murders people in Shizuoka. He attempts to rape women and murder his family. He is arrested for nine murders in 1942. He admits two other murders. He is sentenced to death.
1944-1948	Kotobuki maternity hospital incident	103?	Tokyo	A hospital director Miyuki Ishikawa fatal neglects against about a hundred babies. There are accomplices and the shinjuku word office is suspected of approval for the murders.
1945-1946	Yoshio Kodaira	7-10	Tokyo, Tochigi	Japanese ex-soldier Yoshio Kodaira rapes and murders ten women. In China, he murders Chinese soldiers as a soldier. He also kill his father-in-law in 1932. Kodaira is executed in 1949.
1948	Teigin Bank robbery	12	Shiina, Toshima, Tokyo	Sixteen employees of a Teigin Bank branch are poisoned by cyanide after taking chemicals given to them by a man claiming to be from the health authorities who claimed they were medication to control a nearby dysentery outbreak. The man then stole 160,000 yen before making his escape. Twelve people died. Sadamichi Hirasawa, a painter, was arrested several months later. Although sentenced to death, there were strong suspicions that he was wrongfully convicted, and successive Justice Minsters refused to sign his death warrant, resulting in a stay of execution. During his 33-year imprisonment he wrote his autobiography and died of natural causes in 1987.
1948-1952	Osen Korogashi incident	8	Chiba, Shizuoka, Tochigi	Serial killer Genzo Kurita murders eight people. He commits necrophilia with several victims and murders a family at the cliff called Osen Korogashi. He is executed in 1959.
1960	The assassination of Inejiro Asanuma	1	Hibiya, Tokyo	The head of the Japan Socialist Party is stabbed to death by a 17-year old right-wing extremist Otoya Yamaguchi at a televised rally.
1963	Murder of Yoshinobu Murakoshi	1	Taito, Tokyo	4 year-old Yoshinobu Murakoshi fails to come home from a local park; several days later his family receives a phone call demanding ransom. Police fail to apprehend the person who collected the ransom, and the case generated massive publicity. Two years later they identified Tamotsu Obara as the kidnapper, who admitted under questioning to have murdered the child.
1963-1964	Akira Nishiguchi	5	through Japan	Serial killer Akira Nishiguchi cheats people, escapes from police officers in Japan, and kills five people. He is executed in 1970.
1965	Shooting rampage by Misao Katagiri	1	Tokyo	18-year old Misao Katagiri goes on a rampage with a rifle. He shoots two police officers in Zama city, Kanagawa prefecture then hijacks several cars. A gun battle between the gunman and hundreds of special police ensues at a gun store in Shibuya, Tokyo. He is suppressed by police and sentences to death.
1968	Norio Nagayama's robbery spree	4	Tokyo, Kyoto, Hakodate, Nagoya	A series of high-profile robberies in which 19-year old Norio Nagayama robs people for their money after killing them with a handgun stolen from the US military. After controversial trials, the Supreme Court upholds Nagayama's death in 1990. He is executed in 1997.
1968	300 million yen robbery	-	Fuchū, Tokyo	Disguised as a police officer, an unidentified man stops a security van belonging to the Toshiba Corporation near Tokyo's Fuchu Prison and, in the guise conducting a bomb search, hijacks the van successfully escaping with almost 300 million yen. Despite a massive investigation into what would become the largest robbery in Japanese history, neither the man or the money are ever found.
1968	The murder of her own father in Tochigi	1	Tochigi	Chiyo Aizawa murders her own father. She is an incest victim of her father. In 1973, the supreme court of Japan sentences her to a suspended sentence, saying that the article 200 of penal code is a breach of Japanese constitution. Her sentence becomes the first unconstitutional judgment for the supreme court.
1970	Inland Sea ferry hijacking	1	Hiroshima and the Inland Sea	An armed 20-year old escaping police hijacks a ferry and takes the crew and passengers hostage. He is shot dead by a police sniper the following morning.
1971	Kiyoshi Okubo	8	Gunma Prefecture	Serial killer Kiyoshi Okubo rapes and murders eight women during 41 days. Okubo is sentenced to death in 1973 and is executed in 1976.
1971-1972	Purge incident	12	Gunma prefecture	The United Red Army torture and murder their twelve members in base camps. They call the murders "purification". The incident comes to light after the Asama-Sanso incident.
1972	Asama-Sanso incident	2	Karuizawa, Nagano prefecture	5 armed left-wing militants of the United Red Army hold up in a mountainside holiday lodge, taking one hostage. Amidst live TV coverage, police storm the lodge after a ten-day standoff, resulting in the deaths of two policemen.
1973	Kidnapping of Kim Dae-Jung	-	Chiyoda, Tokyo	South Korean dissident Kim Dae-Jung, later to be president, is kidnapped from his hotel room in Tokyo by KCIA agents and taken to South Korea.
1979	Mitsubishi Bank sporting gun kidnapping	5	Osaka	Akiyoshi Umekawa shoot dead four people in a Mitsubishi Bank. His motivation is probably robbery at first, but he takes about 40 hostages and does something he wants. Osaka police shoot dead him two days later.
1980	Shinjuku bus attack	6	Shinjuku, Tokyo	A mentally disturbed man throws a bucket of petrol and a lit newspaper into a bus. The ensuing fire killed 6 and injured 14. He kills himself in 1997.
1982	Japan Airlines Flight 350	24	Tokyo Bay	A mentally disturbed Captain Seiji Katagiri forces the Japan Airlines Flight 350 to crash. 24 passengers are killed by the crash. He is arrested on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in deaths, but he isn't indicted due to his insanity.
1983	Kiyotaka Katsuta	8-22	Kansai and Chūbu	Kiyotaka Katsuta is arrested for a robbery-murder. However he is suspected of a total of 22 murders later, and he admits eight murders. Katsuta is executed in 2000.
1984	Glico Morinaga case	-	Various, across Kansai	A 17-month long series of extortion against confectionery companies starting in a kidnap of the president of Glico and involving confectionery spiked with cyanide.
1985-1989	Yama-Ichi War	29	Kansai region	A Yakuza gang war between the Yamaguchi-gumi and the breakaway Ichiwa-kai faction that began over the death of kumicho Kazuo Taoka. After being passed over as kumicho, Hiroshi Yamamoto broke away from the Yamaguchi-gumi, formed the rival Ichiwa-kai, and had Taoko's successor, Masahisa Takenaka, murdered, along with two other Yamaguchi members. Following the assassination, Yamaguchi-gumi boss Kazuo Nakanishi vows to wipe out the Ichiwa-kai. During the next few years, the two gangs would engage in an estimated 200 gun battles, killing 26 gangsters and seriously wounding many more, with local newspapers carrying daily "scorecards" of the latest body counts.
1988	Affair of the Four Children of Sugamo	1	Toshima-ku, Tokyo	Four malnourished children are found in a Tokyo apartment nine months after their mother had left to travel with her boyfriend, during which time a fifth child was discovered to have been murdered by two friends of the oldest child.
1988-1989	Tsutomu Miyazaki	4	Tokyo and Saitama prefecture	Serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki abducts and murders girls aged four to seven.
1988-1989	Concrete-Encased High School Girl murder	1	Tokyo	A 17-year-old boy Jo Kamisaku and three other boys abducts a high school girl Junko Furuta. They rapes and assaults her for 41 days. They murders her and encases her in concrete.
1989	Sakamoto family murder	3	Yokohama	Tsutsumi Sakamoto, a lawyer working on a lawsuit against Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult disappears with his wife and child. In 1995 it was revealed that cult members had murdered them and buried their bodies.
1990	Sapporo murder	1	Sapporo	Nagata Ryoji murders a robbery victim during a break-in at a Sapporo residence. Ryoji is subsequently added to the Japanese Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
1990	Gangland slaying of police officers	7	Okinawa	Hideo Zamami, a member of the Kyokuryu-kai affiliated Nishiki family, guns down two plainclothes Okinawa police officers mistaking them for rival gangsters. Sentenced to life imprisonment, he later appealed the decision claiming he was innocent of the shooting and used a scapegoat. Although rejecting his appeal, the court denied the prosecution's request for the death penalty. A total of seven persons, including the two police officers and a high school boy, are killed during the battle.
1994	Matsumoto incident	7	Matsumoto, Nagano	Doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo release sarin nerve gas in a residential area in the world's first use of chemical weapons by a terrorist group.
1995	Tokyo Sarin Gas Attack	12	Tokyo	Aum Shinrikyo members conduct simultaneous attacks on multiple Tokyo Metro trains using sarin nerve gas, killing 12 and injuring more than 1000.
1995	Hachiōji supermarket murders	3	Hachiōji, Tokyo	Three employees of a supermarket are found shot dead in a suspected robbery. Despite massive publicity, the case is still unsolved.
1997	Sakakibara Seito	2	Kobe	Over several months, a 14-year old boy attacks a total of four younger girls with a hammer or a knife, killing one of them. He then strangles and decapitates Jun Hase, a 11-year old boy, leaving his head in front of his school with a note stuffed in his mouth, and sends taunting letters to a newspaper. The nation is shocked when a 14 year old is arrested, and eventually prompted the government to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 14 in 2000.
1997	Murder of Masaru Takumi	2	Kobe	Masaru Takumi, considered to be the heir apparent of Yakuza leader Yoshinori Watanabe's Yamaguchi-gumi organization, is killed by rival Nakano-kai gangsters Kouji Ishihara, Nakaho Kiyohara and Toriyabara Kiyoteru at a popular Kobe hotel. During the attack, dentist Hirai Hiroshi was mistaken as a bodyguard for Takumi and is killed by a four gunman Takeshi Yoshida whose killing of an innocent bystander would eventually lead to the Japanese government's proseution of the Nakano-kai.
1998	Wakayama curry poisoning	4	Wakayama	Four people are killed and 63 injured after eating curry laced with arsenic at a community festival in Wakayama. Masumi Hayashi, the chief suspect, has been sentenced to death and is currently appealing.
1999	Okegawa stalking murder	2	Okegawa, Saitama	A stalker Kazuhito Komatsu murders 21-year-old Shiori Ino with accomplices. The Police ignores her appeal before the murder and slanders her after the murder. A journalist Kiyoshi Shimizu determines criminals. Komatsu escapes and kills himself in Hokkaido.
2000	Niigata girl confinement incident	-	Tokyo	While investigating a domestic disturbance call, police discover a schoolgirl who had been kidnapped in 1990 and held prisoner in an upstairs apartment for over nine years by a mentally disturbed man, Nobuyuki Sato. The girl, Fusako Sano, was returned to her parents while Sato was hospitalized and eventually sentenced to 14 years imprisonment.
2000	Tokyo Bay Sinyo Bay Bank robbery	1	Tokyo	Tominaga Kazuyuki, a career criminal associated with the Yakuza, successfully steals 46,000,000 yen after hijacking a delivery to a pachinko parlor in December 2000. During the robbery, the driver was gunned down by Kazuyuki and an unidentified Chinese accomplice.
2000	Hostess murders	2	Roppongi, Tokyo	Joji Obara, a prominent Osaka businessman, murders and dismembers British hostess Lucie Blackman. After the discovery of her body a year later, he was charged with her murder as well as similar charges against Australian hostess Carita Ridgeway and sexual assault charges against six other women. He was found not guilty of murdering Lucy Blackman due to lack of evidence, but was convicted of the other crimes.
2000	Setagaya family murder	4	Setagaya, Tokyo	In an incident which shocked the nation, a family of four are murdered at their home in suburban Tokyo by an unknown intruder. Despite extensive investigations and a huge media coverage, the case remains unsolved.
2001	Hokuryo Clinic Incident	10?	Sendai, Miyagi	A 89-year-old woman dies mysteriously in Koryo Clinic. A nurse Daisuke Mori is suspected of at least 10 murders. He is arrested for a murder, but he insists that their death are caused by medical errors.
2001	Osaka School Massacre	8	Osaka	37 year old former janitor Mamoru Takuma entered an elementary school in Osaka, then used a kitchen knife to kill 8 students. He wounded an additional 13 other students and 2 teachers. He was executed in 2004.
2001	Myojo 56 building fire	44	Tokyo	A building is fired in Kabukicho. Three employees can escape by jumping from the third floor of the building, but 44 people are killed by carbon monoxide in the building. The cause is strongly suspected as arson. However security is poor in Kabukicho and customers use false names. The case is still unsolved.
2002	Kitakyushu serial murders	7	Kitakyūshū	Futoshi Matsunaga forces the victims to kill each other, resulting in killing 7 people between 1996 and 1998. Matsunaga and his common-law wife Junko Ogata are arrested in 2002 after a girl escapes from them.
2003	Super Free rape incident	-	Tokyo	Students of Japanese universities in Tokyo rape women in a circle Super Free. A organizer Shinichiro Wada and 13 other members are arrested for gang rapes. The estimated number of rape victims are up to 500.
2003	Fukuoka family murder	4	Fukuoka	Businessman Shinjiro Matsumoto, his wife Chika and two children aged 11 and 8 are murdered in a robbery by three Chinese students who broke into their home, and their bodies dumped in Hakata Bay. Two of the three - Yang Ning and Wang Liang fled to China where they were arrested. Yang was executed and Wang sentenced to life imprisonment. The third, Wei Wei, was arrested in Japan and is currently on death row.
2004	Sasebo Slashing	1	Sasebo, Nagasaki	Satomi Mitarai, a 12 year old elementary student, is stabbed to death by her classmate at school. The classmate, who has not been identified for legal reasons but who came to be known as Nevada-tan, was classified as having hikikomori syndrome and institutionalized.
2004	Ōmuta murders	4	Omuta, Fukuoka	Mob wife Mami Kitamura murders four people with her husband and two sons. The four people are sentenced to deaths.
2004	Murder of Kaede Ariyama	1	Nara	Kaede Ariyama, a 7 year old school girl, is kidnapped and murdered by a local newspaper deliveryman Kaoru Kobayashi. Following his arrest, he was convicted and sentenced to be hanged.
2005	Web suicide site murders	3	Osaka	Serial killer Hiroshi Maeue murders three people. They are lured by Maeue via the online suicide club. He is sentenced to death.
2005	Murder of Airi Kinoshita	1	Hiroshima, Japan	7-year old Airi Kinoshita is abducted on her way home from school and killed by wanted Peruvian sex offender Jose Manuel Torres Yake.
2006	Five dead bodies in Hiratsuka	5	Hiratsuka, Kanagawa	Five dead bodies are found in Hiratsuka. A woman Chizuko Okamoto is arrested for a murder of her daughter, but the case is hardly solved due to lack of evidence and statute of limitations.
2007	Iccho Itoh Murder	1	Nagasaki	The mayor of Nagasaki, Iccho Itoh, is shot to death by Tetsuya Shiroo. Shiroo is a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate and was angry over damage to his car that occurred at a city construction site four years earlier.
2007	Murder of Hiroshi Miyamoto	7	Saga and Fukuoka	Gangs, who belong to Dojin-kai, dispute about its leader. Kyushu Seido-kai separates from Dojin-kai and they kill each other. They kill six gangs and a civilian Hiroshi Miyamoto.
2008	Akihabara massacre	7	Akihabara	25-year old Tomohiro Kato rams a truck into a crowd of shoppers and proceeds to stab the run-down victims, killing six men, one woman, and injuring 11 others.

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