Here are some chilling stories of the famous serial killers of Japan. Read on to find out!
Delve into the dark corners of history with our exploration of famous serial killers of Japan. These chilling tales of notorious figures reveal a side of Japanese society rarely discussed.
We'll uncover the sinister paths these individuals took, the impact of their crimes, and the complex psychology behind their infamous legacies.
Scariest Serial Killers In Japan
Futoshi Matsunaga
Futoshi Matsunaga was born in April 1961 in Fukuoka Prefecture in the city of Yanagawa where he spent most of his life.
Futoshi had a seemingly normal life and he went to school where he performed well in academics. He was deemed charming and intelligent by most of his colleagues.
When Futoshi was in high school he was involved in a relationship with a girl younger than him and he was transferred to another high school.
When Futoshi was 19 he got married and had a son however, he was unfaithful to his wife and had at least 10 mistresses. One of his mistresses is Junko Ogata who was his former high school colleague and his partner in crime as well.
Futoshi wanted to marry Junko but her mother disapproved of the marriage. As a result, Futoshi sexually assaulted her mother and manipulated Junko to live with him.
One of Futoshi’s first victims was a married woman whom he convinced to leave her husband and elope with him. He defrauded the woman for a sum of nearly 12 million yen and she died mysteriously in 1993.
Futoshi would continue to commit similar crimes like defrauding, blackmailing, sexual abuse, murder, etc with the help of Junko. They were both on the top wanted list of criminals in Japan that even most Japanese media channels found it too disturbing to report the atrocious crimes committed by Futoshi and Junko.
Futoshi and Junko were arrested in 2002 and Futoshi was sentenced to death by hanging while Junko was sentenced to life imprisonment.
If you want to know about this serial killer, you can check out this movie - The Forest of Love - which was based on the real life serial killings of Futoshi Matsunaga.
Number of Victims - Between 8 - 9
Years Active - 1996 to 1998
Crimes Committed - Defrauding, Sexual Abuse, Torture, and Murder.
Penalty - Sentenced to death (2005)
Sataro Fukiage
Sataro Fukiage is one of the most ruthless serial killers in the history of Japan who was born in Kyoto. Sataro began working at the age of 8 and committing crimes as early as the age of 11 when he had a sexual affair with a 17-year-old girl which led to him losing his job.
He was arrested at the age of 12 for theft and he spent his time in jail studying math.
After his release, he was arrested again for theft, and this time he learned classical Chinese in jail. He was keen on academics as he didn’t have the opportunity to study when he was young.
When Sataro was 17 he had a sexual affair with a 54-year-old woman and later sexually assaulted her daughter who was 11 years old. He reportedly also sexually assaulted several other girls in the neighborhood.
In 1906, Sataro was convicted of sexual assault and murder of an 11-year-old girl. During his jail time, he studied the works of popular philosophers and was released in 1922.
Between the years 1923 and 1924, he sexually violated and murdered up to six underage girls and was arrested in July 1924.
Although Sataro confessed to 13 murders still his number of victims is unknown. He was sentenced to death by hanging in 1926.
Number of Victims - Unknown
Years Active - 1906 to 1924
Crimes Committed - Pedophilia, Sexual Assault, and Murder
Penalty - Death by hanging (1926)
Hiroshi Maeue
Hiroshi Maeue is a notorious Japanese serial killer who suffered from paraphilia which is a psychosexual disorder. As a kid, Hiroshi was exposed to pornographic materials which included paraphilia thus feeding his desire to commit heinous crimes in his adulthood.
Hiroshi studied at the Kanazawa Institute of Technology in 1988 where he tried to strangle one of his male friends. As a result, Hiroshi had to drop out and he would later attempt to strangle his coworker in 1995 but he was charged with assault and convicted.
Over the next few years, Hiroshi would continue to assault people and get convicted and released without any murder charges.
In 2005, Hiroshi was released from prison, and he joined an online suicide club where he met all of his victims. He manipulated his victims and convinced them to meet with him as he promised he would commit suicide with them only for him to strangle them to death.
One of his victims was a 14-year-old boy and Hiroshi stated to the police he attained sexual pleasure after watching his victims strangle to death to which he earned the alias “Lust Murderer”.
Number of Victims - 3
Years Active - 2005
Crimes Committed - Murder
Penalty - Death by hanging (2009)
Akira Nishiguchi
You might have never seen a serial killer with an innocent face like Akira Nishiguchi. And that’s the tool he used to scam a group of people before he debuted in serial killing.
Akira Nishiguchi was born in 1925 and there’s not much known of Akira’s childhood, past, and family details.
Akira began to defraud people in his late 30s by portraying himself as a naive and educated man. His ability to confidently scam helped him to defraud 2 people and he murdered both of them.
This put Akira on the most wanted person list in Japan and had posters of him all across the cities. He also murdered three other people when he attempted to escape.
However, in 1964, a young girl was able to identify Akira and complained to the police after which he was convicted and put behind bars.
Number of Victims - 5
Years Active - 1963
Crimes Committed - Defrauding and Murder
Penalty - Death by hanging (1970)
Tsutomu Miyazaki
Tsutomu Miyazaki is one of the notorious serial killers in Japan who has committed ruthless crimes against children. Tsutomu was born in 1962 to a wealthy family and he had a birth defect that caused his hands to join together. Thus he was unable to make friends from an early age and isolated himself.
Initially, Tsutomu would perform well in academics but later his performance deteriorated which led him to attain a photography job.
Tsutomu committed his first crime in 1988 when he lured a 4-year-old girl into his car and drove her to an isolated area. There he would murder her and molest her cadaver.
He left the body to decompose on a hill and would later return to remove her limbs which he kept as trophies. He committed similar crimes against children between the ages of 4-7 and even taunted the parents by sending them pictures of his victims’ clothes and ashes.
He also confessed to cannibalizing his victims and performing necrophilia after murdering them.
He was convicted of 4 murders and arrested in 1989 leading to a death sentence by hanging.
Number of Victims - 4
Years Active - 1988 to 1989
Crimes Committed - Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual Assault, Pedophilia, Necrophilia
Penalty - Death by hanging (2008)
Takahiro Shiraishi
Takahiro Shiraishi aka the Twitter Killer is one of the serial killers who shook the entire world with his cold-blooded crimes. Takahiro was born in 1990 and lived in an apartment in Kanagawa Prefecture.
He found his victims on Twitter who had suicidal tendencies and lured them into meeting him so that he could watch them die. He convinced his victims that he would aid them to kill themselves but Takahiro had other intentions.
One of Takahiro’s victim's brothers tried to investigate where his sister went missing and he had assistance from another woman who would set up a fake appointment to meet with Takahiro.
The police were of course involved with this and when arrived at Takahiro’s apartment he would confess that dismembered all his victims and placed their bodies in the freezer.
He also confessed to sexually assaulting his victims before murdering them. Takahiro pled guilty to the murder of 9 people and was sentenced to death.
Number of Victims - 9
Years Active - 2017
Crimes Committed - Sexual Assault and Murder
Penalty - Death Sentence
Famous Serial Killers of Japan: FAQs
Have there been any serial killers in Japan?
We all know Japan to be one of the safest destinations in the world but the nation has also had notorious serial killers who have committed cold-blooded crimes no one can imagine of. Some of the infamous serial killers who took Japan by storm are:
- Futoshi Matsunaga
- Sataro Fukiage
- Hiroshi MaeueAkira Nishiguchi
- Tsutomu Miyazaki
- Takahiro Shiraishi
Who was Japan’s first serial killer?
Sataro Fukiage is one of the earliest serial killers in Japan who was born in 1889. He sexually assaulted an underage girl at the age of 17 and was arrested several times for theft. He committed his first murder in 1906 when he sexually assaulted and murdered an 11-year-old girl. He would continue to sexually assault several underage girls and he was convicted in 1924 after he confessed to 13 murders. However, the number of murders committed by Sataro is still unknown.
Is Tsutomu Miyazaki dead?
Tsutomu Miyazaki is one of the cold-blooded serial killers in Japan who committed a number of crimes against children. He brutally murdered underage girls, sexually assaulted them, and dismembered their bodies which he later kept some as trophies or cannibalized.
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