December 2, 2025 • 20 mins
A hardworking high school student in Japan disappears on her way home… and doesn’t return. For weeks, her family searches desperately, unaware that she is trapped in a nightmare unfolding behind closed doors.
When her body is finally discovered—hidden in a concrete drum—the case shocks the world and exposes a terrifying failure of justice.
In this episode of Murder U, we tell the story of seventeen-year-old Junko Furuta, whose bravery in the face of unimaginable cruelty sparked outrage around the world… and raised the question so many still ask: how could anyone get away with something this horrific?
Listen to the full story wherever you get your podcasts.
Spotify • Apple Podcasts • YouTube Podcast
Follow Murder U on:
TikTok: @murderupodcast
Instagram: @murderupodcast
Facebook: Murder U Podcast
YouTube: Murder U Podcast
Twitter/X: Murder U Podcast
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/murder-u--6152042/support.
When her body is finally discovered—hidden in a concrete drum—the case shocks the world and exposes a terrifying failure of justice.
In this episode of Murder U, we tell the story of seventeen-year-old Junko Furuta, whose bravery in the face of unimaginable cruelty sparked outrage around the world… and raised the question so many still ask: how could anyone get away with something this horrific?
Listen to the full story wherever you get your podcasts.
Spotify • Apple Podcasts • YouTube Podcast
Follow Murder U on:
TikTok: @murderupodcast
Instagram: @murderupodcast
Facebook: Murder U Podcast
YouTube: Murder U Podcast
Twitter/X: Murder U Podcast
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/murder-u--6152042/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Abnornia. From high school hallways to expansive college campuses and
the sanctity of their homes, these once secure spaces have
transformed into hunting grounds for sinister individuals seeking to inflict
harm on the unsuspecting. Join me, Maddie each week as
we delve into the bone chilling stories of senseless murders
(00:26):
occurring in and around our centers of education. Welcome to
Murder You, an Abnormia original. Hello, and thanks for joining
(00:59):
me for this episode of Murder You. I'm your host, Mattie,
and today I'd like to tell you about an international
case that captured the attention of the entire world. I
was so disturbed by this crime when I looked into it,
so take this as a warning. We won't discuss some
of the more graphic and spine chilling details, but even
the parts that are central to the story that we
(01:20):
can't shy away from can be hard to hear. So
let's get started. In nineteen eighty eight, a young Japanese
high school student named Junku Faruta vanished off the streets
of Misato, Japan, and was missing for over a month.
Forty four days after she was abducted seventeen year old
Junku was found dead encased in a concrete drum. This
(01:43):
heinous crime was one of the worst in Japanese history,
and what made it so astonishing, aside from the horrible
way in which Junku's body was discarded, was that Faruta
was repeatedly raped and cruelly tortured before she met her
tragic end. Additionally, four teenage boys carried out the brutal
(02:03):
killing right in the family home of one of the kidnappers.
The perpetrators of this dastardly crime were Hiroshi Miyano eighteen
years old, Yo Agura seventeen, Nobuharu Minato sixteen, and Yasushi
Watanabee seventeen. But before I get to these very sick individuals,
(02:26):
let me tell you about the bright young student whose
life was cut short. Junko Faruto was born in Misato,
a city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Misato has a population
of around one hundred and forty three thousand, but it's
also only twelve miles outside of Tokyo. It's a bedroom community,
(02:48):
with most residents commuting to Tokyo for work. From all accounts,
Junko had a very happy childhood. She had two loving
parents and two brothers, one old and one younger. She
attended Yashio Minami High School. She was an excellent student
and had a good work ethic. Her parents were reportedly
(03:09):
very proud of her academic achievements and the young woman
she was becoming. A month before she disappeared, Aruta landed
an afterschool job at a plastic molding factory. She was
excited about the position because she was saving up money
for a planned graduation trip. Ruta had also accepted a
job at an electronics retailer, where she planned on working
(03:32):
upon graduating from high school. In school, Junko was well
liked by her classmates. She rarely missed a day of
school and maintained high grades. She was considered a popular
and attractive girl. Her parents always encouraged her to follow
her dreams, and for Junko that meant becoming a professional singer.
In fact, the night she was kidnapped, Junko was headed
(03:54):
home to watch the final episode of an idle singing
show called Tonbo, which means drag and fly. Unfortunately, Urbuta
would never make it home, and the ordeal she experienced
was almost unthinkable. So On November twenty fifth, nineteen eighty eight,
around eight thirty pm, Djunko finished her work shift. She
(04:18):
was biking home when Nobuharu Minato appeared out of nowhere
and knocked her off her bike. The sixteen year old
then fled the scene. Hiroshi Miyano then approached Djunko and
told her he had witnessed the attack. He offered to
walk her home, but what she didn't know was that
Miyanu had set the whole thing up with his buddy Minato.
(04:41):
It was a diabolical plan to earn Junko's trust. Miyano
was the ringleader of his own Little Delinquent Click, which
reportedly had ties to the Yakuza, a very serious criminal organization.
The Yakuza is basically like the Japanese mafia, and the
four teens were what's known as chimpira, or low ranking
(05:02):
youth members. Miano had a history of criminal behavior stretching
back to elementary school. In April nineteen eighty six, he
enrolled in a private high school in Tokyo, but dropped
out the following year. He had been arrested for shoplifting
and destroying school property, among other misdeeds, but few people
knew how truly twisted this guy was. After dropping out
(05:24):
of school, Mianu's anti social behavior began to escalate. He
briefly held a tile worker job and hoped to save
money to marry Yasushi Watanabe's sister. Upset by the life
of a low paid working stiff, Miano fell in with
a yakuza gangster. He was still just more of a
street punk, however, and he was known for frequently committing
(05:47):
sex crimes, but he was about to become infamous in
the minds of every Japanese citizen. As Miano watched Junko
Feruta home, he asked her mundane questions about school to
set her mind at ease, but his motive couldn't have
been more sinister, and as they neared an abandoned warehouse,
(06:07):
Hiroshi Miyanu made his move. He ordered Faruta into the warehouse,
where he raped the young student. But the sexual predator
and budding psychopath wasn't finished. Mianu took Junko to a
nearby hotel, threatening to kill her if she tried to
escape his clutches. He raped her again, then called gang
(06:28):
pals yo Ogura and Yashushi Watanabee to brag about this
horrific crime. Ogura asked Miano to keep Junko so that
he and other gang members could also sexually assault her.
Their crew had a history of gang rape, so this
was apparently just a normal week for them. It's absolutely
disgusting what this bright young girl endured, and unfortunately, her
(06:53):
nightmare had only begun. Around three am, Miyano brought Faruta
to apart where Minato, Agura and Watanabee were waiting. They
had come across Faruta's address written in her notebook, and
they told her if she tried to escape, Yakuza gangsters
would come to her home and kill her family. It's
(07:15):
heartbreaking that they used her love of her family against her,
but Junko proved how brave she was. Family was everything
to her, so she complied with their evil demands in
the hope of surviving the ordeal. On a previous occasion,
the boys kidnapped a girl, sexually assaulted her, and eventually
let her go. This time, the fourteens took Junko to
(07:39):
a nearby house and gang raped her. This entire story
is upsetting, but one of the many things I find
disturbing is that they used the Minato home to rape
and torture a young girl for forty four days. I
don't know how those parents could let this happen. On
November twenty seventh, Veruta's own parents were getting worried, so
(08:01):
they contacted the police and reported her missing. To throw
off investigators, the boys forced Junko to call her mom
several times to explain that she had simply run away.
She told her family that she was safe and staying
with friends. I sympathized with her, wanting to protect her family.
Junko's loved ones likely didn't buy the story, but it
(08:24):
might have slowed down the investigation some when the authorities
learned she had contacted her family. Manatto initially told his
parents that Junko was his girlfriend, but after a few
days it must have been a parent to the family
that she was fearful and likely being held against her will.
So why didn't the parents call the authorities? They were
(08:46):
reportedly afraid of their son and his psychopathic friends and
terrified about Yakuza reprisals. I mean, I get that part,
but hello, a girl's life is at stake here, to
say nothing of the continuous torture she endured and under
your roof. Surely they could have just made an anonymous
(09:07):
phone call. This was going on for over a month.
I just don't know how they slept at night knowing
a child was being brutalized just a few rooms away.
On November twenty eighth, Leanu invited two other boys, tatsu
and Nakumara and Koichi Ahara, over to the house. At
(09:28):
this point, Djunko knew what would happen, and she tried
to escape. Leanna grabbed her legs and yanked her back
into the room, while Ihara put a pillow over her face.
The parents woke up and investigated the screaming, but their son, Manato,
told them not to worry about the noises. It was
just so unbelievable that no one helped this girl. The
(09:50):
boys continued their assault on Junko that night and every
day thereafter. Dozens and dozens of gang members raped her
in the coming weeks. Sixteen days into her ordeal, the
police received a tip that a girl was being raped
in the Monato home. Two officers were dispatched to the house.
They were told no girl was there and were invited
(10:13):
to search the house, but for some inexplicable reason. They
just assumed it was a false tip and they never
went inside. They were later fired for not following protocol,
But it just makes you shake your head to know
that she could have been saved. Over the next forty days,
Junko Faruta was subject to the worst forms of torture
(10:35):
and sexual violence imagined. I'm not going to go into
all the details because quite frankly, they're just too disgusting.
But she was sexually assaulted, humiliated, starved, left on a
balcony overnight with little clothing, force fed alcohol, burned with
lighter fluid, and beaten repeatedly. She was raped daily, and,
(10:57):
according to trial statements, may have been assaulted by as
many as one hundred different men. Several weeks into her ordeal,
the physical torture had taken a toll in Junko. As
you can imagine, because of her severe injuries and infected burns.
Junko was no longer allowed to use the downster's toilet.
She was confined to Minato's room and became extremely weak. Still,
(11:22):
they continued to beat her daily and even hung her
from the ceiling like a human punching bag. Eventually, Junkle
was begging the gang to just kill her and end
her pain, but they were too merciless to oblige her.
With her face swollen and the wounds on her body festering,
the gang lost sexual interest in Junko, so the four
(11:43):
teens kidnapped and gang raped a nineteen year old woman, who,
like their previous victim, was on her way home from work.
Junko's horrible ordeal started in nineteen eighty eight, but as
the year turned to nineteen eighty nine, she was still
being held captive by these control monsters. In early January,
Miano challenged Junko to a game of majong, and even
(12:07):
though she could barely see out of her swollen eyes,
she won the game, score one for Junko. I admire
her courage. Unfortunately, it would cost her dearly, either that
night or the following day. Miano took out his anger
at having lost the game by pouring lighter fluid on
Junko and setting her on fire. She tried to put
(12:29):
out the flames, but eventually passed out from the intense pain. Later,
they beat her and subjected her to an array of
physical torture that's beyond description. When she passed out, they
would revive her just to inflict more pain. At some point,
one of the boys kicked her and she fell into
(12:51):
a stereo and began having seizures. Still, they continued to
beat her for over two hours until she finally died
from the sadistic torture. This is seriously one of the
worst crimes I've ever read about. Having added murder to
their list of unspeakable offenses, the boys wrapped Junko's body
and blankets and stuffed her in a travel bag like
(13:13):
a piece of garbage. The group then put the girl's
body into a fifty five gallon drum and filled it
with wet concrete. They then disposed of the drum somewhere
outside of Tokyo. This is an interesting detail. While in captivity,
Junko told her killers that she was sad she was
not able to see the final episode of Tonbo, the
(13:36):
Idle Singing Show. One of the boys had a videotape
of the episode, but Junko was never allowed to watch it.
Miano tossed the tape into the bag with her body
because he feared she would come back and haunt him
as a ghost. He had no empathy for the young
student whatsoever, But I guess even sadistic killers can be superstitious.
(13:59):
Two weeks after the boys callously disposed of Junko's body,
Leanu and Ogura were arrested for the rape of the
nineteen year old girl they kidnapped after Junko Faruta. Then
two months after their arrest, two investigators came to question
the two boys about the women's underwear found in their homes.
Yanu assumed the detectives were already aware that he had
(14:21):
killed Junko since they had already questioned Agura. He believed
Agura had already given everyone up, so he confessed at
least some of his role, no doubt downplaying his part,
but also told them where to find Junko's body. The
police were taken aback. They had come to question Mianu
(14:41):
about the murder of a woman and her seven year
old son, which took place nine days before Faruto's abduction,
and here he was confessing to a totally different murder.
Yanu and his gang of sexual psychopaths had nothing to
do with that murder, which remains unsolved, but it does
mean you wonder how many people they did kill to
(15:03):
say nothing of their countless sexual assaults. In any event,
the next day, the authorities found Junco's body encased in
the cement drum. That's when all hell broke loose. Leanu
was arrested for Feruta's murder as well as yet another
sexual assault that had nothing to do with the two
(15:23):
cases he was already implicated in. Then they arrested Watanabe, Manato,
and Manato's brother followed. Other accomplices who had raped the
young student were also arrested after their DNA was found
on the victim's body. The Japanese legal system is quite
a bit different from that in America. The court sealed
(15:44):
the accused identities since they were juveniles at the time
of the crime, but a Japanese journalist uncovered the names
and was able to publish them due to the severity
of the crime. So you assume that all four of
the main perpetrators got life in prison or the death penalty, right, Well,
guess again. Even though Japan does have the death penalty,
(16:07):
these guys were minors when the crime was committed. Incredibly,
all four were allowed to plead guilty to quote committing
bodily injury that resulted in death. Sounds like murder to me.
And remember, this girl wasn't just killed, she was tortured
to death over forty four days. In the last two
(16:29):
hours of her life, she suffered a level of abuse
and torture that was so sick. I won't even reveal
some of the details. I'll let you research that yourself
if you're interested, but I warn you it's very disturbing.
In July of nineteen ninety, Hiroshi Miyanu, the leader of
the gang, was sentenced to seventeen years in prison. That's
(16:51):
as short as Junko's entire life. The Japanese High Court
gave him another three years, but still, I just can't
believe these guys weren't locked up forever. After serving his sentence,
Miana was released, but soon found himself back in prison
for the attempted murder of a man. In two thousand
and nine, Yasushi Watanabe received a mere five to seven
(17:13):
years in prison. Yo Agura served eight years in a
juvenile prison and was released in nineteen ninety nine. He
has reportedly bragged about Junko's kidnapping, rape and torture. Nobuhara Manatu,
who has since changed his name to Shinji Minato received
a nine year sentence. Amazingly, Minato's parents and brother were
(17:36):
not charged. I love Japan, but seriously, what's up with
the legal system that allows these psychopaths to be released
back into society so easily? As you'd expect, Manato was
arrested again in twenty eighteen for attempted murder after beating
a man with a metal rod and cutting his throat
with a knife. Huge surprise that he's not reformed. All
(18:01):
these guys should have been locked up for life or
given the death penalty due to the severity of this crime.
Aruto's family was devastated by the light sentences their daughter's
killers received. They did win a civil suit against the
Manato family for what would be three hundred and seventy
thousand US dollars, but come on, that's of little consolation.
(18:24):
The public was also outraged at the light sentences, and
there was much talk that the yakuza might have corrupted
the justice system. In the decades since, several books and
movies have been written and produced about this infamous case,
with one movie released as recently as twenty seventeen. You know,
it's just one of those horrific crimes that no book, movie,
(18:48):
or podcasts can truly do justice too, because Junko never
received anything resembling justice, her killers and rapists are still
out there attacking and terrorizing the Japanese public. I wish
there were a happier ending to this one, but sometimes
it's hard to find a silver lining to a tragedy
like this. We can only hope the jungle rests in
(19:11):
peace and that her tormentors are eventually behind bars. Given
the fact that their career criminals, that seems likely. That's
it for this episode of Murder You, and please remember
if you or anyone you know is a victim of
a sexual assault. In the United States, the National Sexual
Assault Hotline is available twenty four hours call one eight
(19:33):
hundred six five six four six seven three. If you
live in Japan, the number for the Sexual Assault Referral
Center Tokyo is zero three five six zero seven zero
seven ninety nine. Be sure to liken subscribe to Murder
You on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, or wherever you
(19:54):
get your podcasts. No
Abnornia. From high school hallways to expansive college campuses and
the sanctity of their homes, these once secure spaces have
transformed into hunting grounds for sinister individuals seeking to inflict
harm on the unsuspecting. Join me, Maddie each week as
we delve into the bone chilling stories of senseless murders
(00:26):
occurring in and around our centers of education. Welcome to
Murder You, an Abnormia original. Hello, and thanks for joining
(00:59):
me for this episode of Murder You. I'm your host, Mattie,
and today I'd like to tell you about an international
case that captured the attention of the entire world. I
was so disturbed by this crime when I looked into it,
so take this as a warning. We won't discuss some
of the more graphic and spine chilling details, but even
the parts that are central to the story that we
(01:20):
can't shy away from can be hard to hear. So
let's get started. In nineteen eighty eight, a young Japanese
high school student named Junku Faruta vanished off the streets
of Misato, Japan, and was missing for over a month.
Forty four days after she was abducted seventeen year old
Junku was found dead encased in a concrete drum. This
(01:43):
heinous crime was one of the worst in Japanese history,
and what made it so astonishing, aside from the horrible
way in which Junku's body was discarded, was that Faruta
was repeatedly raped and cruelly tortured before she met her
tragic end. Additionally, four teenage boys carried out the brutal
(02:03):
killing right in the family home of one of the kidnappers.
The perpetrators of this dastardly crime were Hiroshi Miyano eighteen
years old, Yo Agura seventeen, Nobuharu Minato sixteen, and Yasushi
Watanabee seventeen. But before I get to these very sick individuals,
(02:26):
let me tell you about the bright young student whose
life was cut short. Junko Faruto was born in Misato,
a city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Misato has a population
of around one hundred and forty three thousand, but it's
also only twelve miles outside of Tokyo. It's a bedroom community,
(02:48):
with most residents commuting to Tokyo for work. From all accounts,
Junko had a very happy childhood. She had two loving
parents and two brothers, one old and one younger. She
attended Yashio Minami High School. She was an excellent student
and had a good work ethic. Her parents were reportedly
(03:09):
very proud of her academic achievements and the young woman
she was becoming. A month before she disappeared, Aruta landed
an afterschool job at a plastic molding factory. She was
excited about the position because she was saving up money
for a planned graduation trip. Ruta had also accepted a
job at an electronics retailer, where she planned on working
(03:32):
upon graduating from high school. In school, Junko was well
liked by her classmates. She rarely missed a day of
school and maintained high grades. She was considered a popular
and attractive girl. Her parents always encouraged her to follow
her dreams, and for Junko that meant becoming a professional singer.
In fact, the night she was kidnapped, Junko was headed
(03:54):
home to watch the final episode of an idle singing
show called Tonbo, which means drag and fly. Unfortunately, Urbuta
would never make it home, and the ordeal she experienced
was almost unthinkable. So On November twenty fifth, nineteen eighty eight,
around eight thirty pm, Djunko finished her work shift. She
(04:18):
was biking home when Nobuharu Minato appeared out of nowhere
and knocked her off her bike. The sixteen year old
then fled the scene. Hiroshi Miyano then approached Djunko and
told her he had witnessed the attack. He offered to
walk her home, but what she didn't know was that
Miyanu had set the whole thing up with his buddy Minato.
(04:41):
It was a diabolical plan to earn Junko's trust. Miyano
was the ringleader of his own Little Delinquent Click, which
reportedly had ties to the Yakuza, a very serious criminal organization.
The Yakuza is basically like the Japanese mafia, and the
four teens were what's known as chimpira, or low ranking
(05:02):
youth members. Miano had a history of criminal behavior stretching
back to elementary school. In April nineteen eighty six, he
enrolled in a private high school in Tokyo, but dropped
out the following year. He had been arrested for shoplifting
and destroying school property, among other misdeeds, but few people
knew how truly twisted this guy was. After dropping out
(05:24):
of school, Mianu's anti social behavior began to escalate. He
briefly held a tile worker job and hoped to save
money to marry Yasushi Watanabe's sister. Upset by the life
of a low paid working stiff, Miano fell in with
a yakuza gangster. He was still just more of a
street punk, however, and he was known for frequently committing
(05:47):
sex crimes, but he was about to become infamous in
the minds of every Japanese citizen. As Miano watched Junko
Feruta home, he asked her mundane questions about school to
set her mind at ease, but his motive couldn't have
been more sinister, and as they neared an abandoned warehouse,
(06:07):
Hiroshi Miyanu made his move. He ordered Faruta into the warehouse,
where he raped the young student. But the sexual predator
and budding psychopath wasn't finished. Mianu took Junko to a
nearby hotel, threatening to kill her if she tried to
escape his clutches. He raped her again, then called gang
(06:28):
pals yo Ogura and Yashushi Watanabee to brag about this
horrific crime. Ogura asked Miano to keep Junko so that
he and other gang members could also sexually assault her.
Their crew had a history of gang rape, so this
was apparently just a normal week for them. It's absolutely
disgusting what this bright young girl endured, and unfortunately, her
(06:53):
nightmare had only begun. Around three am, Miyano brought Faruta
to apart where Minato, Agura and Watanabee were waiting. They
had come across Faruta's address written in her notebook, and
they told her if she tried to escape, Yakuza gangsters
would come to her home and kill her family. It's
(07:15):
heartbreaking that they used her love of her family against her,
but Junko proved how brave she was. Family was everything
to her, so she complied with their evil demands in
the hope of surviving the ordeal. On a previous occasion,
the boys kidnapped a girl, sexually assaulted her, and eventually
let her go. This time, the fourteens took Junko to
(07:39):
a nearby house and gang raped her. This entire story
is upsetting, but one of the many things I find
disturbing is that they used the Minato home to rape
and torture a young girl for forty four days. I
don't know how those parents could let this happen. On
November twenty seventh, Veruta's own parents were getting worried, so
(08:01):
they contacted the police and reported her missing. To throw
off investigators, the boys forced Junko to call her mom
several times to explain that she had simply run away.
She told her family that she was safe and staying
with friends. I sympathized with her, wanting to protect her family.
Junko's loved ones likely didn't buy the story, but it
(08:24):
might have slowed down the investigation some when the authorities
learned she had contacted her family. Manatto initially told his
parents that Junko was his girlfriend, but after a few
days it must have been a parent to the family
that she was fearful and likely being held against her will.
So why didn't the parents call the authorities? They were
(08:46):
reportedly afraid of their son and his psychopathic friends and
terrified about Yakuza reprisals. I mean, I get that part,
but hello, a girl's life is at stake here, to
say nothing of the continuous torture she endured and under
your roof. Surely they could have just made an anonymous
(09:07):
phone call. This was going on for over a month.
I just don't know how they slept at night knowing
a child was being brutalized just a few rooms away.
On November twenty eighth, Leanu invited two other boys, tatsu
and Nakumara and Koichi Ahara, over to the house. At
(09:28):
this point, Djunko knew what would happen, and she tried
to escape. Leanna grabbed her legs and yanked her back
into the room, while Ihara put a pillow over her face.
The parents woke up and investigated the screaming, but their son, Manato,
told them not to worry about the noises. It was
just so unbelievable that no one helped this girl. The
(09:50):
boys continued their assault on Junko that night and every
day thereafter. Dozens and dozens of gang members raped her
in the coming weeks. Sixteen days into her ordeal, the
police received a tip that a girl was being raped
in the Monato home. Two officers were dispatched to the house.
They were told no girl was there and were invited
(10:13):
to search the house, but for some inexplicable reason. They
just assumed it was a false tip and they never
went inside. They were later fired for not following protocol,
But it just makes you shake your head to know
that she could have been saved. Over the next forty days,
Junko Faruta was subject to the worst forms of torture
(10:35):
and sexual violence imagined. I'm not going to go into
all the details because quite frankly, they're just too disgusting.
But she was sexually assaulted, humiliated, starved, left on a
balcony overnight with little clothing, force fed alcohol, burned with
lighter fluid, and beaten repeatedly. She was raped daily, and,
(10:57):
according to trial statements, may have been assaulted by as
many as one hundred different men. Several weeks into her ordeal,
the physical torture had taken a toll in Junko. As
you can imagine, because of her severe injuries and infected burns.
Junko was no longer allowed to use the downster's toilet.
She was confined to Minato's room and became extremely weak. Still,
(11:22):
they continued to beat her daily and even hung her
from the ceiling like a human punching bag. Eventually, Junkle
was begging the gang to just kill her and end
her pain, but they were too merciless to oblige her.
With her face swollen and the wounds on her body festering,
the gang lost sexual interest in Junko, so the four
(11:43):
teens kidnapped and gang raped a nineteen year old woman, who,
like their previous victim, was on her way home from work.
Junko's horrible ordeal started in nineteen eighty eight, but as
the year turned to nineteen eighty nine, she was still
being held captive by these control monsters. In early January,
Miano challenged Junko to a game of majong, and even
(12:07):
though she could barely see out of her swollen eyes,
she won the game, score one for Junko. I admire
her courage. Unfortunately, it would cost her dearly, either that
night or the following day. Miano took out his anger
at having lost the game by pouring lighter fluid on
Junko and setting her on fire. She tried to put
(12:29):
out the flames, but eventually passed out from the intense pain. Later,
they beat her and subjected her to an array of
physical torture that's beyond description. When she passed out, they
would revive her just to inflict more pain. At some point,
one of the boys kicked her and she fell into
(12:51):
a stereo and began having seizures. Still, they continued to
beat her for over two hours until she finally died
from the sadistic torture. This is seriously one of the
worst crimes I've ever read about. Having added murder to
their list of unspeakable offenses, the boys wrapped Junko's body
and blankets and stuffed her in a travel bag like
(13:13):
a piece of garbage. The group then put the girl's
body into a fifty five gallon drum and filled it
with wet concrete. They then disposed of the drum somewhere
outside of Tokyo. This is an interesting detail. While in captivity,
Junko told her killers that she was sad she was
not able to see the final episode of Tonbo, the
(13:36):
Idle Singing Show. One of the boys had a videotape
of the episode, but Junko was never allowed to watch it.
Miano tossed the tape into the bag with her body
because he feared she would come back and haunt him
as a ghost. He had no empathy for the young
student whatsoever, But I guess even sadistic killers can be superstitious.
(13:59):
Two weeks after the boys callously disposed of Junko's body,
Leanu and Ogura were arrested for the rape of the
nineteen year old girl they kidnapped after Junko Faruta. Then
two months after their arrest, two investigators came to question
the two boys about the women's underwear found in their homes.
Yanu assumed the detectives were already aware that he had
(14:21):
killed Junko since they had already questioned Agura. He believed
Agura had already given everyone up, so he confessed at
least some of his role, no doubt downplaying his part,
but also told them where to find Junko's body. The
police were taken aback. They had come to question Mianu
(14:41):
about the murder of a woman and her seven year
old son, which took place nine days before Faruto's abduction,
and here he was confessing to a totally different murder.
Yanu and his gang of sexual psychopaths had nothing to
do with that murder, which remains unsolved, but it does
mean you wonder how many people they did kill to
(15:03):
say nothing of their countless sexual assaults. In any event,
the next day, the authorities found Junco's body encased in
the cement drum. That's when all hell broke loose. Leanu
was arrested for Feruta's murder as well as yet another
sexual assault that had nothing to do with the two
(15:23):
cases he was already implicated in. Then they arrested Watanabe, Manato,
and Manato's brother followed. Other accomplices who had raped the
young student were also arrested after their DNA was found
on the victim's body. The Japanese legal system is quite
a bit different from that in America. The court sealed
(15:44):
the accused identities since they were juveniles at the time
of the crime, but a Japanese journalist uncovered the names
and was able to publish them due to the severity
of the crime. So you assume that all four of
the main perpetrators got life in prison or the death penalty, right, Well,
guess again. Even though Japan does have the death penalty,
(16:07):
these guys were minors when the crime was committed. Incredibly,
all four were allowed to plead guilty to quote committing
bodily injury that resulted in death. Sounds like murder to me.
And remember, this girl wasn't just killed, she was tortured
to death over forty four days. In the last two
(16:29):
hours of her life, she suffered a level of abuse
and torture that was so sick. I won't even reveal
some of the details. I'll let you research that yourself
if you're interested, but I warn you it's very disturbing.
In July of nineteen ninety, Hiroshi Miyanu, the leader of
the gang, was sentenced to seventeen years in prison. That's
(16:51):
as short as Junko's entire life. The Japanese High Court
gave him another three years, but still, I just can't
believe these guys weren't locked up forever. After serving his sentence,
Miana was released, but soon found himself back in prison
for the attempted murder of a man. In two thousand
and nine, Yasushi Watanabe received a mere five to seven
(17:13):
years in prison. Yo Agura served eight years in a
juvenile prison and was released in nineteen ninety nine. He
has reportedly bragged about Junko's kidnapping, rape and torture. Nobuhara Manatu,
who has since changed his name to Shinji Minato received
a nine year sentence. Amazingly, Minato's parents and brother were
(17:36):
not charged. I love Japan, but seriously, what's up with
the legal system that allows these psychopaths to be released
back into society so easily? As you'd expect, Manato was
arrested again in twenty eighteen for attempted murder after beating
a man with a metal rod and cutting his throat
with a knife. Huge surprise that he's not reformed. All
(18:01):
these guys should have been locked up for life or
given the death penalty due to the severity of this crime.
Aruto's family was devastated by the light sentences their daughter's
killers received. They did win a civil suit against the
Manato family for what would be three hundred and seventy
thousand US dollars, but come on, that's of little consolation.
(18:24):
The public was also outraged at the light sentences, and
there was much talk that the yakuza might have corrupted
the justice system. In the decades since, several books and
movies have been written and produced about this infamous case,
with one movie released as recently as twenty seventeen. You know,
it's just one of those horrific crimes that no book, movie,
(18:48):
or podcasts can truly do justice too, because Junko never
received anything resembling justice, her killers and rapists are still
out there attacking and terrorizing the Japanese public. I wish
there were a happier ending to this one, but sometimes
it's hard to find a silver lining to a tragedy
like this. We can only hope the jungle rests in
(19:11):
peace and that her tormentors are eventually behind bars. Given
the fact that their career criminals, that seems likely. That's
it for this episode of Murder You, and please remember
if you or anyone you know is a victim of
a sexual assault. In the United States, the National Sexual
Assault Hotline is available twenty four hours call one eight
(19:33):
hundred six five six four six seven three. If you
live in Japan, the number for the Sexual Assault Referral
Center Tokyo is zero three five six zero seven zero
seven ninety nine. Be sure to liken subscribe to Murder
You on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, or wherever you
(19:54):
get your podcasts. No
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