Murder of Junko Furuta

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Junko Furuta

古田 順子

Yearbook photo of Junko Furuta

Born 18 January 1971[1][2][3]

Misato, Saitama, Japan

Died 4 January 1989 (aged 17)

Adachi, Tokyo, Japan

Cause of death Murder (traumatic shock)[4]

Body discovered 29 March 1989

Kōtō City, Tokyo, Japan

Occupation High school student

Known for Torture and murder victim

Height 5 ft 5 in (165cm)[5]
 Murder of Junko Furuta

Location Adachi, Tokyo, Japan

Date 25 November 1988 - 4 January 1989

Attack type Torture murder, child murder, kidnapping, child

abduction, child rape, gang rape

Weapons Various

Victim Junko Furuta, aged 17

 Hiroshi Miyano
Perpetrators
 Nobuharu Minato (now Shinji Minato)

 Yasushi Watanabe

 Jō Ogura (now Jō Kamisaku)

 Over 100 uncharged rapists

Motive Unknown

Verdict All four pleaded guilty

Sentence Miyano:

20 years in prison

Minato:
5 to 9 years in prison

Watanabe:

5 to 7 years in prison

Ogura:

8 years in juvenile detention

Litigation Minato's parents ordered to pay compensation to

Furuta's parents in civil suit

Convictions Committing bodily injury that resulted in death

Junko Furuta (古田 順子, Furuta Junko) was a Japanese high school student who

was abducted, raped, and tortured from November 1988 to January 1989 then
subsequently murdered. Her murder case was called the "concrete-encased high
school girl murder case" (女子高生コンクリート詰め殺人事件), due to her body
being discovered in a concrete drum. The abuse was mainly perpetrated by four
teenage boys, Hiroshi Miyano, Jō Ogura, Shinji Minato, and Yasushi Watanabe, over
a period of 40 days from 25 November 1988 to 4 January 1989. [6] The crime has
been described as the worst case of juvenile delinquency in post-war Japan.[7] The
perpetrators' sentences ranged from juvenile detention to 20 years in prison.

Contents

 1Background
 2Kidnapping and abuses
 3Murder and investigation
 4Prosecution
 5Aftermath
 6See also
 7References
 8External links

Background
Furuta was born in Misato, Saitama Prefecture. She lived with her parents, her older
brother, and her younger brother.[8] As a teenager, she attended Yashio-Minami High
School and worked part-time at a plastic molding factory during after-school hours
since October 1988. She did this to save up money for a graduation trip she had
planned.[9] Furuta also accepted a job at an electronics retailer, where she planned
on working after graduation.[7] At high school, Furuta was well-liked by her
classmates, with high grades and very infrequent absences. She was a popular girl
with pretty features and had dreams of becoming an idol singer.[10] The night she was
abducted, Furuta had been looking forward to going home to watch the final episode
of the TV show, Tonbo [ja] (Dragonfly とんぼ).[11]
The perpetrators were four teenage boys: Hiroshi Miyano (宮野裕史, Miyano
Hiroshi, 18 years old), Jō Ogura (小倉譲, Ogura Jō, 17), Shinji Minato (湊伸
治, Minato Shinji, 16), and Yasushi Watanabe (渡邊恭史, Watanabe Yasushi, 17),
who were respectively referred to as "A", "B", "C", and "D" in court documents. At the
time of the crime, they used the second floor of Minato's house as a hangout, and
had, as chimpira, previously engaged in crimes including purse snatching, extortion,
and rape.[12][13]
Miyano, the leader of the crime, had a history of problematic behavior since
elementary school, such as shoplifting and damaging school property. In April 1986,
he enrolled in a private high school in Tokyo, though he dropped out the following
year. After this, he continued to commit several crimes that escalated over time. [14] At
the time of the crime, he had been living with his girlfriend, the older sister of Boy D,
Yasushi Watanabe, and was working as a tile worker to save up money to marry her.
[15]
 Unsatisfied with the job's low pay, Miyano became involved with a gangster and
frequently committed sex crimes. This made his girlfriend lose interest in him, and
the relationship broke up.[16]

Kidnapping and abuses

On 25 November 1988, Miyano and Minato wandered around Misato with the
intention of robbing and raping local women. [12] At 8:30 p.m., they spotted Furuta
riding her bike home after she had finished a shift at her job. Under Miyano's orders,
Minato kicked Furuta off her bike and fled the scene. [12] Miyano, under the pretense of
witnessing the attack by coincidence, approached Furuta and offered to walk her
home safely.[12] Upon gaining her trust, he raped her in the warehouse and again in a
nearby hotel, threatening to kill her. From the hotel, Miyano called Minato and his
other friends, Jō Ogura and Yasushi Watanabe, and bragged to them about the
rape. Ogura reportedly asked Miyano to keep her in captivity in order to allow
numerous people to sexually assault her. The group had a history of gang rape and
had recently kidnapped and raped another girl, whom they released afterward. [12]
Around 3:00 a.m., Miyano took Furuta to a nearby park, where Minato, Ogura, and
Watanabe were waiting.[12] They had learned her home address from a notebook in
her backpack and told her that they knew where she lived, and
that Yakuza members would kill her family if she attempted to escape. The four boys
overpowered her, took her to a house in the Ayase district of Adachi, and gang-
raped her.[12] The house, which was owned by Minato's parents, soon became their
regular gang hangout.[17]
On 27 November, Furuta's parents contacted the police about her disappearance. To
discourage further investigation, the kidnappers forced her to call her mother 3 times
to convince her that she had run away, but was safe and staying with some friends.
They also forced Furuta to stop the police investigation. When Minato's parents were
present, Furuta was forced to act as his girlfriend. [18] They dropped this pretense
when it became clear that Minato's parents would not report them to the police. [17] The
Minatos stated that they did not intervene because they were afraid of Miyano, and
because their own son was increasingly violent toward them. [17]
On the night of 28 November, Miyano invited two other boys, Tetsuo Nakumara and
Koichi Ihara, E and F, respectively, over to the Minato's house. They went to the
upstairs room, where Junko was sitting, wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt and a skirt
that Miyano had stolen from a clothing store a few days prior. They drank cough
medicine, pretending it was drugs, and acted high. Furuta tried to run away,
screaming in fear. Miyano grabbed her legs and Ihara put a pillow over her face. The
parents were awakened and went to check on the scream to which Minato told them
that it was nothing. The group then proceeded to gang-rape Furuta. During this time,
she was in a state of unconsciousness, staring at the ceiling without blinking. [19]
The group held Furuta captive in the Minato residence for 40 days, where they
repeatedly beat, raped, and tortured her.[12] They also invited other men and teenage
boys home and encouraged them to take turns raping her. Overall, Furuta was raped
more than 500 times by over 100 men and teenage boys. On one occasion, she was
raped by 12 men in one day.[20][21][22] According to the group's statements, the four
shaved her pubic hair, forced her to dance to music while naked and masturbate in
front of them, and left her on the balcony in the middle of the night with little clothing.
They inserted objects into her vagina and anus, including a lit match, a metal rod,
and a bottle, and force-fed her with large amounts of alcohol, milk and water. She
was also forced to smoke multiple cigarettes at once and inhale paint thinner. In one
incident, Miyano repeatedly burned Furuta's legs and arms with lighter fluid. By the
end of December, Furuta was severely malnourished after being fed only small
amounts of food and eventually only milk. [12] Due to her severe injuries and infected
burns, she became unable to go to the downstairs toilet, and became confined to the
floor of Minato's room in a state of extreme weakness. [12]
Furuta's appearance was drastically altered from the brutality of the attacks. Her face
was so swollen that it was difficult to make out her features. Her body was also
severely crippled, giving off a rotting smell that caused the four boys to lose sexual
interest in her. As a result, the boys kidnapped and gang-raped a 19-year-old woman
who, like Furuta, was on her way home from work.[citation needed]

Murder and investigation

On 4 January 1989, after losing a game of mahjong against another person the night
before, Miyano decided to take his anger out on Furuta [23] by pouring lighter fluid on
her body and setting her on fire.[12] Furuta allegedly made attempts to put out the fire,
but gradually became unresponsive.[12] They continued to punch her, ignited a candle
and dripped hot wax on her face, placed two short candles on her eyelids, and
forced her to drink her own urine. After she was kicked, she fell onto a stereo unit
and collapsed into a fit of convulsions. [12] Since she was bleeding profusely,
and pus was emerging from her infected burns, the four boys covered their hands in
plastic bags.[12] They continued to beat her and dropped an iron exercise ball onto her
stomach several times. The attack reportedly lasted two hours. Furuta eventually
succumbed to her wounds and died.[12]
Less than 24 hours after her death, Minato's brother called to tell him that Furuta
appeared to be dead. Afraid of being penalized for murder, the group wrapped her
body in blankets and shoved her into a travel bag. They then put her body in a 55-
US-gallon (210-litre) drum and filled it with wet concrete. Around 8:00 p.m., they
loaded it and eventually disposed the drum into a cement truck in Kōtō, Tokyo.
[24]
 During her captivity, Furuta had mentioned to her captors several times that she
regretted not being able to watch the finale episode of Tonbo (Dragonfly とんぼ).
Miyano found the videotape of the episode and placed it in the travel bag also. As he
later explained, it was not because he pitied Furuta, but because he did not want her
to return as a ghost and haunt him. [25]
On 23 January 1989, Miyano and Ogura were arrested for the gang-rape of the 19-
year-old girl whom they had kidnapped in December. On 29 March, two police
officers came to interrogate them, as women's underwear had been found at their
addresses. During the interrogation, Miyano believed that one of the officers was
aware of his culpability in Furuta's murder. Thinking that Jō Ogura had confessed to
the crimes against Furuta, Miyano told the police where to find Furuta's body. The
police were initially puzzled by the confession, as they had been referring to the
murder of a different woman and her seven-year-old son that had occurred nine days
prior to Furuta's abduction, a case which remains unsolved.
The police found the drum containing Furuta's body the following day. She was
identified via fingerprints. On 1 April 1989, Jō Ogura was arrested for a separate
sexual assault, and subsequently re-arrested for Furuta's murder. The arrest of
Watanabe, Minato, and Minato's brother followed. Several other accomplices who
participated in Furuta's abuse were officially identified, including Tetsuo Nakamura
and Koichi Ihara, who were charged with rape after their DNA was found on and
inside the victim's body.[12]

Prosecution
The identities of the boys were sealed by the court as they were all juveniles at the
time of the crime. Journalists from the Shūkan Bunshun (週刊文春) magazine
discovered their identities, however, and published them. [18] They stated that, given
the severity of the crime, the accused did not deserve to have their right to
anonymity upheld. All four boys pled guilty to "committing bodily injury that resulted
in death," rather than murder.
In July 1990, a lower court sentenced Hiroshi Miyano, the leader of the crime, to 17
years in prison.[12][24] He appealed his sentence, but Tokyo High Court judge Ryūji
Yanase sentenced him to an additional three years in prison. The 20-year sentence
is the second-longest sentence given in Japan before life imprisonment.[12][24] He was
18 at the time of the murder. Miyano's mother reportedly paid ¥50 million
(US$425,000) in compensation, ordered by the civil court, after selling their family
home.[26]
Miyano was denied parole in 2004. He was released from prison in 2009. In January
2013, Miyano was re-arrested for fraud. Due to insufficient evidence, he was
released without charge later that month.[citation needed] Nobuharu Minato (now Shinji
Minato), who originally received a four-to-six-year sentence, was re-sentenced to five
to nine years by Judge Ryūji Yanase upon appeal. [12][24] He was 16 at the time of the
murder. Minato's parents and brother were not charged. Furuta's parents were
dismayed by the sentences received by their daughter's killers and won a civil suit
against the parents of Nobuharu Minato, in whose home the crimes were committed.
[27]
 After his release, Minato moved in with his mother. However, in 2018, Minato was
arrested again for attempted murder after beating a 32-year-old man with a metal rod
and slashing his throat with a knife.[28][29]
Yasushi Watanabe, who was originally sentenced to three to four years in prison,
received an upgraded sentence of five to seven years. [12][24] He was 17 at the time of
the murder. For his role in the crime, Jō Ogura served eight years in a juvenile prison
before he was released in August 1999. After his release, he took the family name
"Kamisaku" when he was adopted by a supporter of his. He is said to have boasted
about his role in the kidnapping, rape and torture of Furuta. [17]
In July 2004, Ogura was arrested for assaulting Takatoshi Isono, an acquaintance he
thought his girlfriend may have been involved with. Ogura tracked Isono down, beat
him, and shoved him into his truck.
Ogura drove Isono from Adachi to his mother's bar in Misato, where he allegedly
beat Isono for four hours. During that time, Ogura repeatedly threatened to kill the
man, telling him that he had killed before and knew how to get away with it. He was
sentenced to seven years in prison for assaulting Isono and has since been
released. Ogura's mother allegedly vandalized Furuta's grave, stating that she had
ruined her son's life.[30] It has also been reported that Ogura had depleted his father's
savings, money which was intended to be provided as restitution to Furuta's family,
buying and consuming a number of luxury goods.
Many believed that the sentences were too light for the severity of the crimes
committed.[31]

Aftermath
Junko Furuta's funeral was held on 2 April 1989. One of her friends' memorial
address stated:
Jun-chan, welcome back. I have never imagined that we would see you again in this
way. You must have been in so much pain...so much suffering... The happi we all
made for the school festival looked really good on you. We will never forget you. I
have heard that the principal has presented you with a graduation certificate. So we
graduated together—all of us. Jun-chan, there is no more pain, no more suffering.
Please rest in peace...
Furuta's intended future employer presented her parents with the uniform she would
have worn in the position she had accepted. The uniform was placed in her casket.
At her graduation, Furuta's school principal presented her a high school diploma,
which was given to her parents. The location near where Furuta's body was
discovered has been developed since and is now Wakasu park.[32]
At the time Japanese people were concerned about a US-influenced epidemic of
violent crime, what they called the "American disease". [33]
At least three books have been written about the crime. [34] An exploitation
film, Joshikōsei konkurīto-zume satsujin-jiken [ja] (女子高生コンクリート詰め殺人事
件), about the incident was directed by Katsuya Matsumura in 1995. Yujin Kitagawa
(later a member of the music duo Yuzu) played the role of the principal culprit, and
Mai Sasaki played the role of Furuta. [35][36][37] The case was also the inspiration for the
film Concrete in 2004,[citation needed] and the manga 17-sai.

See also

 Biography portal

 Law portal
 Japan portal

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