Japanese true crime is unlike any other. The crimes are rarer, the investigations stranger, and the questions they leave behind can stay unanswered for decades. This guide gathers every Japanese true crime episode of Stories Fables Ghostly Tales in one place, from unsolved mysteries like the Setagaya family murders to wrongful convictions like the Hakamada case.
Many of these episodes belong to our Hyakumonogatari series, named after the Edo-period game of a hundred candles. Each one pairs a real case with the Japanese myth that shares its shape. Looking for the myths themselves? Visit Japanese Urban Legends, Yokai & Folklore.
These episodes discuss real crimes and real victims, told with care. Each episode page carries its own content note.
Unsolved Japanese cases
Who Leaves 50,000 Clues and Gets Away? | The Setagaya Family Murders
Episode 976
On the night of 30 December 2000, four members of the Miyazawa family were killed in their home in Setagaya, Tokyo. The killer stayed in the house for hours and left fingerprints, blood and DNA behind. He has never been identified.
The Monster with 21 Faces: The Cyanide Phantom That Shattered Japan
Episode 975
In 1984, a group calling itself the Monster with 21 Faces kidnapped the president of Ezaki Glico, then held Japan’s food companies to ransom with threats of poisoned sweets. Police came close more than once, but no one was ever caught.
27 Pieces: The Unsolved Horror of Inokashira Park — True Crime Japan
Episode 986
In April 1994, a cleaner in Tokyo’s Inokashira Park found human remains in a rubbish bag. The victim, a 35-year-old architect, was identified. His killer never was, and the statute of limitations ran out in 2009.
Turning Lungs to Stone | Japanese True Crime
Episode 973
Between April and November 1985, drinks laced with the herbicide paraquat were left at vending machines across Japan. At least a dozen people died. The poisoner was never found.
The Womb That Held a Telephone Handset | Japanese True Crime Series
Episode 979
A 1988 murder in a quiet Nagoya home that defies every logical explanation. A massive investigation produced no suspect, and the statute of limitations expired in 2003.
The Unsolved Asahidake SOS Incident: Mystery of the Terror Tape | Japan True Crime
Episode 978
In July 1989, a rescue helicopter on Hokkaido’s Mount Asahi spotted a giant SOS made from felled birch trees. Nearby lay human remains and a cassette tape of a man crying for help. Who built the sign is still unknown.
Wrongful convictions and contested verdicts
They Hid The Blood In A Vat Of Miso
Episode 996
Former boxer Iwao Hakamada was sentenced to death for a 1966 quadruple murder and spent decades on death row. In 2024 a court acquitted him, ruling that the key evidence, bloodstained clothes found in a miso tank, had been fabricated by investigators.
EP06 | The Public Health Ghost: The 1948 Teikoku Bank Incident
Episode 981
In January 1948, a man posing as a health official gave staff at a Tokyo bank a “medicine” that killed twelve of them. The painter convicted of the crime spent 32 years on death row. No justice minister ever signed his execution order, and many believe he was innocent.
The Reeds of Twilight: The North Kanto Serial Murders Japan
Episode 984
Between 1979 and 1996, five young girls were taken from towns along the Watarase River valley. An innocent man spent years in prison for one of the cases before DNA freed him. The crimes remain unsolved.
Infamous crimes
30 People. 90 Minutes. One Village. Japan’s Tsuyama Massacre & The Gashadokuro
Episode 983
In the early hours of 21 May 1938, a 21-year-old man killed thirty people in his small rural community in around ninety minutes. It remains one of the deadliest attacks by a single person in Japan’s history.
Sada Abe: Japan’s Most Infamous Murder & The Ancient Spirit That Never Left | True Crime Japan
Episode 982
In May 1936, Sada Abe killed her lover at a Tokyo inn and became one of the most notorious figures of pre-war Japan. After her release she lived quietly, then disappeared from the public record around 1970.
The Kobe Cannibal Got A Food Column
Episode 989
In 1981, a Japanese student in Paris killed his Dutch classmate, Renée Hartevelt. Issei Sagawa never stood trial in Japan, and he spent the rest of his life as a strange kind of celebrity.
The Quiet Boy Who Terrified a Nation: Japan’s Darkest Mystery & The Satori
Episode 987
The 1997 attacks in Kobe’s Suma Ward by a 14-year-old boy shocked the nation and led to sweeping changes to Japan’s juvenile law.
Japanese Kennel Killers — Turning Their Enemies to Dust (1993)
Episode 985
In 1993, the owners of a Saitama dog-breeding business killed people who stood in the way of their debts, then destroyed the evidence so thoroughly that investigators had to sift riverbeds for fragments.
The Joker On The Halloween Train
Episode 994
On Halloween night 2021, a man dressed as the Joker attacked passengers on a crowded Keio Line train heading into Tokyo. Seventeen people were injured. This episode opens our Halloween special.
Futoshi Matsunaga Part 1 – Where It All Began
Episode 591
The Kitakyushu confinement killings: how Futoshi Matsunaga took control of a family through fear and abuse, told across four episodes.
Tsutomu Miyazaki Part 1 – Japanese True Crime
Episode 445
The case of Tsutomu Miyazaki, whose 1988 – 89 crimes against young girls in Tokyo and Saitama shocked Japan. Told in two parts.
More episodes in these cases
- Futoshi Matsunaga Part 2 – Where the Murders Started
- Futoshi Matsunaga Part 3 – The Final Murders
- Futoshi Matsunaga Part 4 – How It All Unravelled
- Tsutomu Miyazaki Part 2 – Japanese True Crime
- Sada Abe & Kichizo Ishida – Japanese Crime (Halloween)
- Ashley Kansas Goes Missing & Japanese Serial Killers
Suggest a case
Is there a Japanese case you’d like the Tale Teller to explore? Email storiesfablesghostlytales@gmail.com. Or browse every episode in the Japanese True Crime category.