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Satoru Someya

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Satoru Someya
Bornca. 1965
Tokyo, Japan
DisappearedSeptember 6, 2003
Tokyo, Japan
Died
Tokyo Bay
Cause of deathMurder by beating, stabbing and drowning
Body discoveredSeptember 12, 2003
NationalityJapanese
Other namesKuragaki Kashiwabara
OccupationFreelance crime journalist
Notable workKagi no Seisho and Kabukichō Underground

Satoru Someya (ca. 1965 – 6 September 2003), who was a Japanese freelance journalist reporting on organized crime in Kabukichō, Tokyo, Japan, under the pen name Kuragaki Kashiwabara, was kidnapped and murdered in retaliation for his reporting about locksmiths and their involvement in thefts and for refusing to apologize to one of the subjects in a book before the fatal crime.[1][2] He is the only journalist listed as confirmed by the Committee to Protect Journalists to be killed in Japan for his journalism.[3]

Personal

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Satoru Someya was born in Japan around 1965.[4][5]

Career

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Satoru Someya was a freelance journalist who wrote books and articles about crime in the Tokyo Bay area.[1][6][7] His work appeared in a number of Japanese magazines under his pen name Kuragaki Kashiwabara.[8]

In his book "The Key Bible" (Japanese: "Kagi no Seisho"), he wrote about locksmiths and thefts and noted that his investigations might put his life in danger.[9]

Someya also published a book called Kabukichō Underground about his investigation into the different Chinese criminal groups operating in Kabukichō, Japan.[4][10][11]

Death

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A landscape of Tokyo Bay.
Tokyo is located in Japan.
Tokyo
Tokyo
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Tokyo is the capital of Japan.

Satoru Someya's last known contact before his kidnapping was on the night of 5 September 2003, when he had a telephone conversation with a magazine editor.[12] Tokyo police reported Someya had financial trouble and owed money to several organizations.[9]

Keizo Sakurai, a locksmith who was also known as Takeshi Kihara, and two accomplices, Yoshihiro Kumamoto and Ryoichi Fuji, kidnapped Someya from his Tokyo Bay apartment and held him captive.[12][13] According to police reports, Someya owed money to Sakurai. Sakurai confessed to journalist's murder on 27 April 2004. He told police Kumamoto held Someya in his apartment trying to force an apology from Someya about his portrayal of Sakurai in his book "Kabukichō Underground."[8] Someya reportedly refused to apologize. Sakurai, Kumamoto, and Fuji placed Someya on a boat and sailed him to Tokyo Bay, where they stabbed him several times and dumped his body.[14] Someya's body was discovered on 12 September, wrapped in a weighted chain with his hands tied with rope and eight stab wounds in his back according to Japanese police reports.[15]

All three men were charged with murder 16 January 2004.[8] On 1 March 2005, Keizo Sakurai was sentenced to an 18-year prison term after pleading guilty to charges.[6][16][17] On 11 October 2005, Yoshihiro Kumamoto was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the murder and kidnapping of Someya.[10][17]

Context

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The murder of Japanese journalists is extremely rare. The last reported murder of a journalist in Japan was Tomohiro Kojiri - a reporter for Asahi Shimbun - was shot and killed on 3 May 1987 at Shimbun newspaper offices near Kobe, Japan.[18]

Impact

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The Kabukichō red light and entertainment district of Tokyo.

Someya's books, Kagi no Seisho and Kabukicho Underground, both became best sellers in the Japanese market.[19]

The murder of Someya created a public concern over the recent burglaries and murders of citizens in the Tokyo Bay area. The reports from his book Kagi no Seisho showed that over 11,000 homes in Tokyo have had their lock's picked in the year of 2003 which was an increase of eighty-one percent from 2002.[10]

Reactions

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Japanese journalist murders are extremely rare, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which investigated the murder and its relation to Someya's journalism.[4][20]

Someya wrote that he was in danger in the postscript to his last book Kabukichō Underground.[6][21]

His murderer Keizo Sakurai made the following statement in his guilty plea, "If I did not kill him, I would still have been a victim of false accusations by the dirty writer and would have suffered social ostracism. I could not help but kill him." Sakurai had been mentioned in both of Someya's books.[6]

In pushing for a lengthy sentence, prosecutors said, "The crime is extremely cruel and brutal, taking time in killing (Someya) to make him feel the horror of death for a long time."[16]

Books

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  • Kabukichō Underground (2003) (ISBN 978-4584159651)
  • The Key Bible (Japanese: Kagi no Seisho) (2002)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Kjeld Duits (September 1, 2004). "Interview with Barry Eisler". ikjeld.com.
  2. ^ Sweeney, Paul (2009). Health Over Harmony: Gleanings of a Ten-year Odyssey in Asian Clinics, Temples, and Dojo. Scottsdale, Arizona: East-West Publishing. ISBN 9781439259504.
  3. ^ "1 Journalist Killed in Japan since 1992/Motive Confirmed". Committee to Protect Journalists.
  4. ^ a b c "CPJ conducting investigation to determine if journalist was killed for his work". IFEX. September 18, 2003.
  5. ^ Lafontaine, Yves (October 23, 2003). "Assassinat de l'écrivain gai Sataru Someya". Fugues (in French).
  6. ^ a b c d "Satoru Someya". Committee to Protect Journalists. September 6, 2003.
  7. ^ "Killer of freelance journalist Satoru Someya gets 14 years". Reporters Without Borders. October 17, 2005. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  8. ^ a b c "Freelance journalist murdered". IFEX.org. September 24, 2003.
  9. ^ a b Ryall, Julian (January 4, 2004). "Writer pays the ultimate price for his best-seller". South China Morning Post.
  10. ^ a b c "Three held over killing of journalist". The Japan Times. November 23, 2003.
  11. ^ "Third man arrested over writer's death". The Japan Times. November 24, 2003.
  12. ^ a b "Locksmiths facing murder charge". The Japan Times. January 13, 2004.
  13. ^ "Slain journalist found in Tokyo Bay". The Japan Times. September 14, 2003.
  14. ^ "Journalist killed for 'not apologizing'". The Japan Times. January 18, 2004.
  15. ^ "Body of crime journo found". News24.
  16. ^ a b "18-yr prison term sought for locksmith over killing of journalist". Kyodo News International. March 1, 2005.
  17. ^ a b "Man gets 14-year prison sentence for killing freelance journalist". Japan Times. October 13, 2005.
  18. ^ "Japan Killer of Freelance Journalist". en.rsf.org. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  19. ^ "Writer Pays Ultimate Price for his Best Seller". scmp.com. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  20. ^ "1 Journalist Killed in Japan Since 1992". CPJ.org. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  21. ^ Falksohn, Rüdiger; Lorenz, Andreas; Wagner, Wieland (January 19, 2004). "KRIMINALITÄT: Die Paten des Ostens". Der Spiegel (in German).
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  • The End of Japan society Part 1, the secret list of customers for Lolicon Prostitution Horror Fact of Japan
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