Documented investigations presented factually, with solved and unresolved cases separated for easier browsing.
Twelve-year-old Satomi Mitarai was killed by an 11-year-old classmate at an elementary school in Sasebo in June 2004. Because the child responsible was below Japan's age of criminal responsibility, the case ended in a Family Court protective disposition rather than a criminal conviction.
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Noriko Inagaki, Megumi Yabuki and Hiromi Maeda were shot inside the Nampei Owada supermarket office in Hachioji in July 1995. Tokyo police continue to investigate the case and seek information in 2026.
Open case file →Yayoi Motomura and her 11-month-old daughter Yuka were murdered in Hikari in 1999. Takayuki Otsuki was convicted; a final death sentence was confirmed in 2012 and retrial litigation has continued.
Open case file →A bank robbery in Osaka became a roughly 42-hour hostage siege after Akiyoshi Umekawa killed two bank employees and two police officers. Police eventually stormed the branch; Umekawa died after being shot.
Open case file →Chisako Kakehi was convicted of three cyanide murders and one attempted murder in western Japan. Her death sentence was upheld in 2021; she died in custody in 2024.
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Rina Shimabukuro disappeared while out walking in Okinawa in 2016. Kenneth Franklin Shinzato was convicted of rape and murder, and his life sentence became final in 2018.
Open case file →Ayaka Yamashita, 10, and Jun Hase, 11, were killed in Kobe in 1997, while three other children survived attacks. A 14-year-old boy was identified, admitted responsibility and was sent by the Kobe Family Court to a medical juvenile training school.
Open case file →Aum Shinrikyo carried out a sarin attack in a Matsumoto residential district in 1994. Eight people ultimately died, hundreds were injured, and later prosecutions established the cult's responsibility.
Open case file →Convicted / appeal pendingFormer prime minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot during a campaign speech in Nara in 2022. Tetsuya Yamagami admitted the killing, received a life sentence in January 2026 and appealed the following month.
Read case file →SolvedShiori Ino was murdered in Okegawa in 1999 after months of stalking and harassment. Multiple men were convicted, while police misconduct in handling her earlier complaints also produced criminal and civil consequences.
Read case file →SolvedRie Isogai was abducted, robbed and murdered in Nagoya in 2007 by three men who had met through an online criminal bulletin board. All three were convicted, with different final sentences.
Read case file →Solved / adjudicatedThirty-six people were killed at Kyoto Animation Studio 1 in 2019. Shinji Aoba was convicted and sentenced to death; later litigation concerned his withdrawal of the appeal.
Read case file →SolvedBritish teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker was murdered in Chiba in 2007. Tatsuya Ichihashi evaded capture for more than two years before receiving a life sentence.
Read case file →SolvedEight children were killed and 15 students and teachers injured at an elementary school in Ikeda in 2001. Mamoru Takuma was convicted and executed in 2004.
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SolvedMurdered four young girls in the Saitama and Tokyo areas between 1988 and 1989.
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SolvedSeventeen-year-old Junko Furuta was abducted and murdered in Tokyo after a prolonged captivity. Four principal juvenile offenders were convicted.
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SolvedTakahiro Shiraishi used social media to contact vulnerable people and murdered nine victims in Zama, Japan, in 2017. He was convicted and executed in 2025.
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SolvedThe Kitakyushu serial murders involved prolonged coercive control and a series of killings in Fukuoka Prefecture. Futoshi Matsunaga and Junko Ogata were convicted.
Read case file →SolvedTomohiro Kato killed seven people in Tokyo's Akihabara district in 2008. He was convicted, sentenced to death and executed in 2022.
Read case file →SolvedIn 1995, Aum Shinrikyo members released sarin on Tokyo subway trains during rush hour, killing 14 people in the current toll and injuring thousands.
Read case file →SolvedNineteen disabled residents were murdered at Tsukui Yamayuri-en in 2016. Satoshi Uematsu was convicted and sentenced to death; later retrial litigation has not overturned the judgment.
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