41case filesUpdated Jul 18, 2026
Casepin holds 41 solved cases in Japan. A solved case is one the record closes with a conviction or an equivalent legal finding; each file names who was convicted only where a court did.
Credit: L26CC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenKyoto Animation Studio 1, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto, Japan · 2019
On 18 July 2019, an arsonist set fire to Kyoto Animation's Studio 1 building in Kyoto, Japan, killing 36 people and injuring 34 others in one of the deadliest attacks in Japan since World War II. Shinji Aoba was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in January 2024.
Credit: UnknownEditorial useSourceSOLVEDListenOkegawa Station, Okegawa, Saitama Prefecture, Japan · 1999
Shiori Ino, a 21-year-old university student, was fatally stabbed in Okegawa, Saitama, Japan, on 26 October 1999 in a contract killing arranged by her abusive former boyfriend, after police repeatedly declined to act on her stalking reports.
SOLVEDListenShinjuku, Tokyo, Japan · 2018
In May 2019, Yuka Takaoka stabbed her boyfriend, Phoenix Luna, with a kitchen knife in their Shinjuku, Tokyo apartment after viewing photos on his phone; she was convicted of attempted murder in December 2019 and sentenced to 3½ years in prison.
Credit: 松竹キネマPublic domainSourceSOLVEDListenMt. Sakata, Ōiso town, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan · 1932
In May 1932, a man and woman were found dead atop Mt. Sakata in Ōiso, Japan, in an apparent double suicide by poison; the ensuing media frenzy, a body-snatching incident, and a hit film adaptation were linked by contemporaries and later commentators to a wave of copycat suicides.
Dojima Kita Building, Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan · 2021
On 17 December 2021, a fire believed to be deliberately set killed 26 people and injured one other at a psychiatric clinic on the fourth floor of the Dojima Kita Building in Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan.
SOLVEDListenAmagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan · 2008
A pseudo-family led by Miyoko Sumida in Amagasaki, Japan, is alleged to have coerced relatives and cohabitants into confining, abusing, and killing at least eight people between 1987 and 2011 for financial gain; Sumida died by suicide in detention before trial, while ten co-defendants were tried.
Credit: JTSBCC BY 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenTokyo Bay near Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan · 1982
On 9 February 1982, a Japan Air Lines domestic flight from Fukuoka to Tokyo crashed into Tokyo Bay short of the runway at Haneda Airport, killing 24 of the 174 people aboard, after the captain deliberately pushed the aircraft into a descent.
SOLVEDListenNakano, Tokyo, Japan · 2016
Jiang Ge, a 24-year-old Chinese graduate student in Tokyo, was stabbed to death outside her apartment on 3 November 2016 by Chen Shifeng, the ex-boyfriend of her roommate Liu Xin. Chen was convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison; Liu was later found civilly liable in a Chinese court for locking the apartment door during the attack.
Credit: キャンター This photo was taken with Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ10CC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenNear Yokosuka-Chūō Station, Yokosuka, Japan · 2006
On 3 January 2006, 56-year-old Yoshie Sato was beaten to death by U.S. Navy sailor William Oliver Reese during a robbery near Yokosuka-Chūō train station in Japan. Reese confessed and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
SOLVEDListenAsama Sansō lodge, near Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, Japan · 1972
A ten-day hostage standoff at a mountain lodge near Karuizawa, Japan, ended on February 28, 1972, when police stormed the building; two officers were killed and the hostage, Yasuko Muta, was rescued unharmed.
The files run from 645 to 2023. The 2010s hold the most, with 9 files. The oldest is Assassination of Soga no Iruka (Isshi incident), from 645.
By type, the largest groups are murder and homicide cases (28), kidnapping and abduction cases (8) and arson cases (5).
9 files of the 41 have coverage attached: 18 videos, podcasts and documentaries from 7 creators. The most covered is Kyoto Animation arson attack, with 3 items to watch or hear. Coffeehouse Crime, Dr. Todd Grande and The Casual Criminalist have covered the most of them.
Every file is written from cited sources and pinned where it happened, and every person named carries the legal status the record gives them. Families and anyone involved can request a correction from any file.
Kyoto animation arson attack 3 20190721 — Credit: L26CC BY-SA 4.0Source
Junko Furuta — Credit: Furuta familyEditorial useSource
Shiori Ino — Credit: UnknownEditorial useSource
Tsukui Yamayuri En 2021-11-11 — Credit: AsanagiCC0Source
School gate in junior high school where boy A put boy's neck — Credit: 山井書店CC BY-SA 3.0Source
Tengoku ni Musubu Koi — Credit: 松竹キネマPublic domainSource
Isaac J Hurt's draft card — Credit: National Archives and Records AdministrationPublic domainSource
Omachi Dam park Sakamoto Tatsuhiko cenotaph — Credit: photo: Qurren (talk) Taken with Canon IXY DIGITAL 450 (Digital IXUS 430)CC BY-SA 3.0Source
File:JAL Flight 350 wreckage 2.png — Credit: JTSBCC BY 4.0Source
Yokosuka-Chuo2019 — Credit: キャンター This photo was taken with Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ10CC BY-SA 4.0Source
JR-Noborito-Sta-Ikutarokuchi — Credit: Nyao148CC BY-SA 3.0Source
Okubo es Sasebo 2011 — Credit: ja:User:SanjoCC BY-SA 3.0Source
Cats Namba — Credit: MASA (talk)CC BY-SA 3.0Source
Palace-Hotel-Tokyo-03 — Credit: Rs1421CC BY-SA 3.0Source
These files are published and cited but are kept out of search listings for now, either because they fall outside Casepin’s true-crime scope or because they are still being deepened.
41. The count covers published files only and changes as new files clear review.
Assassination of Soga no Iruka (Isshi incident), from 645. Open the file
Kyoto Animation arson attack, with 3 videos, podcasts and documentaries linked from its file. Open the file
Coffeehouse Crime (4 cases), Dr. Todd Grande (1 case) and The Casual Criminalist (1 case), among 7 creators in all.
It rebuilds hourly from the published files; the newest file change here is dated Jul 18, 2026. A status changes only when the record behind it does.
