Furuta Junko: The Concrete Girl.

Background:

On november 25th 1988, Furuta Junko, a 16 year old student at Misato, in the Saitama prefecture, was kidnapped by four boys and subjected to 44 days of torture and inimmaginable agony. A story which, to this day, still holds its weight in Japanese culture.

It all started with a confession. A boy by the name of Miyano Hiyoshi was in love with Furuta so he decided to profess his love for her. However, he got rejected by Furuta which caused him to want to take revenge on her with a viciousness that had been unseen by Japanese media.

Furuta was driving her bicycle home when she collided with a person, causing her to fall to the side of the walkway. At this moment, Miyoshi appears and offers her help before abducting her alongside three other friends, including the cyclist and taking her to a property owned by his father. The last place Furuta would visit.

Miyoshi and his friends, Shinji Minato (at the time using the name Nobuharu), Jo Ogura and Yasushi Watanabe could be categorized as Chimpira, low-level Yakuza members who are usually young, rowdy and disrespectful. This would ultimately cause their demise as they continued their criminal activities, leading them back to Furuta’s murder.

The Kidnapping:

Upon arriving at the home, the boys forced Furuta to dial her parent’s number and lie to them. She said she had run away and that she would stay at a friend’s house. This phone call was paramount as it delayed the investigation that would have, otherwise, taken place in search for her.

The boys then took turns and brutally raped her, beating her up at the same time. Once they were done, they searched for amusement torturing their newly acquired “pet”.

Furuta was subjected to physical torture as well as mental. Miyoshi, known to have several Yakuza connections, would frequently invite other Yakuza to the house and allow them to take turns at the 16-year-old Furuta. She was frequently urinated on, beaten, humiliated and penetrated in both vagina and anus.

Apart from the horrible sexual assault, she was regularly beaten up, with dumbells being dropped on her stomach. She got sodomized by different objects such as scissors, metal bars, skewers etc. Moreover, she had fireworks inserted in her anus and lit, causing extreme burn damage, as well as having a lit lightbulb inserted in her vagina which exploded after being roughly handled.

She was rarely fed actual food, and water was a commodity she rarely had the occasion to enjoy. She was regularly fed cockroaches and forcefully drank her own urine, further destroying her sanity. Eventually, the boy’s torture measures grew even more sadical as they started mutilating the poor girl’s body. They cut-off Furuta’s left nipple, kept her in a cooler for hours, and burned her eyelids off with wax. Finally, on January 4th 1989, after being set on fire, Furuta Junko gave in to her injuries and perished.

Upon Furuta’s death, Miyoshi and the other boys wrapped her deceased body up in blankets and tossed it inside an oil drum, followed by a concrete mix. Then, they carried the drum to what today is known as Wakase Park and left it there.

Aftermath

After the murder, Miyano and Jo Ogura were arrested due to another rape case. During the investigation, police found leads that traced back to them on the Furuta murder. Eventually, Miyano Hiroshi revealed the location where the girl’s body was and then confessed to the murder of Furuta Junko. Along with him, the rest of the members of the group confessed too.

The sentences were handled differently. Shinji Minato was sentenced between 5 and 9 years, Yasushi Watanabe between 5 and 7 years, Jo Ogura between 5 and 10 years and Miyano Miyoshi, with the highest sentence of them all, to 20 years of prison.

Futua Junko’s story stands the test of time as it is still remembered today as one of the most horrible Murders in the history of modern Japan.

Sources:

https://japaninsides.com/44-days-of-hell-the-story-of-junko-furuta/

https://www.tokyoreporter.com/japan-news/special-reports/junko-furuta-killer-again-on-trial-chaos-in-the-courtroom/

https://www.thetealmango.com/featured/junko-furuta-case/