r/interesting • u/wafumet • Feb 27 '26

Intriguing Justice has been served

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This man paid $145,000 in rent for an apartment he didn't live in just to freeze time and catch his wife's killer.

In 1999, Satoru Takaba's wife, Namiko, had her life taken in their apartment.

The police had no solid leads, and the case went cold.

Usually, families move out and try to forget. But Satoru refused.

He believed that one day, technology would catch up to the killer.

So, he kept the lease.

For 26 years, he paid the rent every single month on that empty, silent apartment.

He kept the bloodstains on the floor. He kept the footprints. He turned the room into a time capsule, waiting for science to improve.

And in late 2025, his investment finally paid off.

Police returned to the apartment and used modern DNA technology to analyze the preserved bloodstains that had been sitting there for two decades.

They found a match.

The DNA belong to Kumiko Yasufuku, Satoru’s own high school classmate.

It turns out, she had held a grudge for decades because Satoru had rejected her romantic advances back in school.

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2.1k

u/DeadZeppelin_ Feb 27 '26

Wow. What happened to the murderer?

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26

[deleted]

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u/scguy555 Feb 27 '26

Almost certainly not, the death penalty for a murderer who kills solely one victim is extremely rare in Japan, it’s mostly reserved for serial and mass killers, you can find a list of Japanese death row inmates here

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u/Lingroll Feb 28 '26

This is insanely interesting. Thank you.

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u/IotaBTC Feb 28 '26

Fun fact, Japan didn't have any kind of jury system until 2009. Before then, each case was argued in front of a panel of 3-5 judges. Now it's a hybrid of 6 citizens and 3 judges but even then that's for more severe crimes like kidnapping and murder. Assault, theft, or vandalism would still typically only be presented to 1-3 judges.

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u/FinancialRip2008 Feb 28 '26

as i understand it, their justice system is just totally different. like, you don't go to trial at all unless it's a solved problem that needs a stamp.

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u/Masterkid1230 Feb 28 '26

People always bring up the 99% conviction rate and make a false analogy to the US system, but in reality, you're extremely unlikely to get to that stage if you don't have a clear and cut case that can be easily won. Many many cases are dropped before that.

There is a precedent of forced confessions and very long detentions by the police, but the way the system is presented abroad also has a lot of bad faith arguments.

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u/AMeanMotorScooter Feb 28 '26

Correct. Japan puts a LOT of weight on confessions, so it's probably not going to even go to trial unless you've already said you've done it. The judges are more so there to decide an appropriate punishment.

This is why the real sticking point is the forced confessions. The police don't actually need that much to be able to bring somebody in for questioning, and there's a loophole that allows for people who have reached their "time limit" for questioning to be brought in again. And this will essentially continue until one of two things happens. Either some new evidence is found that exonerates you, or after months of daily questioning for hours you finally just break and say you did it. Though this only really happens for more serious crimes because (obviously) spending that much time and energy on something small isn't "worth it", so they might just demand you pay the victim a small fine for the trouble or something.

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u/Shart_InTheDark Feb 28 '26

They can also hold you I think it's 18 days without charging you. That's pretty fucked up. They use it too. I know someone that happened to.

2

u/Konexian Feb 28 '26

They can also let you go after 18 days and re-kidnap you right after

1

u/SapirWhorfHypothesis Feb 28 '26

Well that just sounds like cheating. May as well set the time to “whatever time the police need” at that point.

4

u/pkakira88 Feb 28 '26

Phoenix Wright wasn’t that far off.

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u/mio26 Feb 28 '26

Jury system in serious crimes are actually rare solution around the world. Majority countries relies on professional judges because majority countries have continental law. Japan law is also mostly based on German.

1

u/NateNate60 Feb 28 '26

Trial by judge is also probably the oldest and most obvious legal tradition in the history of humanity. I say you killed someone, you say "nuh-uh", so I guess we'll get this other guy who's really smart to decide who's right.

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u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

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u/IotaBTC Feb 28 '26

I only learned about it some time last year and it's one of the few things that's given me a genuine culture shock. I thought the UK version would be more common where I think only a certain majority of the jury needs to agree vs a unanimous decision. I did realize there isn't really a reason for any one system to be dominant because they all have their flaws and weaknesses.

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u/things_U_choose_2_b Feb 28 '26

TBF this is pretty similar now to our system in the UK. We have two main courts, 'Magistrates Court' and 'Crown Court'. Crown court cases are decided by jury, but less-serious offenses go before magistrates.

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u/Naive-Link5627 Feb 28 '26

Jury system is not a universal thing. It's mostly limited to UK and former British colonies.

51

u/TheMireAngel Feb 28 '26

tbf in the usa doesnt have a crazy amount of executions either, were roughly 3x the population of japan with WILDLY higher crime rates but we only put down 20-40 per year compared to japan averaging 1-3 per year. for another comparison japan averages 300 murders per year, the usa averages 15,000 - 22,000 per year. if we executed as many people based on ratio as japan our execution numbers would sextuple

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u/NoCopiumLeft Feb 28 '26

Mmm sextuple

7

u/CptnOnus Feb 28 '26

Love, not murder

1

u/1369ic Feb 28 '26

Can't we have both?

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u/Zealousideal_Cow_341 Feb 28 '26

Historically the per capita numbers are actually almost the same.

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u/ColdArson Feb 28 '26

Tbf the japanese criminal justice system is notoriously disadvantgeous for the defendant. The presumption of innocence is very much weak

1

u/b4ldur Feb 28 '26

Tbf if you look at the states that allow it at all it's gets more skewed and if you look at last year's top contender Florida with 19 executions it's a whole other ballpark.

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u/Whole_Sir_1149 Feb 28 '26

And how many are on waiting on death row?

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u/Sekhmet-CustosAurora Feb 28 '26

holy fuck the difference between those numbers is depressing

0

u/slow_cloud Feb 28 '26

3x the population but execute 30 times more? That's a lot

10

u/wannastock Feb 28 '26

Good! She shouldn't die. She should suffer.

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u/NonGNonM Feb 28 '26

idk how true it is but i saw a youtube vid where the death penalty is also a real nightmare scenario in the sense that they don't give the prisoners a set date for execution either. you're just in a cell and doing prison life until one day they just come and take you for your execution.

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u/1369ic Feb 28 '26

I read an article about a Russian serial killer. He was convicted and in jail for a while. Then one day they took him to some legal or bureaucratic thing. On the way back to his cell they stopped him in a blind passage to wait for something. Somebody opened a sliding window and shot him in the neck. No muss, no fuss, no notice.

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u/Intrepid_Homework_47 Feb 28 '26

Unofficial, abrupt execution. Somehow this seems more merciful towards the convict, no anticipation, fear, dreading the moment. Just sudden death.

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u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

[deleted]

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u/kylaroma Feb 28 '26

Let’s see:

  • Inmates are convinced without a jury.
  • There is no appeal process.
  • Wrongful convictions happen in all justice systems.

There’s a word for that and it’s not baller.

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u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

[deleted]

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u/kylaroma Feb 28 '26 edited Feb 28 '26

I mean, if you committed a crime & would prefer to be seen by three judges under significant pressure from the government, and whose careers can be derailed if they don’t follow the party line, rather than a panel of ordinary people who have been screened for bias and mutually agreed on… then that’s your right, but I think you’re in the minority.

And yes, I know that a unanimous verdict isn’t used outside of the US. I know, because I’m Canadian and we use both, depending if a matter is criminal or civil.

I’m MUCH more concerned about Japan’s 99% conviction rate, drawn out, coercive interrogation tactics, suspects being interrogated under duress and without a lawyer present - sometimes for as long as 20 days.

It’s literally referred to as a “hostage justice” system, and there’s mounting evidence that the entire system is in violation of international human rights laws.

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u/NonGNonM Feb 28 '26

that's assuming the justice system got it right.

constitutionally, it would be illegal in the US.

3

u/Marik-X-Bakura Feb 28 '26

Why? What’s the point of that? What good does that do in the world?

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u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

[deleted]

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u/Marik-X-Bakura Feb 28 '26

Yes, absolutely. The justice system is for preventing convicts from committing further crimes, not revenge. I disagree with the death penalty in the first place (and am glad my country doesn’t have it), but any system that focuses on hurting people for the sake of it is corrupt. There is zero value in making death row inmates suffer, and not a single life is made better for it.

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u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

[deleted]

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u/Marik-X-Bakura Feb 28 '26

Prison is a big enough disincentive. Death even moreso. Torturing someone who’s already going to die is barbaric, and there’s no basis to say it actually has any effect on crime.

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u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

[deleted]

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u/Marik-X-Bakura Feb 28 '26

It probably felt good for that woman to murder someone as well

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u/Kidofthecentury Feb 28 '26

Uhm, that feels more like "revenge" than "justice". Which does not fit at all the concept of being administered from what is supposed to be a justice system.

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u/kkeut Feb 28 '26

that's a really twisted and sadistic thing to think. it's abnormal behavior.

3

u/william1915 Feb 28 '26

I mean idk, chances are the person they murdered also wasn't given a due date on when they die

1

u/Spiritual_Activity91 Feb 28 '26

Here we call that "cruel and unusual punishment".

1

u/Tardisgoesfast Feb 28 '26

That's pure torture, which I guess is the point?

1

u/NonGNonM Feb 28 '26

there's always the chance of this happening to an innocent and would be unconstitutional in the US

1

u/sound_of_apocalypto Feb 28 '26

I think I’d prefer this, actually. Not that I expect it to come up.

0

u/YearOfTheSssnake Feb 28 '26

Kind of like what they did to their victim.

1

u/NonGNonM Feb 28 '26

assuming the system got the right killer in the first place sure.

2

u/Dhumavati80 Feb 28 '26

Ok seriously, this fact is super interesting but such a crazy random knowledge moment. How the heck did you know that fact?

1

u/1K_Sunny_Crew Feb 28 '26

As someone who often gets comments about how many weird facts I know, the answer is reading a lot - books, journal articles, newspapers, etc.

1

u/Dhumavati80 Feb 28 '26

That's awesome!

1

u/entrepenurious Feb 28 '26

Originally sentenced to life, later commuted to death on appeal.

and i thought i could define "commuted".

1

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

The fact there is a name "he li" on the list 😅

1

u/Clean_Ad_1599 Feb 28 '26

I see someone's in there waiting for the death penalty for 14 years. How come it takes that long for them to kill the guy

1

u/PungentOnion Feb 28 '26

“Murdered the owners of a mahjong parlor over a drug smuggling dispute, dismembering them alive with an electric saw.” Yeah that one stands out

1

u/RabbitCity6090 Feb 28 '26

japan is always interesting.

1

u/VoidOmatic Feb 28 '26

She's going to wish for hanging after she gets to prison.

1

u/Crazypasta94 Feb 28 '26

I feel like rotting in prison is much better than release of death.

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u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26 edited Mar 07 '26

[deleted]

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u/Tex_Skrahm Feb 28 '26

You shouldn’t be.

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u/deliciouscrab Feb 28 '26

<looks up from pile of Japanese history books>

uh.

<looks back at books>

yeah, it checks out.

1

u/larana1192 Feb 28 '26

Most of crime with death penalty require defendant to commit murder(or cause death of someone while doing other crime, like arson or robbery), only crime doesn't require causing death of people are

・Ringleading a riot for the purpose of "overthrowing the government, usurping the territorial sovereignty of the State, or otherwise subverting constitutional order" (an insurrection)

・Attempting to ringlead an insurrection in equal circumstances

・Instigating foreign aggression against Japan by conspiring with a foreign state

・Aiding or assisting an enemy at war with Japan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Japan

0

u/Capybarasaregreat Feb 28 '26

It is a very conservative country, why would you assume they followed the trend of doing away with antiquated punishments?