Issue 37 (February 2012, Volume 7, Number 1)

In this issue we focus on crime and the legal system in Japan.

Richard Lloyd Parry, author of the acclaimed People Who Eat Darkness, gives us an interview about his new book looking at the life and death of Lucie Blackman. Lucie went missing in Tokyo on 1st July 2000, and months later her body was discovered, dismembered and buried in a coastal cave in Kanagawa. Parry’s book comprehensively examines the whole case from various angles and perspectives. The investigation into Lucie’s disappearance led several women to come forward about sexual assaults the Japanese police failed to investigate, and these and other clues would eventually led to Joji Obara. The police discovered large amounts of evidence in Obara’s flat, videos of sexual assaults on countless unconscious girls in his bedroom as well as the last known photos of Lucie. Despite the overwhelming mountain of evidence against him, Obara would never admit any guilt and without a confession the Japanese system does not function well. In October 2000 he was arrested, his trial continued until April 2007, when he was found guilty on multiple rape charges and a manslaughter charge for the death of another women ten years previously. Finally in December 2008, after a successful appeal, he was found guilty for the abduction of Lucie, the dismemberment and disposal of her body, but not for her murder. Richard Lloyd Parry analyzes the case which exposes shortcomings in both the police investigation and the legal system.

Next Susan Meehan looks at the powerful movie I Just Didn’t Do It which is a damning indictment of the Japanese legal system written and directed by Masayuki Suo. The narrative revolves around the twenty-six year old Teppei Kaneko, who while travelling to a job interview, is wrongly accused of molesting a young girl on a train.

Jack Cooke looks at Seicho Matsumoto’s Pro Bono which centres on Kiriko, a young woman whose brother is falsely accused of murder. She fails to persuade a leading lawyer to take on her brother’s case partly because she cannot afford his services and the consequences of this are played out in the novel.

In our final book, The Devil’s Whisper by Miyuki Miyabe, Michael Sullivan explores a complex murder mystery. Mamoru Kusaka’s life is turned upside down when his taxi driver uncle is arrested under suspicion of running a red light and killing a young female pedestrian. Mamoru decides to investigate this accident himself and in the process finds out that this was no ordinary accident.

Editor
Sean Curtin
Managing Editor
Jack Cooke

Reviewers
Michael Sullivan, Susan Meehan and Jack Cooke

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