The Otaku Killer

Japanese Serial Killer: Miyazaki Tsutomu is known as "The Otaku Killer"

Free 1988 until June of 1989, quiet Saitama Prefecture in Japan was rocked to its core by four horrible murders. All of the preys were young girls, none were older than seven, all were killed horribly, and all were murdered by a nice young man named Miyazaki Tsutomu.

Miyazaki was born to a wealthy family, where, by all rumors, he always felt alienated. A constant underachiever, he assaulted both his mother and his elder sister many times, and after the end of his grandfather, the only person he thought understood him, he became even more worried.

According to a family statement, he ate part of his grandfather’s ashes, attempting to protect something of his dear relative inside himself. As time went on, however, Miyazaki’s desires, fueled by child pornography and privacy, boiled to the surface.

During his case, Miyazaki expressed that an alter ego called “Rat Man” caused him to chase young girls and murder them. He spoke about this picture, even drew it, but whatever led Miyazaki to commit his terrible crimes still opposes reason today.

His first prey was 4-year-old Konno Mari, who he attracted into his car. After murdering her, he sexually violated her corpse, and, after allowing it to decompose for a quick time, he burned her bones in his furnace. He kept back her hands and her feet, but he delivered the rest of her body to her family with a chilling postcard that read “Mari. Cremated. Bones. Investigate.”

The second target was 7-year-old Yoshizawa Masami, who was murdered in the same spot and in an exact way. Miyazaki carried her clothes with him as a prize.

Namba Erika was his third target, who was 4-years-old and urged into Miyazaki’s car. He took photographs of her while she was alive before murdering her and throwing away her corpse, though he also took her clothing with him. Erika’s family received a postcard pasted with messages cut out of newspapers, and they read “Erika. Cold. Cough. Throat. Death.”

Miyazaki’s fourth and last prey was 5-year-old Nomoto Ayako. This time, after murdering the little girl, Miyazaki took her corpse residence with him, using it sexually, recording it, and taking photographs of it. Finally, Miyazaki dismembered Ayako’s corpse. 

The body was thrown away in a graveyard, and the skull some miles distant. He saved the hands, chewing part of them. A few weeks later, worrying discovery, he took both head and corpse back to his residence, where he kept them in his cabinet.

Miyazaki was arrested when he tries to kidnap another little girl who was interrupted by the girl’s father. He escaped, but when he returned to save his car, he was caught.

A search of his home leads to the finding of human remains, tapes, photography, and clothes referring to the victims. It was also found that Miyazaki had a huge packet of animated movies, child pornography, and slasher films, which directed to the press calling him the Otaku Killer. In Japan, the word otaku means somebody so obsessed with animated films and funny books that he becomes divorced from reality and society.

Throughout his arrest, prosecution, and eventual execution by hanging, Miyazaki stayed quiet and indifferent. Even after his sentencing, he wrote to an editor about the killings and declared, “There’s nothing much to tell about them. I’m glad to think I performed a good deed.” After his father committed suicide over his son’s action, Miyazaki expressed that he ‘felt refreshed.’

After twenty years of legal disagreement, Miyazaki was eventually executed by hanging. Just before he died in 2008, court-appointed psychologist Hasegawa Hirokazu revealed Miyazaki’s last words to him.

“Please inform the nation that I’m a gentleman.”