Do you know about the murder of Junko Furuta? One of the worst cases in Japan, where a young girl suffered months of torture and was ultimately killed? In this article, we will cover everything about this case, from the victim, the criminals, the authors, the media with its animes and mangas, and much more.
We do not recommend this article for sensitive individuals; the story presented in this text is quite brutal and horrific. Junko Furuta, a 17-year-old girl, was raped, tortured, massacred, and buried in concrete over a period of 44 days.
Junko Furuta was a Japanese student who endured months of unimaginable torture at the hands of her classmates before dying on January 4, 1989. After she rejected the school bully, Hiroshi Miyano, she was taken by four boys to the home of one of the kidnappers, Nobaharu Minato. In total, more than 100 people knew about her kidnapping; none did anything to help, and several participated in the torture.
Remember that this is not the only case in Japan. We recommend opening in a new tab our article about: The famous Serial Killers of Japan.
Table of Contents
Who was Junko Furuta?
In 1988, Junko Furuta, 17, completed her last year before graduating from Yashio South High School, following a common habit. At school, the girl was considered intelligent, beautiful, and shy. Despite her popularity, she never attended parties organized by classmates and friends. She did not drink or use drugs – unlike most other students. Her daily routine consisted of going to school and heading straight to her part-time waitressing job from there.
Furuta was born in Misato, Saitama Prefecture. She lived with her parents, her older brother, and her younger brother.
As a teenager, she attended Yashio-Minami High School and worked part-time at a plastic molding factory during after-school hours since October 1988. She did this to save money for a graduation trip she had planned.
She was a popular girl with beautiful features and dreamed of becoming a Idol singer. On the night she was kidnapped, Furuta was eager to get home to watch the final episode of the TV show Tonbo.
The Kidnapping of Junko Furuta
Miyano Hiroshi and his 16-year-old friend, Shinji Minato, went out to a local park nearby, where women were sexually assaulted. The duo were experienced rapists known for having a sharp eye for spotting easy targets.
It was at 8:30 AM that day in 1988 that the two found Junko Furuta riding her bicycle on the road to work. The plan was quickly devised: Shinji knocked the girl down by kicking her as he passed her bicycle and created an opportunity for Hiroshi, who pretended to reprimand his friend’s behavior and helped Junko get up. He immediately offered to accompany her to work, which she ended up accepting.
On the way, Hiroshi threatened to kill her if she did not follow him quietly. They arrived at an abandoned warehouse where the boy raped her while terrorizing her with the promise of death. From there, he took her to Shinji’s house and invited Jō Ogura, 17, and Yasushi Watanabe to partake in all the horror.
The Torture of Junko Furuta
Nothing compares to the level of bestiality that Junko Furuta suffered during the 44 days she was held in that filthy room. After repeated sodomies and sexual violence until she bled, she was hung naked from the ceiling by her wrists and used as a punching bag by the boys.
They gagged her, beat her with dumbbells, burned her with cigarettes and candles, inserted light bulbs, scissors, iron bars, and even set off fireworks in her vagina and anus, causing severe burns and ruptured internal organs. Hiroshi even invited friends and other members of the Yakuza to participate in the atrocities.
Police Investigation
On November 27, Furuta’s parents contacted the police about her disappearance. To discourage a more in-depth investigation, the kidnappers forced her to call her mother to convince her that she had run away but was safe and staying with some friends.
They also forced Junko Furuta to interrupt the police investigation. When Minato’s parents were present, Furuta was forced to act as his girlfriend. Hiroshi Minato’s parents eventually did not get involved for fear of their increasingly violent son.
Escape Attempt and Gang Rape
On the night of November 28, Furuta attempted to escape, screaming in fear upon seeing several boys. Miyano grabbed her legs, placed a pillow over her face. The parents were awakened and went to check on the scream, but the son said it was nothing, and the rape began.
From time to time, she was raped by 12 men in a single day. According to the group’s statements, the four shaved her pubic hair, forced her to dance naked and masturbate in front of them, and left her on the balcony in the middle of the night with little clothing.
They inserted objects into her vagina and anus, including a lit match, a metal rod, and a bottle, and force-fed her large amounts of alcohol, milk, and water.
She was also forced to smoke several cigarettes at once and inhale paint thinner. In one incident, Miyano repeatedly burned Furuta’s legs and arms with lighter fluid.
Malnutrition and Injuries
By the end of December, Furuta was severely malnourished after being fed only small amounts of food and eventually just milk.
Due to her severe injuries and infected burns, she became unable to use the bathroom and was confined to the floor of Minato’s room in a state of extreme weakness.
Furuta’s appearance was drastically altered due to the brutality of the attacks. Her face was so swollen that it was difficult to understand her features.
Her body was also severely disfigured, emitting a foul smell that caused the four boys to lose sexual interest in her.
As a result, the boys kidnapped and raped another 19-year-old woman who, like Furuta, was on her way home from work.
The Death of Junko Furuta
On January 4, 1989, after losing a game of mahjong to someone the night before, Miyano decided to take out his anger on Furuta by pouring lighter fluid on her body and setting her on fire.
Furuta reportedly tried to put out the fire but gradually stopped responding. They continued to punch her, lit a candle, and dripped hot wax on her face, placed two short candles on her eyelids, and forced her to drink her own urine. After being kicked, she fell, collapsed, and had seizures.
She was bleeding profusely, and pus was oozing from her infected burns; the four boys covered their hands with plastic bags. They continued to beat her and threw an iron exercise ball at her stomach several times. The attack reportedly lasted two hours. Furuta eventually succumbed to her injuries and died.
Less than 24 hours after her death, fearing being penalized for the murder, the group wrapped Junko Furuta’s body in blankets and placed it in a suitcase. They then threw her body into a 210-liter drum and filled it with wet concrete.
Hiroshi Miyano even placed a tape with the last episode of Tonbo next to Junko Furuta’s body, claiming to be afraid she would come back to haunt him.
Torture – The Worst Death in History
The case of Junko Furuta is considered the Worst death in History for the following reasons:
Rape – Junko was raped more than 500 times in 44 days. Many of these rapes were gang rapes, in which friends of the four boys were invited to participate and humiliate her. At one point, more than 100 different men were involved in the rapes.
For most of her captivity, she was naked and forced to masturbate in front of her captors. Some boys urinated on her, and she was forced to drink her own urine.
Cut in the vagina – Strange objects such as iron bars, scissors, needles, wires, light bulbs, fireworks, cigarettes, and lighters were forcibly inserted into her vagina and anus, causing severe burns and injuries. Additionally, she was forcibly pierced in the breast with a sewing needle and had one of her nipples torn off.
Beating – She was regularly beaten, sometimes tied up like a human punching bag. The boys punished her with sticks and bamboo rods.
Frozen – After begging to die, she was locked up overnight (remember it was winter) and later locked in a refrigerator.
Burned – This is believed to be the final cause of her death. She was severely burned by the lighter and fireworks mentioned above. When she tried to call the police, she was soaked with lighter fluid, and her body caught fire. She somehow survived, but was killed by another body on her 40th day of captivity.
The boys reportedly threw dumbbells and an iron exercise ball at her stomach, partly responsible for the loss of bladder control and damage to her genitals.
We also have a video in Portuguese on the subject:
Hiroshi Miyano – The Demon
Hiroshi Miyano, the leader of the crime, had a history of problematic behavior since elementary school, such as shoplifting and vandalism of school property.
In April 1986, he enrolled in a private school in Tokyo but soon dropped out. After that, he continued to commit various crimes that escalated over time.
Shortly before Junko’s crime, he was living with his girlfriend, the older sister of Yasushi Watanabe, and intended to marry her, but dissatisfied with his pay as a tiler, Miyano got involved with the Yakuza and sexual crimes, causing the relationship to end.
Hiroshi Miyano became a bully at the same school as Junko; he liked to show off his performance in the Yakuza, having already committed several crimes and raped multiple girls.
At school, he had a crush on the victim Junko Furuta, who rejected his advances in front of the entire class, thus provoking motivations for such a horrific crime.
Hiroshi Miyano was one of the four boys who killed Junko Furuta on January 4, 1989. At the time of the incident, they used the second floor of Minato’s house as a meeting point and had already participated in criminal activities such as robbery, extortion, and rape.
Two weeks after the crime, ironically, Hiroshi accidentally turned himself in to the police regarding Junko Furuta’s death when he was arrested with Jō Ogura for the rape of another girl. Hiroshi realized that the police were investigating Junko’s case and assumed that Ogura had turned him in. This assumption led him to reveal the location of Junko’s body.
Sentences of the Criminals
Hiroshi was sentenced to only 20 years, and the other main criminals received only 5 to 10 years each. Most of them were later detained again for various crimes, including rape and fraud.
The criminals did not receive life imprisonment or death penalty due to their age, making the case even more impactful due to the lack of punishment for someone so horrific.
The main prisoner, Hiroshi, was held at the Juvenile Prison in Kawagoe for a period before being transferred to Chiba Prison. Former life prisoner Ryuichi Kanahara (2009) described Hiroshi as “an intelligent, carefree, and well-behaved man who seems incapable of committing such a brutal crime.”
Hiroshi Miyano, after being released from prison in 2009, changed his name. He began attending a kickboxing gym and often took his juniors to barbecues and cabarets.
He continued to be involved with the Yakuza and still drove a BMW and wore luxury watches. Getting involved in various fraud crimes, he was arrested again in 2013 but was released shortly after.
His personality remains cruel, openly talking about sex, where he said he likes to tie women up with ropes. His whereabouts today are unknown.
Criminals of the Junko Furuta Case
- Hiroshi Miyano [宮野裕史] (Changed his name to Yokoyama Hiroshi);
- Jō Ogura [小倉譲] (Changed his name to Jō Kamisaku);
- Shinji Minato [湊伸治]
- Yasushi Watanabe [渡邊恭史]
- Tetsuo Nakamura [中村哲夫]
- Kōichi Ihara [伊原孝]
Hiroshi Miyano was sentenced to only 20 years of incarceration in a juvenile rehabilitation center, Shinji Minato from five to nine years, and Jō Ogura was eight years. It is believed that the Yakuza was involved at the time.
The impact of the case was so great that it demanded changes in Japan’s penal system, especially regarding young people being tried as adults.
Media about the Junko Furuta Case
The torture and murder of Junko Furuta provoked international outrage, and her case inspired several films and a manga illustrated by Kamata Youji. The most notable film is the Joshikôsei konkuriito-dume satsujin-jiken released in 1995. The film was directed by Katsuya Matsumura and starred Yujin Kitagawa.
Another Japanese film was independently produced in 2004, Concrete, which is also based on the events leading to the murder of Junko Furuta. At least three books have been written by Japanese authors inspired by the case. For some, the story behind the torture and murder of Junko Furuta has been exaggerated, invented, or modified. The fact that the crime happened does not change!
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