HIGH-GRADE PAINTERS OR ROBBERS?

A wierd crime occurred on January 26, 1948. At the moment, a person who claimed to be an infectious illness specialist (epidemiologist) got here to a department of Teikoku Financial institution in Tokyo. At the moment, Japan was nonetheless occupied by america after World Conflict II and this man admitted that he was appointed by the US authorities to immunize the financial institution’s employees as safety towards the dysentery epidemic that had simply unfold. He then supplied the 16 financial institution employees with capsules and some drops of liquid. However who would have thought, the liquid truly contained cyanide which instantly made the employees limp unconscious. As quickly because the plan labored, the mysterious man instantly stole round 160,000 yen (about 28 million rupiah on the time). Tragically, about 10 of the financial institution’s employees ended up dying from the poison they did not even know they drank. The bloody theft incident turned generally known as the Teikoku Incident, after the financial institution the place the crime happened.

Tragically, this occasion will result in the destiny of a painter named Sadamichi Hirasawa who’s accused of being the offender, though many suspect that the person is definitely harmless.

Pricey readers, that is the case of Sadamichi Hirasawa, one of many strangest felony instances that has ever haunted the historical past of Japan.

The identification of the Teikoku Financial institution robber remains to be shrouded in thriller. The unusual factor is, truly there’s nonetheless some huge cash within the financial institution, however not all of it was taken by the criminals. Solely about 28 million rupiah was taken, which, though loads, was clearly not well worth the loss of life of the ten victims. This led the police to suspect that there was an ulterior motive within the theft.

The police wasted no time in pursuing the offender. From their investigation, revealed a shocking indisputable fact that this occasion is definitely the third time this has occurred. The identical modus operandi, specifically poisoning the financial institution employees to then steal the contents of the financial institution, has occurred earlier than with virtually comparable instances. And on the three crime scenes, the perpetrator left the identical piece of proof, specifically a enterprise card. Throughout one of many robberies, the perpetrator gave a enterprise card “Jiro Yamaguchi” which upon investigation turned out to be a faux identify. However on one other event, the perpetrator gave one other card named “Shigeru Matsui”. After investigation, this identify actually exists and is a member of the well being division, as claimed by the robber when launching his motion.

After all the police investigation ended within the Shigeru. Nevertheless, after additional investigation, Shigeru turned out to have a powerful alibi, so the police suspected that somebody had misused the enterprise card. Fortunately, the tradition of giving enterprise playing cards in Japan is just not arbitrary. At the moment, you’ll be able to think about that there have been no cell phones, not to mention e-mails, so entrepreneurs at the moment exchanged private data utilizing enterprise playing cards. Giving a enterprise card is just not arbitrary, however it’s recorded in order that the proprietor normally is aware of who he gave the enterprise card to. Due to this detailed customized, the police bought data that Shigeru had printed about 100 enterprise playing cards. Of the 100 enterprise playing cards, about 8 are nonetheless owned by Shigeru, the unique proprietor. The police instantly hunted down the remainder, specifically the 92 homeowners of the enterprise playing cards. Round 70 playing cards have been examined, whereas the remainder (22 playing cards) have been deemed irrelevant (maybe as a result of from the outcomes of the investigation, it was inconceivable for them to be the offender). Of the 70 playing cards, 62 of their homeowners have been cleared of suspicion (maybe as a result of that they had alibis and many others.) whereas the remaining 8 have been dropped at the eye of the police. Of the 8 names, just one perpetrator is taken into account to match the profile of the robber and assassin.

The person was a painter named Sadamichi Hirasawa.

Teikoku Financial institution which is the positioning of a mysterious cyanide incident that’s nonetheless unsolved

There have been varied the reason why the police at the moment concluded that Sadamichi was the offender. At first he was unable to indicate the enterprise card Shigeru had given him. After all, if it was true that he was not the offender, he would nonetheless have stored the enterprise card, as a result of the perpetrator had already given his enterprise card and left it on the crime scene. However sadly, Sadamichi admitted that he had simply been pickpocketed so he misplaced the enterprise card. The second purpose, the police discovered the sum of money that had simply been robbed in Sadamichi’s checking account. However possibly it is only a coincidence proper? Sadly the third purpose is Sadamichi’s personal alibi. At the moment, Sadamichi was caught close to the crime scene when the crime happened.

The police’s suspicion of Sadamichi is heightened when Sadamichi’s previous is revealed. Sadamichi’s occupation as a painter turned out to be much less profitable, so he admitted to having monetary difficulties. This led to 4 fraudulent acts in Sadamichi’s previous, all of which concerned a financial institution. As well as, Sadamichi additionally refused to elucidate the origin of the cash in Sadamichi’s account at the moment, whose nominal (whether or not coincidentally or not) was the identical because the nominal sum of money stolen from the financial institution.

These 4 causes have been apparently sufficient for the police to place Sadamichi in jail. Even in jail, Sadamichi had admitted that he was the offender. However this confession mustn’t essentially be accepted as a result of Sadamichi suffers from a illness referred to as “Korsakoff’s syndrome” which causes him to have reminiscence issues or reminiscence. Even then, the police have been nonetheless allowed to torture detainees to get them to admit (a regulation that was lastly abolished a yr later, in 1949), so it’s clear that Sadamichi’s confession at the moment may have come from torture.

Due to this fact, despite the fact that the police had arrested Sadamichi and he was additionally sentenced to loss of life (as a result of the perpetrator’s crime was not solely robbing, however murdering), the Japanese Supreme Courtroom at the moment refused to cross the sentence, due to varied inequalities that made the case thought-about flawed.

Sadly, this discrepancy (the court docket sentenced him to guilt and sentenced him to loss of life with the Supreme Courtroom refusing to cross the loss of life penalty as a result of he thought-about him harmless) lasted as much as 32 years! Because of this, Sadamichi spent 32 years in jail for acts he may not have dedicated, till he lastly died in jail in 1987.

At the moment, the proof towards Sadamichi was solely restricted to prejudice. Certainly, two survivors who have been on the financial institution at the moment agreed to the police’s query to establish whether or not Sadamichi was actually the perpetrator they noticed on the financial institution. However keep in mind, there have been solely 2 who gave optimistic identification, whereas there have been dozens of people that have been on the crime scene at the moment. In reality, Sadamichi is under no circumstances just like the sketches of the perpetrators that have been distributed by the police based mostly on the statements of eyewitnesses!

The perpetrator’s sketch

After all, this makes many artists who really feel sympathy for Sadamichi strive desperately to defend him. A author named Seicho Matsumoto wrote the books “A Story of the Teikoku Financial institution Incident” in 1959 and “The Black Fog of Japan” in 1960 by which he drew the shocking conclusion that the offender got here from Unit 731. What’s Unit 731? Unit 731 was one of many Japanese military models in World Conflict II whose job was to deploy chemical and organic weapons to win the battle. It isn’t inconceivable, the poison that was obtained by the perpetrator was the experimental residue of the Japanese military unit which was recognized to be merciless. Kei Kuma, a filmmaker, additionally protested the conviction skilled by Sadamichi by means of his movie work entitled “The Lengthy Demise” in 1964.

Seicho, the novelist, additionally suspects that the explanation Sadamichi doesn’t need to reveal the origin of the cash he has in his checking account (which is both coincidentally or not the identical quantity as the quantity stolen) is as a result of the cash is the results of his efforts to color pornographic comics. At the moment, maybe due to the financial difficulties he was experiencing, the painter was prepared to simply accept a job to make pornographic comics. As a result of at the moment pornography was thought-about a taboo topic in Japan, if it have been true, if it have been uncovered, it will undermine Sadamichi’s repute as an artist and produce him nice disgrace. Due to this fact, Sadamichi prefers to be imprisoned than the shame of manufacturing pornographic works is found. That is actually completely different from the present situation of Japan, which is now spawning many superstars… ah, overlook it.

One other protection emerged, this time from the college which investigated the loss of life of the financial institution employees after being given capsules and liquid containing cyanide. The police suspect that Sadamichi obtained the poison within the type of potassium cyanide, which is offered over-the-counter. However scientists should not certain about this accusation, however they think that the poison comes from “acetone cyanohydrin” whose poisoning signs are extra just like the signs skilled by the victims. Nicely, whether it is true that the poison used is certainly a second sort of poison, it is going to be very troublesome for Sadamichi to acquire it, as a result of the poison can solely be obtained on the army headquarters. This additionally reinforces the opinion that the perpetrator is from the (or former) army who had entry to chemical weapons that had been utilized in World Conflict II. Sadly the protection of his fellow artwork staff was ignored by the police till lastly Sadamichi continued to languish in jail.

The mistrust of the declare that Sadamichi was the perpetrator was even shared by worldwide events. On April 30, 1987, Amnesty Worldwide in London, England, petitioned the Japanese authorities to instantly launch Sadamichi. However sadly, the ill-fated painter out of the blue died the next month.

Even after Sadamichi’s loss of life, his household continued to attempt to clear the painter’s identify. Sadamichi’s adopted son, Takehiko Hirasawa, then collects proof that may be certain that his father is harmless. He has even gathered legal professionals to defend his late father. Sadly, earlier than the trial may resume, Takehiko out of the blue died on the age of 54 years. Nevertheless, the Tokyo Excessive Courtroom nonetheless welcomes Sadamichi’s different heirs who want to reopen the case.

Till now, the Sadamichi case remains to be shrouded in a thick fog of thriller. And much more scary, the true offender of the Teikoku Incident has but to be discovered. Lastly, the case that has fascinated the general public, not solely Japan but additionally the worldwide group, was talked about in one of many plots of the James Bond novel, “You Solely Dwell Twice” in 1964. However when the reality might be revealed, solely time will inform.

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