Glico Morinaga case
Encyclopedia
The , also known by its official designation , was a famous extortion
case in 1980s Japan
, primarily directed at the Japanese industrial confectioneries
Ezaki Glico
and Morinaga
, and currently remains unsolved. The entire case spanned 17 months from the initial kidnapping of the president of Glico to the last known communication from the prime suspect, a person or group known only as the "The Monster with 21 Faces
." The case captured the Japanese public's imagination and many commentators refer to this incident as a turning point in Japanese society, in which the image of a crime-free and safe Japan was dispelled.
Ezaki's house, the two men had first forced their way into the neighboring home of Ezaki's mother, bound her and took the key to the president's house. Using the key to enter the main house, they then tied up Ezaki's wife and daughter. Believing the two men were ordinary robbers, Ezaki's wife attempted to negotiate with them for their freedom in exchange for money, but was rejected. The two men then cut the telephone lines and stormed the bathroom, where Ezaki and his other two children were hiding. Ezaki panicked and cried for help, but was threatened that he would be killed if he didn't calm down. The two men abducted Ezaki and held him captive in a warehouse.
The next morning, they called the director of the company in Takatsuki city and issued a ransom demand for 1 billion yen and 100 kilograms in gold bullion. However, three days later, on 21 March, Ezaki managed to escape from the warehouse in Ibaraki
city in the Osaka prefecture
.
The home invasion and kidnapping itself was a crime that had never been witnessed in post-war Japan and was considered shocking to many.
and a threatening letter to Glico were found in Ibaraki.
On May 10, Glico began to receive letters from a person or group calling itself "The Monster with 21 Faces" (かい人21面相, kaijin nijūichi mensō) claiming that they had laced their candies with a potassium cyanide
soda. When Glico pulled its products off the shelves at great expense, the "Monster with 21 Faces" threatened to place the tampered products in stores. Meanwhile, the "Monster with 21 Faces" sent letters, written in hiragana
and with an Osaka dialect
, to the police, taunting them, as seen in this excerpt from one of their messages:
"Dear dumb police officers. Don't tell a lie. All crimes begin with a lie as we say in Japan. Don't you know that?" The written challenge was also sent to Koshien police station. "Why don't you keep it to yourself? You seem to be at a loss. So why not let us help you? We'll give you a clue. We entered the factory by the front gate. The typewriter we used is Panwriter. The plastic container used was a piece of street garbage. Monster with 21 faces."
Eventually, the "Monster" stopped contacting Glico and, on June 26, issued a letter saying "We Forgive Glico!". However, the "Monster" then turned its extortion campaign on Morinaga and the food companies Marudai Ham and House Foods
Corporation.
When the white flag was not displayed, the undercover policeman and the "Fox-Eyed Man" (キツネ目の男, kitsune-me no otoko) both disembarked from the train at Kyoto station, and while the investigator waited on a bench, the "Fox-Eyed Man" continued to observe him. The investigator later headed back to Osaka, and the "Fox-Eyed Man" boarded another car in the same train. When the investigator then disembarked at Takatsuki station, the "Fox-Eyed Man" boarded a Kyoto-bound train and another undercover investigator tailed him from Kyoto, but the "Fox-Eyed Man" eventually lost him.
, near Otsu
, investigators saw the Fox-Eyed Man, wearing a golf cap and dark glasses, but again he evaded capture. The cash delivery van they were tailing continued to head toward the drop point, where they were to drop the money in a can under a white piece of cloth. When the delivery van reached the drop point, the white cloth was there but the can was missing. As a result, the investigative team was ordered to withdraw, believing that the drop was an evaluation by the "Monster" of police response.
However, an hour earlier, a patrol car from the local Shiga prefecture
police had spotted a station wagon with its engine running and its headlights off. The station wagon was also sitting less than 50 meters from a white cloth suspended from a fence. Unaware of the secret ransom drop, the police officer drove up to the station wagon and shone his flashlight on the driver, revealing a thin-cheeked man in his forties, wearing a golf cap over his eyes and, more telling, a wireless receiver with headphones. Surprised by the policeman, the driver sped off, with the police car following in pursuit until the station wagon lost him.
The station wagon was later found abandoned near the Kusatsu train station and had been discovered to have been stolen earlier in Nagaokakyo in the Kyoto prefecture
. Inside the abandoned car was a radio transceiver that had been eavesdropping in on radio communications between the police officers of six prefectures, including Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe, the prefectures of the drop point. Also recovered was a vacuum cleaner, although no evidence could be traced back to the "Monster" group.
Following the blackmail campaign on House Foods, the "Monster" then turned its sights on Fujiya in December 1984. In January 1985, police released the facial composite
of the "Fox-Eyed Man" to the public. In August 1985, after the continuing harassment of the "Monster with 21 Faces" and the failure to capture the "Fox-Eyed Man," the police superintendent Yamamoto of the Shiga prefecture killed himself
by self-immolation
.
"Yamamoto of Shiga Prefecture Police died. How stupid of him! We've got no friends or secret hiding place in Shiga. It's Yoshino or Shikata who should have died. What have they been doing for as long as one year and five months? Don't let bad guys like us get away with it. There are many more fools who want to copy us. No-career Yamamoto died like a man. So we decided to give our condolence. We decided to forget about torturing food-making companies. If anyone blackmails any of the food-making companies, it's not us but someone copying us. We are bad guys. That means we've got more to do other than bullying companies. It's fun to lead a bad man's life. Monster with 21 Faces."
Following this message, the Monster with 21 Faces disappeared. In June 1995, the statute of limitations
ran out on the assault and kidnapping of Ezaki, followed by the elapsing of the statute of limitations on the charge of attempted murder for poisoning in February 2000.
. Labelled as Mr. "M" or Material Witness "M," Miyazaki was suspected of issuing a 1976 tape declaring support of a local union
in a labor dispute with Glico that bore similarities to the numerous declarations of the "Monster with 21 Faces." There had been numerous whistleblowing incidents between 1975 and 1976 that were also attributed to Miyazaki, which highlighted Glico's dumping of starches and other industrial waste into the local river and drainage system. Miyazaki was also suspected to have been involved with the resignation of a union leader over accounting irregularities when Glico Ham and Glico Nutritional Foods merged. In addition, his father was the boss of a local Yakuza
group and Miyazaki himself bore a striking resemblance to the "Fox-Eyed Man." Speculation had gone on for months that Miyazaki was the "Fox-Eyed Man," until the Tokyo Metropolitan Police checked his alibis and cleared him of any wrongdoing. The resulting notoriety caused Miyazaki to become a social commentator, and he wrote a book about his experiences called Toppamono.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police also suspect that various Yakuza groups had a hand in the Glico-Morinaga case. The end of the blackmail campaign occurred around the time of the Yama-ichi war
, the mob war between the Yamaguchi-gumi
and the Ichiwa-kai
.
In addition, Japanese National Public Safety Commission
investigated extreme left-wing and right-wing groups as possible suspects.
In 2000, there were rumors in the Japanese media of North Korea
n involvement in the Glico-Morinaga case.
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
case in 1980s Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, primarily directed at the Japanese industrial confectioneries
Confectionery
Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...
Ezaki Glico
Ezaki Glico
is a Japanese confectionery company headquartered in Nishiyodogawa-ku, Osaka.The company manufactures the traditional Glico caramel candy, as well as Pocky and many others. The company name, Glico, is derived from a shortening of the word glycogen. The first candy produced by the company was known...
and Morinaga
Morinaga & Company
is a confectionery company in Tokyo, Japan, in operation since August 15, 1899. Their products include candy and other confectioneries. Morinaga has Ayumi Hamasaki and Mao Asada appear in their commercials....
, and currently remains unsolved. The entire case spanned 17 months from the initial kidnapping of the president of Glico to the last known communication from the prime suspect, a person or group known only as the "The Monster with 21 Faces
The Monster with 21 Faces
The was the name taken from the villain of Edogawa Rampo's detective novels, and used as an alias by the person or group responsible for the blackmail letters of the Glico Morinaga case in Japan...
." The case captured the Japanese public's imagination and many commentators refer to this incident as a turning point in Japanese society, in which the image of a crime-free and safe Japan was dispelled.
The kidnapping
At 9:00pm on 18 March 1984, two masked men wearing caps and armed with a pistol and rifle broke into the home of Katsuhisa Ezaki, the president of Glico. Prior to enteringHome invasion
Home invasion is the act of illegally burgling or entering a private and occupied dwelling for the purpose of committing a crime Home invasion is the act of illegally burgling or entering a private and occupied dwelling for the purpose of committing a crime Home invasion is the act of illegally...
Ezaki's house, the two men had first forced their way into the neighboring home of Ezaki's mother, bound her and took the key to the president's house. Using the key to enter the main house, they then tied up Ezaki's wife and daughter. Believing the two men were ordinary robbers, Ezaki's wife attempted to negotiate with them for their freedom in exchange for money, but was rejected. The two men then cut the telephone lines and stormed the bathroom, where Ezaki and his other two children were hiding. Ezaki panicked and cried for help, but was threatened that he would be killed if he didn't calm down. The two men abducted Ezaki and held him captive in a warehouse.
The next morning, they called the director of the company in Takatsuki city and issued a ransom demand for 1 billion yen and 100 kilograms in gold bullion. However, three days later, on 21 March, Ezaki managed to escape from the warehouse in Ibaraki
Ibaraki, Osaka
is a city located in Osaka, Japan. It is a suburban city of Osaka city and a part of Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area. Literally Ibaraki in English means Wild Trees or Thorny trees....
city in the Osaka prefecture
Osaka Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the Kansai region on Honshū, the main island of Japan. The capital is the city of Osaka. It is the center of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area.- History :...
.
The home invasion and kidnapping itself was a crime that had never been witnessed in post-war Japan and was considered shocking to many.
The Glico blackmailing
The extortion attempts against Glico did not end with the escape of Ezaki. On April 10, vehicles in the parking lot of the Ezaki Glico headquarters' trial production building were set on fire. Then, on April 16, a plastic container containing hydrochloric acidHydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid is a solution of hydrogen chloride in water, that is a highly corrosive, strong mineral acid with many industrial uses. It is found naturally in gastric acid....
and a threatening letter to Glico were found in Ibaraki.
On May 10, Glico began to receive letters from a person or group calling itself "The Monster with 21 Faces" (かい人21面相, kaijin nijūichi mensō) claiming that they had laced their candies with a potassium cyanide
Potassium cyanide
Potassium cyanide is an inorganic compound with the formula KCN. This colorless crystalline compound, similar in appearance to sugar, is highly soluble in water. Most KCN is used in gold mining, organic synthesis, and electroplating. Smaller applications include jewelry for chemical gilding and...
soda. When Glico pulled its products off the shelves at great expense, the "Monster with 21 Faces" threatened to place the tampered products in stores. Meanwhile, the "Monster with 21 Faces" sent letters, written in hiragana
Hiragana
is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...
and with an Osaka dialect
Kansai-ben
The is a group of Japanese dialects in the Kansai region of Japan. In technical term,it is called ; Kansai is also known as "Kinki", hence the alternative term. They are typified by the speech of Osaka, the major city of Kansai, which is referred to specifically as Osaka-ben...
, to the police, taunting them, as seen in this excerpt from one of their messages:
"Dear dumb police officers. Don't tell a lie. All crimes begin with a lie as we say in Japan. Don't you know that?" The written challenge was also sent to Koshien police station. "Why don't you keep it to yourself? You seem to be at a loss. So why not let us help you? We'll give you a clue. We entered the factory by the front gate. The typewriter we used is Panwriter. The plastic container used was a piece of street garbage. Monster with 21 faces."
Eventually, the "Monster" stopped contacting Glico and, on June 26, issued a letter saying "We Forgive Glico!". However, the "Monster" then turned its extortion campaign on Morinaga and the food companies Marudai Ham and House Foods
House Foods
is one of Japan's largest food manufacturers and brands. It began in 1913 in Osaka as Urakami Shoten, and began selling curry in 1926.It is listed on Section 1 of both Tokyo and Osaka Stock Exchanges, symbol 2810. It is headquartered in Higashiōsaka, Osaka, Japan.House Foods is well known for its...
Corporation.
The Fox-Eyed Man
Police did get close to the suspected mastermind of the "Monster with 21 Faces," however. On 28 June, two days after agreeing to stop harassing Marudai in exchange for 50 million yen, the "Monster" arranged for a Marudai employee to toss the ransom money onto a local train heading toward Kyoto when a white flag was displayed. An investigator disguised as a Marudai employee and following the drop instructions of the "Monster" spotted a suspicious man observing him when he was riding a train to the drop point. The man was described as a large, well-built man wearing glasses, his hair cut short and permed, with "eyes like those of a fox."When the white flag was not displayed, the undercover policeman and the "Fox-Eyed Man" (キツネ目の男, kitsune-me no otoko) both disembarked from the train at Kyoto station, and while the investigator waited on a bench, the "Fox-Eyed Man" continued to observe him. The investigator later headed back to Osaka, and the "Fox-Eyed Man" boarded another car in the same train. When the investigator then disembarked at Takatsuki station, the "Fox-Eyed Man" boarded a Kyoto-bound train and another undercover investigator tailed him from Kyoto, but the "Fox-Eyed Man" eventually lost him.
Shiga Prefecture incident
Police got a second chance at the "Fox-Eyed Man" on 14 November, when the "Monster" group attempted to rob the House Food Corporation of 100 million yen in another secret deal. At a rest stop on the Meishin ExpresswayMeishin Expressway
The is a toll expressway in Japan. It runs from a junction with the Tomei Expressway in Nagakute, Aichi west to Nishinomiya, Hyōgo . It is the main road link between Osaka and Nagoya, and, along with the Tōmei Expressway, forms the main road link between Osaka and Tokyo...
, near Otsu
Otsu
Ōtsu, or Otsu, may refer to:* Ōtsu, Shiga, Japan** Ōtsu Station, a railway station on the Tōkaidō Main Line ** Ōtsu incident, an assassination attempt on Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia...
, investigators saw the Fox-Eyed Man, wearing a golf cap and dark glasses, but again he evaded capture. The cash delivery van they were tailing continued to head toward the drop point, where they were to drop the money in a can under a white piece of cloth. When the delivery van reached the drop point, the white cloth was there but the can was missing. As a result, the investigative team was ordered to withdraw, believing that the drop was an evaluation by the "Monster" of police response.
However, an hour earlier, a patrol car from the local Shiga prefecture
Shiga Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan, which forms part of the Kansai region on Honshu Island. The capital is the city of Ōtsu.- History :Shiga was known as Ōmi Province or Gōshū before the prefectural system was established...
police had spotted a station wagon with its engine running and its headlights off. The station wagon was also sitting less than 50 meters from a white cloth suspended from a fence. Unaware of the secret ransom drop, the police officer drove up to the station wagon and shone his flashlight on the driver, revealing a thin-cheeked man in his forties, wearing a golf cap over his eyes and, more telling, a wireless receiver with headphones. Surprised by the policeman, the driver sped off, with the police car following in pursuit until the station wagon lost him.
The station wagon was later found abandoned near the Kusatsu train station and had been discovered to have been stolen earlier in Nagaokakyo in the Kyoto prefecture
Kyoto Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Kyoto.- History :Until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Kyoto prefecture was known as Yamashiro....
. Inside the abandoned car was a radio transceiver that had been eavesdropping in on radio communications between the police officers of six prefectures, including Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe, the prefectures of the drop point. Also recovered was a vacuum cleaner, although no evidence could be traced back to the "Monster" group.
Following the blackmail campaign on House Foods, the "Monster" then turned its sights on Fujiya in December 1984. In January 1985, police released the facial composite
Facial composite
A facial composite is a graphical representation of an eyewitness's memory of a face, as recorded by a composite artist. Facial composites are used mainly by police in their investigation of crimes.-PhotoFIT generation:...
of the "Fox-Eyed Man" to the public. In August 1985, after the continuing harassment of the "Monster with 21 Faces" and the failure to capture the "Fox-Eyed Man," the police superintendent Yamamoto of the Shiga prefecture killed himself
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by self-immolation
Self-immolation
Self-immolation refers to setting oneself on fire, often as a form of protest or for the purposes of martyrdom or suicide. It has centuries-long traditions in some cultures, while in modern times it has become a type of radical political protest...
.
The final message and aftermath
Five days after the death of Yamamoto, on August 12, the "Monster with 21 Faces" sent its last message to the media."Yamamoto of Shiga Prefecture Police died. How stupid of him! We've got no friends or secret hiding place in Shiga. It's Yoshino or Shikata who should have died. What have they been doing for as long as one year and five months? Don't let bad guys like us get away with it. There are many more fools who want to copy us. No-career Yamamoto died like a man. So we decided to give our condolence. We decided to forget about torturing food-making companies. If anyone blackmails any of the food-making companies, it's not us but someone copying us. We are bad guys. That means we've got more to do other than bullying companies. It's fun to lead a bad man's life. Monster with 21 Faces."
Following this message, the Monster with 21 Faces disappeared. In June 1995, the statute of limitations
Statute of limitations
A statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...
ran out on the assault and kidnapping of Ezaki, followed by the elapsing of the statute of limitations on the charge of attempted murder for poisoning in February 2000.
Prime suspects
Following the release of the identikit in January 1985, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police quickly identified the culprit as Manabu MiyazakiManabu Miyazaki
is a Japanese writer, social critic and public figure known for his underworld ties.While not a member of any particular yakuza syndicate, Miyazaki describes himself as a "freelance yakuza" and has the credentials to prove it. He was born in Kyoto, Japan; his father was a yakuza boss in Kyoto, and...
. Labelled as Mr. "M" or Material Witness "M," Miyazaki was suspected of issuing a 1976 tape declaring support of a local union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
in a labor dispute with Glico that bore similarities to the numerous declarations of the "Monster with 21 Faces." There had been numerous whistleblowing incidents between 1975 and 1976 that were also attributed to Miyazaki, which highlighted Glico's dumping of starches and other industrial waste into the local river and drainage system. Miyazaki was also suspected to have been involved with the resignation of a union leader over accounting irregularities when Glico Ham and Glico Nutritional Foods merged. In addition, his father was the boss of a local Yakuza
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
group and Miyazaki himself bore a striking resemblance to the "Fox-Eyed Man." Speculation had gone on for months that Miyazaki was the "Fox-Eyed Man," until the Tokyo Metropolitan Police checked his alibis and cleared him of any wrongdoing. The resulting notoriety caused Miyazaki to become a social commentator, and he wrote a book about his experiences called Toppamono.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police also suspect that various Yakuza groups had a hand in the Glico-Morinaga case. The end of the blackmail campaign occurred around the time of the Yama-ichi war
Yama-Ichi War
The Yama–Ichi War was a yakuza conflict mainly fought in the Kansai region of Japan from 1985 to 1989, between the Yamaguchi-gumi and the Ichiwa-kai gangs....
, the mob war between the Yamaguchi-gumi
Yamaguchi-gumi
is Japan's largest and most infamous yakuza organization. It is named after its founder Harukichi Yamaguchi. Its origins can be traced back to a loose labor union for dockworkers in Kobe pre-WWII....
and the Ichiwa-kai
Ichiwa-kai
The Ichiwa-kai was a yakuza gang based in Osaka, Japan.It was formed on June 13, 1984 when Hiroshi Yamamoto, a top lieutenant in the Yamaguchi-gumi, broke from that gang to form his own organization with over 10,000 members...
.
In addition, Japanese National Public Safety Commission
National Public Safety Commission (Japan)
The is a Japanese Cabinet Office commission. It is headquartered in the 2nd Building of the Central Common Government Office at 2-1-2 Kasumigasaeki in Chiyoda, Tokyo....
investigated extreme left-wing and right-wing groups as possible suspects.
In 2000, there were rumors in the Japanese media of North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
n involvement in the Glico-Morinaga case.