The Youtube documentary "The Unsolved Nanpei Owada Supermarket Murders" by Rhetorica is based on the following script. Make sure to watch the video for a more extensive coverage with video material and several (translated) news segments.

Introduction

Nanpei Owada supermarket salesfloor

It’s a warm summer evening on the 30^th of July 1995 when local residents gather in Kitanohara Park located in western Tokyo’s Hachioji city for the Bon Odori festival. The dance festival had been going on since 6:30 pm, and music could be heard throughout the neighborhood. That same evening, two female employees worked their shift at the nearby Nanpei Owada supermarket, located just 30 meters from Kitanohara park. 47 year old Noriko was appointed as night shift manager, while 17 year old part-time worker Megumi helped at the cash register that evening. Somewhere along their shift, 16 year old off-duty part-time worker Hiromi visited the store and decided to stay with Megumi during her shift. The store closed at 9 pm, around the same time the last drum solo of the nearby festival began. Just a few minutes after 9 pm, residents cleared out the park and went back home, returning the neighborhood’s atmosphere to a quiet summer night. On the second floor’s office of the Nanpei supermarket, night manager Noriko closes the safe with proceedings and calls an acquaintance to pick her up for dinner. Noriko, Hiromi and Megumi then leave the office never to be seen alive again.

Police investigation

On the evening of the 30^th of July, just a few minutes after 10 pm, an emergency call was made to the police station by an officer from a local police box nearby Kita-Hachioji station. A man and woman had come to the police box to inform the officer they had found 3 bodies in the upstairs office of the nearby Nanpei Owada supermarket. The man identified himself as acquaintance of Noriko. He had grown suspicious after waiting for Noriko in the Nanpei supermarket parking lot. After visiting the restaurant he and Noriko had planned to go to, he returned to the Nanpei supermarket with the female owner of the restaurant to look for Noriko. When they entered the office, they were met with the gruesome scene of the bodies of the 3 employees. Investigators immediately responded to the call.

Nanpei Owada Supermarket second floor office

The Nanpei office was positioned on the second floor of the supermarket and could only be reached from an outside staircase overlooking the parking lot. The lay-out of the office was reconstructed by police in the form of a 3D model, which police released in 2015. The only entrance to the office is seen in the lower left corner. The main room contains some desks, chairs and a couch, while a kitchen and toilet area can be noticed in the top left corner. The safe in which all proceedings of the day would be deposited at the end of every shift is present against the wall on the right. To open the safe both a key and a code were needed. While the key was found in the safe, the safe hadn’t been opened and the money hadn’t been touched.

3D model of the second floor office

The bodies of the three women were identified to be those of 47 year old Noriko Inagaki, 16 year old Hiromi Maeda and 17 year old Megumi Yabuki. Police found the bodies of Hiromi and Megumi tied together with adhesive tape, both of their mouths had been taped shut and both sustained a single gunshot to the head piercing their brainstems. In contrary to Hiromi and Megumi, Noriko had not been tied up and was found next to the refrigerator close to the safe with her head leaning against the wall and her feet pointing towards the entrance.

Victims Megumi Yabuki (left), Hiromi Maeda (center) and Noriko Inagaki (right)

Abema program screenshot showing the crime scene

Noriko was shot twice, one entry wound was found at her forehead and the second bullet wound was found on the top of her head. She endured multiple wounds on her face, possibly from being hit with the gun. There seemed to be no signs of resisting in the office. All three women were found in their private clothes and the door was unlocked, making it likely they had just left or were about to leave the office on the second floor.

While police found pools of blood around the bodies, the culprit didn’t seem to have stepped into the blood. Investigators did, however, find 10 shoeprints from an unaccounted shoe in the office which seem to walk from the entrance to the safe and back to the entrance as seen in the following image.

Sankei: pattern of footprints at the crime scene

Shoeprints belonged to a pair of sneakers of 26 cm long and were believed to be worn out. Soles were made by a rubber manufacturer in Hiroshima prefecture, of which this particular type of sole was used in 2 types of shoes. The first type of shoe was sold between 1990 and 1991 at the Marui fashion building in Tokyo for 7800 yen in 7 different colors.

Police image: shoe type 1

The second type of shoe was sold between 1993 and 1994 at Parco stores in Kichioji and Chofu for 12000 yen in either black or white.

Police image: shoe type 2

Areas and stores in Tokyo where the 2 types of sneakers were sold can be seen on the following map:

Police image: map showing locations where shoes could've been bought

Due to it being only one type of shoeprint, it’s believed the murders were carried by one person, whether or not others were involved is not known. Police released several images, videos and even 3D models of the type of shoe that were worn by the perpetrator. Other than the shoes itself, shoeprints gave officers more clues when deposits of the footprints were analyzed. Footprint deposits contained moss, clay and fine iron powder. The fine iron powder was believed to be related to either welding or some type of iron factory work. Unfortunately, this lead went cold.

Investigators did, however, find other clues for possible leads. One of which was found on the adhesive tape used to tie Megumi and Hiromi. The tape contained a few partial fingerprints and sweat of which mitochondrial DNA different from those of the victims were found. At the time, the fingerprints could not be extracted from the adhesive tape and only a small portion of DNA could be detected, which made it difficult to identify the individual.

In addition to the fingerprints, a glove mark was discovered on the office desk believed to belong to the culprit as well. The combined finding of the fingerprints and the glove mark could possibly mean the culprit removed the glove to use the adhesive tape, though this could also mean the fingerprints were not related to the murderer at all.

A final major piece of evidence found in the office were the bullets. All three women had been shot in the head seemingly at point-blank range, Hiromi and Megumi once and Noriko twice. In addition, the culprit had fired one shot in the safe containing proceedings of around 5,26 million yen. The amount of money was allegedly above average due to the Cool breeze sale which started 4 days prior to the incident. Bullets were fired from a “38-caliber Skyers Bingham” gun, known to be a cheap Filipino-made imitation of the 1927 American 38-caliber Colt Detective Special revolver. The Skyer Bingham is known to have lesser performance and low accuracy and started to get used by gang members in Japan in 1985. Though, due to the three victims being shot in quite an accurate manner and within a short period of time without much hesitation, police believes the culprit to have experience using guns.

Other than these findings, the room was believed to be undisturbed and the victims themselves showed no signs they had been searched by the culprit either.

Timeline

Investigators turned to those who visited the Nanpei Owada supermarket and surrounding area around the time the incident happened. Based on eyewitness accounts and clues found at the scene, the following timeline can be constructed of Sunday July 30^th 1995:

· 4:46 pm

o 17-year old high school student Megumi Yabuki (恵矢吹) goes to her part-time job at the Nanpei supermarket, located around 3 minutes from her home.

· 4:48 pm

o 47-year old night store manager Noriko Inagaki (則子稲垣) is dropped off by a male acquaintance by car. Before leaving, they make plans to go out for dinner after Noriko’s shift.

· 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm store shift.

o Noriko and Megumi work their evening shift as part of the last day of a 4-day “Cool Breeze Sale” at the Nanpei supermarket, which meant there were more customers than usual. Noriko was in charge of register number 3 and was responsible for depositing proceedings in the 2^nd floor’s office safe.

· 5:30 pm

o A customer noticed a suspicious man in his 50s in a white shirt and gray trousers walking along the front of the store, trying to peek inside.

· 6:30 pm

o A male employee, who was still present in the office on the second floor, finishes his work, leaving Noriko and Megumi as the only two employees still on the premise.

o At the same time, the Bon Odori festival organized by the local community association in Kitanohara park starts about 30 meters northwest of the Nanpei supermarket. Due to the festival, the neighborhood was filled with sounds coming from the attendees.

· 6:50 pm

o 16-year old off-duty part-time worker Hiromi Maeda (寛美前田), a friend of Megumi, visits the store by bike to check her shift schedule. As Megumi would finish her shift around 2 hours later, Hiromi decides to accompany her until closing time.

o According to several customers, Hiromi and Megumi talked about visiting the nearby Bon Odori festival, even though the festival was about to end around the end of Megumi’s shift.

· 7:59 pm

o One hour before closing time, the number of customers reduces. Noriko decides to close her register and take the proceedings upstairs to the safe in the office on the second floor. This requires Noriko to walk outside with the proceedings, pass the parking lot and climb the outside stairs to the second floor.

· 8:30 pm

o A customer notices a suspicious man in his 40s-50s wandering the store without buying anything, he’s overheard asking about the surroundings of the store. At this point Megumi is the only on-duty employee on the sales floor with Hiromi by her side, in the meantime Noriko is in the back-office on the second floor.

· 8:45 pm

o A man was seen driving a white passenger car in front of the Nanpei supermarket, looking inside from the driver’s seat.

· 8:51 pm

o Noriko closes the cold-insulating curtains of the meat section in preparation of closing the store. A customer had noticed all three women were at the sales floor, and both Noriko and Hiromi were said to talk to customers at this time.

o In addition, a receipt shows Hiromi purchased milk and eggs just before closing time.

· 8:56 pm

o A man and woman were seen paying for their groceries, they are believed to be the last customers of the day. The man was about 177 cm tall with a somewhat rough appearance, the woman had straight hair down to her shoulders and was wearing a dark dress. The pair bought yakisoba, fruit and okonomiyaki for 1754 yen, after which they left in a white sedan parked in the parking lot. The police hasn’t been able to identify the two up until now.

· 9:00 pm

o The Nanpei Owada supermarket closes. Megumi takes the money of register 2 upstairs to the back-office. It’s believed Noriko took the proceedings and locked them in the safe.

o Around this time the finale of the Bon Odori festival had started.

Bon Odori festival that evening

· 9:06 pm

o Noriko turns off the light of the sales floor and closes the door. At the same time, a local resident who parked his car in the Nanpei parking lot notices a suspicious man in the passage next to the supermarket. According to the local, the man turned his face downwards and left the premise as soon as the light of the local’s car turned towards him. Investigators consider the possibility that all suspicious people seen around the store throughout the evening may be the same man.

· 9:07 pm

o The Bon Odori festival finishes.

· 9:15 pm

o Phone records show Noriko made a call from the office phone to the acquaintance that dropped her off earlier. According to the acquaintance, he was asked to pick her up to go out for some dinner.

o Immediately after Noriko’s call, the office security system was activated and the office entrance was locked. It’s believed the three women left the office at this time.

· 9:16 pm

o The security system was activated again and records show the door was unlocked once more. It’s believed the women left the office and had just gone down the stairs leading up to the office, after which they were forced back inside at gunpoint by the culprit.

· 9:17 pm

o A nearby high school couple heard the sound of several gunshots in the direction of the Nanpei store, similar sounds were heard by multiple local residents. The time between Noriko’s call and the gunshots is estimated to be around 2:30 minutes, meaning the culprit forced the victims back inside, tied up Hiromi and Megumi and shot the three women in less than 2:30 minutes.

· 9:20 pm

o Noriko’s acquaintance arrives in the parking lot of the Nanpei supermarket, he notices the office lights are on.

· Between 21:20 – 21:35

o A white passenger car was seen at the intersection 30 meters southwest from the Nanpei supermarket. The driver was a man of around 25 years old wearing a baseball cap.

· 9:45 pm

o According to the acquaintance, Noriko still hadn’t come out of the office. At the time he presumed she went ahead to the restaurant by herself, so he decided to check the restaurant they planned to visit that evening.

· 9:50 pm

o The acquaintance arrived at the restaurant and noticed Noriko was not present. At this time he felt suspicious about the situation, though he felt uneasy to barge into the office as employees would use it as a changing room as well. He decided to ask the female owner of the restaurant to join him to check the office.

· 10:00 pm

o The acquaintance and restaurant owner arrive back at the supermarket. The restaurant owner decides to visit the office by herself as not to disturb the employees. As she enters the office, she notices the door is unlocked and lights are on. The restaurant owner stays near the entrance behind the counter, partly blocking her view as she is only 150 cm tall. She calls out Noriko’s name, but doesn’t receive a reply, after which she decides to return to the car.

o Noriko’s acquaintance and the restaurant owner return to the office together, after which they notice the three bodies surrounded by blood.

· 10:08 pm

o Both decide to go to a nearby police box (Kita-Hachioji Ekimae Koban/北八王子交番) in front of Kita Hachioji station to inform an officer of the crime scene. At this point, an emergency call is made to investigators.

Google Streetview: Kita-Hachioji Ekimae Koban (police box)

Theories

With this information, investigators speculated about two major possibilities as to the motive behind the murders. Let’s go over both theories and the arguments for and against these possible motives.

Theory #1: robbery gone wrong

Probably the most popular theory as to why the incident happened is a robbery gone wrong.

Around the time of the incident, it was rumored there were multiple cases of shoplifting and burglary at the Nanpei Owada supermarket due to the store’s lack of security measures. Employees had complained about having to bring proceedings through the outside corridor to the back office, Noriko had even temporarily quit her job at the store due to feeling unsafe. In addition, the office and safe were known to be unlocked during business hours. The lack of safety measures were rumored to be known by locals, as residents had seen employees bring the proceedings upstairs.

3D image Police: an outside stairs was used to enter the office

At the time, criminal groups had robbed multiple stores at gunpoint around closing time in the Tama region, making it no surprise the Nanpei supermarket could have been seen as an easy target for these types of groups. As a precaution, four security cameras were installed, though they only showed live images without actually recording footage. Other than camera’s, posters were put up at cash registers warning shoplifters.

The victims had just deposited the proceedings of the day in the safe on the second floor, the timing of the murders is very much in line with an attempt to rob the safe as the women were probably just about to leave the premise when they were forced back into the office. This, in combination with the short time in which the murders took place, one could believe it had to do with organized crime.

While Megumi and Hiromi had been tied up, Noriko who knew how to open the safe, wasn’t tied up and had multiple wounds on her face suggesting the culprit may have tried to force her to open the safe. In addition, the safe sustained one gunshot, making it more likely the killer had plans to take the money inside the safe. It’s speculated that when Noriko refused to open the safe, the culprit decided to kill the three women and leave. Other arguments for the robbery theory are the supposed premeditated component, due to the timing, adhesive tape, gun and the suspicious individual or individuals in and around the store in the moments leading up to the incident.

Though, only based on rumors, both the owner and managing director of the Nanpei store are theorized to be involved. The managing director of the store was rumored to hang out with gang members in the office, while the store manager was said to be abusive with money and keep luxury items in the drawers of his desk at work. If this is true, it could be possible the owner and manager might be involved. The culprit seem to have good knowledge of the situation, as the safe would be full of money on the last day of a 4-day sale. The store was also targeted right after closing time, when only a few employees were present. On top of that, the incident happened within a 2:30 minute timeframe. It’s said that both the owner and manager denied being involved and it’s hard to imagine why someone would rob his own store and kill employees. Additionally, they seem to have an alibi around the time of the incident.

There are some arguments against the robbery theory though. First of all, little effort seem to have been done to open the safe. Following the footprints, the culprit only walked up to the safe and left without searching the office, while a note containing the code had supposedly been sitting on one of the desks at a “easy accessible place” in the office. The women themselves had not been searched for any money or valuables either. In addition, if money was the only driver for the culprit, killing the three women seems excessive. Even so, why would the culprit not spend more effort on searching the office and the victims, instead of simply leaving after shooting the women?

Theory #2: grudge against one of the victims or Nanpei supermarket

Another theory seems to be that the killer would have a grudge against either the employees or the Nanpei supermarket. The purpose of the incident might’ve been to kill one or all of the women involved. After all, no money or belongings were taken and there were no signs the culprit had even tried to search the office at all. Looking at the footprints left behind, the culprit seemed to have acted quick, tracing back Noriko’s call until the moment gunshots were heard, the culprit would’ve killed the women within 2:30 minutes. The culprit then may have left quickly, since he hadn’t stepped in any of the victim’s blood and wasn’t seen by Noriko’s acquaintance who arrived 3 minutes after gunshots were heard. The ruthless and relatively quick kills made some speculate that there was some kind of intent to kill in the first place, which makes the grudge theory somewhat more likely.

After extensive investigations by Police, there were no signs anyone would have a grudge against the supermarket itself or the two part-time high school employees.

Noriko Inagaki (one of the victims)

Noriko, on the other hand, had been a popular hostess at the Kohaku club in Hachioji, after which she opened a snack bar called “Wakao” in downtown Hachioji. It was rumored she had money and relationship trouble in the past, involvement with gang members wasn’t excluded either. She had received a letter which included a cutter knife blade, saying “if you continue like this, you will lose your life”. No contextual information has been publicized and police haven’t figured out who the sender was. In addition, a possible relationship between Noriko and the managing director of the Nanpei store had been unclear, though in 2001 the manager had said “I was tempted by Noriko, but I declined”. About half a year after the incident a president of a company in Hachioji had been interrogated about 50 times about the murders, and despite having an alibi, police were cautious to clear the man of suspicion. Not much is known why the man had been on investigators’ radar at the time.

Other arguments that might point towards a grudge against Noriko is that she was rumored to be verbally abusive against male acquaintances. In addition, in contrast to Hiromi and Megumi, Noriko had been hit in the face and was shot twice, which might point towards a more personal approach towards her. Question is, why would the killer visit Noriko’s place of work and risk involving other employees instead of confronting her at her home.

Possible leads

Violent gun attacks are relatively rare in Japan due to strict gun control laws, though a few months prior to the Nanpei murders another high profile gun-related case took place. In March of 1995, police chief Takaji Kunimatsu was shot in front of his residence in Tokyo, though eventually fully recovered. The shooting happened only 10 days after the infamous Tokyo subway sarin attacks by the Aum Shinrikyo cult, killing 13 and injurying thousands of people. The cult itself has been rumored to have played a part in the Nanpei store murders, as their interest in guns and a string of other incidents caused the cult to be suspected. While several criminal events have been related to Aum Shinrikyo, as of now no evidence has surfaced that linked the cult to the Nanpei supermarket murders. In fact, some believe leads have not been investigated enough at the time, because of the large investigations of the Aum Shinrikyo cult and the Takaji Kunimatsu shooting. One anonymous former investigator describes in an interview how lots of effort was put into investigating both these incidents, while he questions whether or not leads of the Nanpei murder case have been fully explored.

Police investigated the footprints, deposits, bullets and the fingerprints left behind on the adhesive tape, though unfortunately for years leads seemed to be going nowhere. Until 6 years later.

On the 22^nd of November 2001, according to an article in the weekly Bunshun, a letter from a gang member to an acquaintance at another detention center contained information about the Nanpei murders. In the letter it’s suggested the younger brother of the gang member was involved in discarding the weapon used, he then goes on to name the person who he believes is the killer. The letter states the motive of the crime was the money in the safe. As far as public information goes, nothing has ever come of this particular lead.

Two years later, in 2003, several Japanese newspapers report a man in his 70s called Yasushi Nakamura, held for an attempted bank robbery in Aichi prefecture in 2002, may have been involved in the Nanpei murders. The man had repeatedly robbed banks with a handgun and had attacked cash transport vehicles. In monthly magazine “Sincho 45”, the man allegedly called himself the culprit to police chief Takaji Kunimatsu’s shooting, though denied he had anything to do with the Nanpei supermarket murders. Though, in 2007 the man declared defamation against the article, and said there was no reason the allegations are true. While he might not be guilty of chief Takaji Kunimatsu’s shooting, some arguments point towards him being involved in the Nanpei supermarket murders. One suspicious fact is that streak marks on bullets the man used in a robbery of the Osaka Kosei Shinkin bank in 1997 are very similar to those on the bullets found at the Nanpei crime scene. In addition, the man was living in the Hachioji area at the time of the incident.

Yasushi Nakamura: suspect to the incident

Probably one of the most promising leads until now reached investigators in the summer of 2009. Teruo Takeda, A Japanese death row inmate in China who was arrested for possession of illegal substances, claimed he had information about the Nanpei supermarket case. In September of 2009, Japanese investigators traveled to China to hear the man out. Takeda had been in a mixed Chinese-Japanese robbery group which committed multiple robberies of wealthy homes with damages reaching around 600 million yen. He mentioned a Chinese man in his robbery group who may have known the perpetrator of the Nanpei case. After their visit, Teruo Takeda was executed at Dalian prison on April 9^th 2010. Police identified the man he was referring to as Liang He, originally from Fujian province, who was deported back to China after being caught staying illegally in Japan in April of 1994. That same year, he illegally entered Japan again to take part in robbery activities, though he left Japan in 2002 using a false Japanese passport. Liang moved to Torronto and eventually obtained Canadian citizenship in 2006. After Japanese investigators identified the man, they filed for an extradition request with Canadian authorities in 2010. While Liang appealed, he was extradited to Japan in 2013 for passport fraud and he was eventually sentenced to 2 years in prison in 2014. Liang He has refused to talk about the Nanpei supermarket case and as far as public information goes, investigators haven’t explored this lead any further. Liang is believed to have returned to Canada afterwards.

In April of 2010, the statute of limitations for this and multiple other cases got abolished, meaning investigators could continue with their investigation.

In February of 2015, police used a new chemical technique to successfully extract part of a fingerprint from the adhesive tape found at the crime scene. Due to good storage facilities, the print had been preserved for 20 years.

In fingerprint matching, experts look at unique ridge patterns in which a match of a higher amount of points is linked to a higher likelihood of two fingerprints being a match. Historically, a 12 point match is said to more or less guarantee the fingerprints are from the same person, though the amount of matching points required differs per country. The partly extracted fingerprint was held against a database of over 10 million people, which matched a certain print for 8 points. While an 8 point match is considered as a high probably to belong to the same person, it didn’t meet the 12 point requirement standard used by Japanese authorities. Therefore, the print was seen as insufficient evidence.

The print belonged to a former taxi driver living in Tokyo’s Tama area at the time of the incident. He was said to own a white sedan, similar to the car seen around the crime scene. The man had died around 2003 of an illness in his 60s and had not been a person of interest for the Nanpei supermarket case before. His fingerprint was present in the database, due to his arrest on suspicion of stealing a bonsai tree 12 years before his death. While the man lived in the area, had a partly matching fingerprint and owned a car similar to that seen at the Nanpei crime scene, police struggled to connect the man to the Nanpei incident. A record of the man’s time card at a transportation business he worked at suggests he had an alibi at the time of the Nanpei incident. In addition, DNA of his relatives showed a discrepancy compared to the DNA taken from the adhesive tape. Due to conflicting arguments, police believe it might be possible the man touched the tape in an unrelated manner and that the fingerprint may have not belonged to the culprit after all.

In July of 2018, 23 years after the incident, the Metropolitan police department released two pieces of information to the general public. The first one being information about the young couple who shopped at the store at around 8:56 pm and were probably the last customers of the day, as mentioned earlier. The couple has yet to be identified and their role as either witnesses or culprits still isn’t clear to this day.

Police 3D image: young couple in the parking lot

The second piece of information is the finding of a lipstick-stained Mild Seven Light cigarette butt in the second floor office ashtray, containing female DNA not belonging to an employee or contractor. The woman has not been identified.

Police image: cigarette package and filter of those found in the office ashtray

In July of 2020, information was released about marks on the bullets. A gun seized in August of 2009 was reported to have very similar streak marks, compared the Nanpei supermarket crime scene bullets. The gun was bought by a gang member in his 40s around May of 2009. Even though he told police he had bought it from an acquaintance, he wouldn’t give police any names. Officers investigated his connections and even went to the Philippines to investigate the distribution route of the gun, but eventually concluded the man had a low chance of being the culprit.

Conclusion

This case, together with Junko Kobayashi’s murder in 1996 and the Setagaya family murder case in 2000 are amongst the “the three major unsolved Heisei cases” under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan police department. Like the other two cases, the Nanpei supermarket murder case is included in investigations that provide public funded reward money for those who provide information leading police to the culprit. A maximum amount of 6 million yen is reserved for the right information. With this incentive, officers hope those with information will come forward, such as the last two customers before the murders or possibly attendees of the nearby festival.

In July of 2021, the investigator being in charge of the case for more than 10 years, Shigeru Iwaki, who was then at the point of retirement, talked about the case. To the Mainichi Shimbun he said “There are many unclear points, such as the motive. It does seem to be a premeditated crime by someone who has access to a gun.” And “I’ll carry the case on my back for the rest of my life”. At the police station, pictures of the victims are still present, to motivate officers to continue their investigation into the gruesome murders.

In memoriam of Megumi Yabuki, multiple friends at her high school (JF Oberlin High school) set up an organization which pushes towards eradication of firearms and teaches at schools about the consequences of gun use. In addition, every year classmates and teachers gather for a memorial service for Megumi Yabuki.

Even though the incident happened more than 28 years ago, and the chance of possible witnesses and suspects is getting smaller, police is still investigating this gruesome murder. The supermarket was renamed to Himawari after the incident, but closed in 1998 and was eventually taken down. All that remains of the crime scene is a parking area with a sign reminding us what happened on July 30^th 1995.

May Hiromi, Megumi and Noriko rest in peace.

If by any chance, someone watching has any information about this case, please contact the Hachioji Police Station Investigative Headquarters using the following channels: