The murder of Junko Furuta: background, crime, prosecution, the aftermath
Furuta Junko was a high school student in Japan in the late 1980s. Is Junko Furuta still alive? No, she was murdered ruthlessly by four young boys, Shinji Minato, Yasushi Watanabe, Hiroshi Miyano and Jo Ogura. Her murder goes down in history as one of the most brutal death.
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Junko Furuta endured an ordeal that no one should ever have to endure. All of this was carried out by four cruel men who were sentenced to a few years in prison, which enraged many people.
Is there a movie about Junko Furuta? Yes. Concrete, a film made in 2004, focused on the socioeconomic issues that led to Furuta's death and the pain.
Junko Furuta's profile summary
- Birth name: Junko Furuta
- Gender: Female
- Date of birth: 18th Jan 1971
- Date of death: 4th January 1989
- Place of birth: Misato, Saitama, Japan
- Nationality: Japan
- Ethnicity: Japanese
- Height in feet and inches: 5'3"
- Height in centimetres: 160
- Father: Akira Furuta
- Siblings: 2
Background
Furuta was born in Misato, Saitama Prefecture; she was born in a family of three children. She schooled in Yashio- Minami High School for her high school level while employed at a plastic moulding firm after school.
Furuta planned to work as an electronics trader after her graduation. She was a bright student in school, liked by both teachers and other students. She was fond of always attending school no matter what.
On top of her academic prowess, Furuta was good-looking. As a result, she had many guys crushing on her. One particular guy, Hiroshi Miyano expressed his admiration to Furuta, only for her to turn him down.
Hiroshi Miyano was not the kind of guy you would say no to; he was the school rascal. In addition, he had links with the Yakuza syndicate.
The Junko Furuta's story
The crime rate had gone a notch up in November through December when young women were robbed and assaulted. Sadly Furuta fell prey to the gang committing these vices. On November 25th, 1988, in the twilight, she was riding on her bike headed home after her evening shift at the plastic moulding industry.
Miyano, one of the Junko Furuta's killers, prepared to kidnap her, and he went ahead with it. His co-conspirator, Minato, lured her into a warehouse where Miyano(18 years old) assaulted her before moving her to a close-by hotel.
While at the hotel, he called his friends Minato (16years old), Ogura (17years old), and Yasushi (17 years old) to brag about how he had forcefully slept with her. This group was known for kidnapping and assaulting young girls.
Miyano later took Furuta to his three friends who were waiting at a nearby park. After that, the four proceeded to take Junko to Minitos home in the Ayase district of Adachi, where the gang assaulted her. Minato offered a place where they kept her, and this was soon to be the hangout joint for the four boys.
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Soon, Junko's parents reported her disappearance to the police two days after she had gone missing. The gang forced Junko to call her parents to assure them that she was secure and that the police should stop the probe.
Minato's parents dared not report as Minato had increasingly become violent to them. Secondly, they were not aware of a connection between Minato and Yakuza, the well-known gang.
Furuta was held captive in this house for 40 days. Here they did all kinds of evils on her. By December, she was sorely ill and undernourished after going for many days without food. Moreover, she was forced into taking drugs which also harmed her.
Junko by now had severe wounds from the beatings and burns such that she couldn't even take herself to the toilet; she was in a state of extreme weakness.
She was not allowed to shower, so she was stinking, and the four boys soon lost sexual interest in her. The foul led the gang to kidnap and assault another woman who was heading home from work.
The torture continued and even got more ugly. Junko continued to bleed profusely and later died due to her injuries. As if that was not enough, they put her body in a travel bag, put it in a 55-gallon drum, and filled it with wet concrete. The drum was then disposed into a cement truck in Koto, Tokyo.
Miyano and Ogura later got arrested for capturing a 19-year-old woman they had abducted. Miyano confessed to Furuta's murder during the cross-examination, which became the beginning of the Junko Furuta's case.
The confession came as a surprise since the police were working on another case of a woman and her son who had gone missing a few days before Junko's abduction.
The police found the drum containing Junko's remains. When the investigation was done, the suspects were arrested. The DNA of the Junko Furuta's killers was found in the victim's body, which proved that more people assaulted her besides the four boys. The Junko Furuta's story is now commonly referred to as concrete Junko Furuta 44 days of hell.
What happened to the killers of Junko Furuta?
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Due to the right of anonymity of all juveniles, the identity of the four boys remained sealed. Their identity, however, was leaked by a journalist who stated that the four did not deserve the right to be anonymous as they had committed a grievous crime.
The Junko Furuta's murderers pled guilty to body injury and not to murder. What an irony. Miyano was sentenced to 17 years and an additional three after he lost an appeal to the Tokyo high court. Miyano was 18 years old at the time.
After his release, Miyano was rearrested in 2013 for fraud and later released due to insufficient evidence.
Minato was sentenced to four to six years and an additional five to nine years upon appealing the sentence. Minato was 16 years old at the time. Minato's parents and brother were, however, not charged.
This sentence dismayed Junko's family, who later won a civil case against Minato's parents for the crime against their late daughter that took place in their home. Minato moved in with his mother after he was released. He later got arrested in 2018 for attempted murder.
Yasushi was first sentenced to three to four years and later increased to five to seven years in prison. At the time of the murder, he was 17 years old.
Ogura was released in 2004 after serving an eight-year sentence. He was adopted by one of his supporters. Later that year, he was arrested for assault. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for the crime and was eventually released after serving his sentence.
Even though Junko Furuta received the justice she deserved, still many people believe that these sentences were light compared to the crimes the four boys committed.
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