Kidnapped, raped and burned alive by her schoolmates: the story that shocked Japan

The shocking story of Junko Furuta it remains in the collective memory of Japanese youth. Furuta was 16, living in Tokyo and leading a typical life for a woman of her age: she studied in high school and went out with her friends on weekends.

In 1988 she was kidnapped by four schoolmates and, after spending 44 days of abuse in captivity, she was brutally killed.

Junko Furuta was a student of Saitama Prefecture High School in Misato, Tokyo, Japan. Twice a week, after school, she had a part-time job in a plastics factory: the young woman saved her for a trip after graduation.

A normal life

Junko Furuta was born in 1972 in Saitama, Japan. She was an excellent student and much loved by teachers, and her humble origins made her very popular with her classmates.

However, there was a group of guys who didn’t like it because they considered it boring. Junko wasn’t interested in having a sexual relationship with anyone, she didn’t enjoy it like most of her, she didn’t have a boyfriend, and she didn’t use drugs or alcohol.

This caused resentment among his fellow students, especially a Miyano Hiroshiwho did not tolerate Furuta’s rejection several times.

At just 18, Miyano Hiroshi he was a member of the Yakuzaone of the most famous and feared mafias in Japan, and this aroused fear in all the students.

44 days of hell

On November 25, 1988, as she was cycling home from work, four men intercepted her, beat her and loaded her into the car.

According to Japan Insides, that afternoon, the four young men took Furuta to a property that belonged to the family of one of the kidnappers, Shinji Minato.

Junko was taken to a house in Adachi, Tokyo. The house was owned by one of the parents of the kidnappers. Junko she was forced to call her parents and inform them that she had run awaythat he was safe and would stay with some of his friends for a while.

From that moment the real torture of Junko Furuta began. Even in their worst nightmare, no one can imagine the suffering the young woman endured. furuta he was tortured for 44 days by the five teenagersthat she had been kidnapped. During that time she was kept naked and some time later it was learned that 100 people raped her more than 500 times.

The torture that the young woman suffered was savage. In addition to the violations of the gang led by Miyano, the group offered other members of the Yakuza mafia to attend sessions of violence and abuse in exchange for money, and she even prostituted her during the time she was kidnapped.

After Miyano lost a game of mahjong, he unleashed his fury on Furuta, accompanied by the rest of the young men.

Miyano Hiroshi and his gang, Junko was set on fire from her extremities causing her extreme suffering. Finally, his death occurred on January 4, 1989 due to this last barbarism.

Three months later, his body was found on the outskirts of Kyoto, inside a container full of cement.

The punishment for the killers

Japanese police tracked down the kidnappers a few weeks after Furuta’s murder.

The savage killers were not sentenced to death or life imprisonment: all were under the age of 18. Miyano Hiroshi and his four friends were sentenced to a prison term of between 18 and 20 years.

Due to the shortness of the sentences, all were released under 40 years of age. However, in 2018, according to the Tokyo Reporter, Shinji Minato was arrested again, albeit for another crime. Under the guise of the attempted murder, Minato was jailed after beating and stabbing a man who managed to survive the attack.

The cruel and horrific case has attracted the attention of several international media. In fact, comics, films and documentaries have been made. The most faithful version of what really happened is a documentary made shortly after the case became popular in 1989. The film was titled “44 Days in Hell”.