44 days of torture and rape of Japanese female student 'buried in concrete'

In the 1980s, the case of a female student who died after being tortured and raped continuously for more than 40 days shocked all of Japan.

Junko Furuta, a Japanese female student, was brutally tortured. Photo: Strangetruenews

Junko Furuta, 16 years old, attends a high school in Misato, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. She is a pretty girl and actively participates in school activities. According to STNews, Hiroshi Miyano, a rebellious student with connections to the underworld, fell in love with Furuta but was rejected by her.

On November 25, 1988, she was kidnapped by four teenagers aged 16-18, one of whom was Hiroshi Miyano. They took Furuta to the home of Jo's parents, one of the kidnappers, in the Ayase district of Adachi, Tokyo.

To prevent Furuta's family from calling the police because she was missing, the kidnapper forced Furuta to call her parents, saying she was staying at a friend's house and emphasizing that she was not in danger.

Jo's parents, the owners of the house where Furuta was held, visited their son a few times, but Junko was forced to pretend to be the girlfriend of one of the kidnappers. However, even after they found out, they did nothing to stop her for fear of retaliation.

Hell on Earth

During her 44 days in captivity, Junko Furuta was brutally tortured. She was kept naked most of the time and raped daily. Her captors reportedly invited their friends to come and rape her. They also humiliated Furuta by inserting various objects into her vagina and anus.

She was given very little food and forced to eat cockroaches and drink her own urine. She was hung from the ceiling and used as a punching bag by her captors. At times, she was kept in a refrigerator for hours or forced to sleep on the balcony. She was beaten with golf clubs and often had her head pushed to the floor.

The house where Furuta was held captive. Photo: ripeace

After 10 days, Furuta was unable to breathe through her nose due to blood clots in her nasal cavity. The damage to her internal organs caused her to vomit after eating or drinking. This not only made her more dehydrated but also agitated her captors, causing them to punish and beat her even more.

While her captors were resting after drinking, she tried to call the police but was discovered. They punished her by setting her feet on fire. After 30 days, Furuta was unable to urinate properly. Her hands and feet were severely damaged.

During her hellish days, Furuta begged her captors to let her die, but they were not willing to let her go that easily. On January 4, 1989, they played a game with her. She won, and the captors were furious. They beat her with iron weights and set her hands, feet, and face on fire. Furuta died that day.

The killers placed the girl's body in a barrel, filled it with concrete and disposed of it in Koto, Tokyo. Upon learning of the incident, Furuta's mother immediately fainted and later had to undergo psychological treatment.

Punishment

All four perpetrators were later arrested and stood trial. The identities of the kidnappers were withheld by the court because they were minors, although they were tried as adults.

In July 1990, the court sentenced the ringleader to 17 years in prison, and his accomplices to between three and eight years. The ringleader and two of the three accomplices appealed. The presiding judge, Ryuji Yanase, later decided to increase the sentence, taking into account the impact on the victim's family and the impact on society. The ringleader was eventually sentenced to 20 years in prison, the second-longest sentence after life imprisonment.

Jo, the accomplice who imprisoned Furuta in his parents’ home, was held in juvenile detention for eight years before being released in August 1999 (after his release he took the name Jo Kamisaku). According to the Japan Times, in July 2004 he was arrested for assaulting a love rival and bragging about his crimes. Kamisaku was sentenced to seven years in prison for the incident.

Four men who tortured and raped Furuta. Their identities were identified by the media. Photo: ripeace

The torture and murder of Junko Furuta caused widespread outrage in Japan and was dubbed the "schoolgirl buried in concrete murder". The case has been adapted into several films and manga. At least three books inspired by the case have been published.

Author Seiji Fujii wrote a novel based on this incident. Contrary to what actually happened, the novel has a happy ending - the girl survived and the kidnappers were sentenced to many years in prison.

According to VNE