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© 2022 AFPSagawa, who killed woman, ate her flesh in Paris in 1981, dies at 73
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© 2022 AFP
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dagon
Also appeared on Japanese variety shows and adult programming after his early release.
Japanese "justice" puts the work of Kafka to shame.
nandakandamanda
A clear travesty of justice.
JeffLee
Good riddance. Justice was never served, and especially galling as he was treated as a celebrity back in his home country.
Jay
Hopefully there's a special place in Hell reserved for this freak.
Numan
YAHOOOOO! I hope it was a long and painful demise!
His families money (Sagawa publishing) and influence saved him from any real justice. He basically gloated about it when he returned to Japan.
Fredrik
Well, one of the darker sides of the Japanese psyche. A cannibal goes free, and becomes a celebrity. Not the first case of Japanese cannibalism. During the Chichijima incident, George H. W. Bush barely escaped being eaten by the Japanese...
rainyday
What a despicable being.
It makes me want to vomit thinking about that poor woman's family having to deal with her loss on the one hand while knowing the scum who murdered her was living the life of a celebrity in Japan on the other.
Moonraker
It often seems like shame and pride get very mixed up in Japan somehow.
Numan
They are both forms of attention!
Mr Kipling
Just imagine if it was the other way round, a Japanese student murdered, raped and eaten?
Still, French authorities should have executed him. Problem solved.
wallace
The trash was put out.
hattorikun
Rot in hell!
Alan Harrison
The French, in my opinion, make an error in not sending him to trail, deporting him back to Japan.
Aly Rustom
Not only that! He even appeared on culinary shows and wrote restaurant reviews for SPA! If you can believe that. AND had a part in Hisayasu Sato's film Uwakizuma: Chijokuzeme (Unfaithful Wife: Shameful Torture) as a sado-sexual voyeur.
Oh for sure! But Japanese society here isn't much better. He became a celebrity for murdering and cannibalizing a foreign woman. Something is seriously wrong with a society when it celebrates THAT.
dan
Hope he rots in hell if such a place exists!!!
Disgusting ,horrible, vile creature of a man!
alex.dino
The guy walked free after killing, rapping and eating his victim. Such a disgrace for Japan justice. And off top of that was invited in a show ? This part is even worse, totally disgusting. Can we please remove his smiling face from the news? We should remember the victim, not the killer
Fighto!
Good riddance. Sick and evil scum. If there's a hell...you'll be burning for eternity.
Thunderbird2
The freak should have been executed - what a monster
Fighto!
Really hope he suffered badly.
Legrande
Not the only shocker:
[ Sada Abe (阿部 定, Abe Sada, May 28, 1905 – after 1971) was a Japanese geisha and prostitute who murdered her lover, Kichizō Ishida (石田 吉蔵), via strangulation on May 18, 1936, before cutting off his penis and testicles and carrying them around with her in her kimono. The story became a national sensation in Japan, acquiring mythic overtones, and has been interpreted by artists, philosophers, novelists and filmmakers.[4] Abe was released after serving five years in prison and went on to write an autobiography. ]
Lindsay
It’s difficult to understand how this crazed predictor did not do any jail time. He was deemed sane in Japan and lived out his life in the population with his desires to consume female flesh. It makes one wonder if he is responsible for the many other women who have disappeared in Japan over the last 40 odd years.
Meiyouwenti
“Japanese "justice" puts the work of Kafka to shame”
Read the article carefully. It was the French justice system that deemed Sagawa unfit to face trial and deported him to Japan.
Juanito3001
Look at his picture, what a sick puppy. Perhaps being pitched into the Lion cage at the Ueno Zoo might have ultimately satisfied his flesh-eating fantasy.
MilesTeg
Beyond a travesty of justice. Sums up the racist, elitist, and disgustingly, foul aspects of Japanese society. He came from a very wealthy family, some of them were famous, and he had a history of sexual assaults, bestiality, you name it, but his family bailed him out by paying off the victim. Of course the government and the police looked the other way because he came from an elite family.
That he never went to prison in Japan and actually gained a kind of celebrity status as a guest speaker and writer shows how sick people are. He clearly never rehabilitated so I wouldn't be surprised if he's responsible for some missing people in Japan. The only way he could overpower the Dutch girl was with a gun because he was barely 145cm tall.
During my travels in Europe, by complete coincidence, I met a relative of the victim in Belgium. When I told him I lived in Japan, the floodgates opened. Not surprisingly, his family still harbour a great deal of resentment and hatred toward the French and Japanese.
Good riddance to utter trash and same for all those who protected and supported him.
Jtsnose
Why make so much news about such a hateful person . . . he should never be shown in a positive light, but as a criminal of high crimes . . . .
Rodney
Luckily I’m eating winter vegetables for diner, but after reading this, maybe skip diner.
Speed
It's garbage like this that justifies the death penalty. Should've been executed in either country.
Dirk T
"The Dutch are guud eatin'" - Sagawa
Mark
I can't believe I am reading this!! Just imagine what will the Japanese prosecutors do if this was the other way around?
If this scum did this in japan to a Japanese citizen it would be the death penalty guaranteed.
Mark
This is really DISGUSTING, so much for Justice for all.
Mark
Was the French police bribed or what? someone needs to look into this case and give justice the the lady family.
Hiro
Are the readers here blind? Why blame japan justice system? It's France who rule him insane and not put him on trial. And put him in a insane asylum to be cured. And release him later on. Japan cannot sentence him because it's France who later on drop the charges. Clearly none here understand anything about the law.
And please do not spread ridiculous misinformation about the man about what he had done after his release living here. With all the attention on him constantly and media hounding him, he practically had to live a completely straight line and never broke any rules here that warrant any prosecution. You can be disgusted all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that it was the France population who did nothing back then and was the one who allow this in the first place. No large scale protest or anything. They got over it, so you all might as well get over it.
Mark
I must admit, this report will probably go down as one of the LOWEST points of my life in Japan.
Confusius
No, he was found legally insane in France. So the judge ordered him held in a mental institution indefinitely. He was later deported to Japan and committed to a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo. It was there that some psychologists declared him sane, which meant that they could not legally detain him, since the court documents in France were sealed and not released to Japanese authorities.
He was not released in France though. He was released in Japan because they declared him sane and had no access to the French court documents to legally detain him. The documents were sealed because the case in France had already been dropped since he was judged legally insane and not just later on.
Stephen Chin
Sane or insane, Japan should have kept this diabolic creature under lock and key all his life.
Yrral
He would of been run out of the US,if not by the government,but ordinary citizen
socrateos
Finally I realized why it is a good thing that human life has a limitation and everybody dies.
Daninthepan
@dagon
I logged in specifically to like this comment.
Chris
Astonishing what one (anyone pretty much anywhere the world) could get away with in the ‘70s
whether to pine for that, or rather to ‘appreciate’ our modern world reality . better left to the individual reader to contemplate….
travelbangaijin
I just realized he is likely modeled as the cannibal villain in the Japanese movie "Gun Girl"
kaimycahl
@Hiro finally you are someone here who read and knows how to understand logic of what was written in the article rather than just reading and believing what was printed. I find most posters here read an article and not truly understanding what they read.
Are the readers here blind? Why blame japan justice system? It's France who rule him insane and not put him on trial. And put him in a insane asylum to be cured. And release him later on. Japan cannot sentence him because it's France who later on drop the charges. Clearly none here understand anything about the law.
And please do not spread ridiculous misinformation about the man about what he had done after his release living here. With all the attention on him constantly and media hounding him, he practically had to live a completely straight line and never broke any rules here that warrant any prosecution. You can be disgusted all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that it was the France population who did nothing back then and was the one who allow this in the first place. No large scale protest or anything. They got over it, so you all might as well get over it.
Only_In_Japan
Burn in hell
trinklets2
I just think if France ruled him to be insane, the cannibal man must have gotten the best lawyer in town. And even so, I must agree with one poster that the French people could be at fault for not protesting the verdict. But his lawyer was one hell of a lawyer paid perhaps very handsomely.
kaimycahl
@Yrral You are incorrect AGAIN in the US he wouldn't have been run out of the US as SOON as the authorities locked him up there is an AUTOMATIC HIT on his head it is a written rule in US prisons people like that are DOA. Once out in the general population they are done!! Jeffery Dahmer didn't last and he ate people.
He would of been run out of the US,if not by the government,but ordinary citizen
bass4funk
Morbid, hope he rots in hell, got off too easy.
smithinjapan
Good old Japanese justice. And on top of bragging about his crime he got to profit from the story to boot. Absolutely amazing. He and Joji Obara are probably partying it up in hell. If defies logic what you can get away with here and how they protect such people simply because they are Japanese nationals. Hang your head in shame.
TokyoLiving
He should have gone through the death penalty..
Good riddance..
Adios human garbage..
Burn in hell..
Donald Seekins
Beneath the lovely facade of "Beautiful Japan" lurks some pretty awful nihilism.
Dirk T
More details here: https://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/sagawa-issei-photos-2.htm
Sanjinosebleed
If I Was the parent of that poor girl this scumbag wouldn’t have been able to die of natural causes!
Jlove
Back in 1981 I started my career in financial markets when this news appeared. By this time Japan was already a big investor and very influential in France. At the spot I know this freak is never going to stay in the joint for long time. Too much money was on the block. France did what they can do best, like a serving woman. Understand?
Dave Fair
MeiyouwentiDec. 2 06:22 pm JST
Yes but it was Japanese authorities that ruled he was sane and let him free to live among the Japanese population after his deportation from France, which BTW they could have denied! If the Japanese authorities had ruled him insane, which by most standards would seem fitting for the severity and incredible circumstances of crimes to which he made no secret of, he would have been institutionalized and never heard from again. And lets be honest here, it would have been COMPLETELY achievable when you factor in the power of the Justice Ministry and the inability of ordinary citizens to get a court decision over-ruled.
starpunk
'And Justice For All' is the title of a 1979 movie starring Al Pacino. It was shown unedited (cuss words intact, with that famous R-rated climatic conclusion) in my US Government class during my HS senior year. It's also the title of an important 1988 Top Ten album by Metallica. It brought thrash into the mainstream.
This story is featured (briefly) in the 'rap' - like interlude of the 1983 song 'Too Much Blood' by the Rolling Stones. The song is basically a 'parody' of all these late-night TV horror movies, but its controversial video was restricted to the late hours by MTV and banned by the BBC.
This sick creep should've been locked away for life, in solitary - at least by the time the Stones recorded that song for the 'Undercover' sessions. Why the hell he was allowed to go free and practically gloat and wallow in his 'fame' and notoriety as long as he has is a GROSS travesty of justice to say the very least. And to think these types get paid to appear as guests on afternoon TV talk shows now. Yeah, Jerry Springer - I'm talking to YOU!
There's three letter abbreviation for people like this that I won't repeat here. Wintertime is coming up and he can stay more than 'warm' where he's at right now in the afterlife. Enjoy your HOT afterlife, Issei Sagawa - you sick repulsive disgusting hellhound BASTARD.
MilesTeg
He had to live a completely straight line did he? You mean he couldn't murder, rape, and eat another victim?
Sounds like you're making him out to be some kind of victim because he couldn't live a normal life.
He did live a normal life. Actually he appeared on talk and game shows in Japan. He appeared in films mimicking the murder. He even became a food critic. What does this say about Japanese society?
He confessed to the murder and in Japan sometimes an unforced confession is enough to legally convict. He also raped a woman in Japan but his father paid off the victim. He was clearly insane as he still harbored the same feelings yet a Japanese psychiatrist deemed him sane. We all know the level of psychology and psychiatry in this country.. It's years behind. We don't even know how much Japan tried to collect evidence from the French.
Others and myself have included France's role in this debacle but that doesn't absolve Japan of incompetence and the disgusting celebrity they bestowed upon him.
Pukey2
Why on earth would anyone think there'd be one in the first place?
What's just as sick is that he was treated like a celebrity in Japan. Sickening.
kurisupisu
Not only abroad.
Although, in Bangkok there is a particularly well known street amongst the Japanese that (for a price) used to allow sadomasochistic practices.
There have been several murders of foreign women in Japan (of course, not mentioned here) and I have known several that have been stalked as well as Japanese women.
Perversion is rife in Japan.
Kobe White Bar Owner
Not a religious person but I do hope he gets what's coming to him if we do go somewhere else. Scumbag even made money off it! Yuck
Alex
Since he was never punished in life for the horrors he committed, I hope that he will spend an eternity in the deepest, hottest circle of hell, forever roasting alive, while demons feast on his flesh over and over and over again. Let's see how that satiates his "obsession with cannibalism". It's genuinely sickening sometimes how far Japan will go to defend its own. This guy's actions, no matter what country he comes from, are beyond indefensible.
falseflagsteve
A fascinating and very disturbed chap. His life story is very interesting and gives a good look into his very queer upbringing that developed his bizarre cannibalism fetish. A disturbed youth with very weird features who was incredibly small with a father who put the cannibalism seed into his mind as a child.
His crime was horrendous and the way it was dealt with by France and Japan almost defies belief. He certainly needed incarceration and of deemed fit to be in society, then monitored by the authorities.
starpunk
A repulsive irony here.
That doesn't restore the innocence (or virginity) of the victim. She is scarred for life, period. Money can't restore her to what she was before.
A sick criminal getting away scot-free. Tragic.
Scummy creeps like this psycho don't deserve any memorial service or even a funeral. Throw his carcass into the ocean and make him fish food just like wat was done with Osama bin Laden. Let the sharks eat him up! Chomp!