WEBVTT

1
00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:10.880
<v Speaker 1>In the spring of nineteen eighty four, a Japanese candy

2
00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:14.599
<v Speaker 1>company executive was kidnapped from his own home while he

3
00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:18.199
<v Speaker 1>was soaking in the bathtub. What followed wasn't just a

4
00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:22.280
<v Speaker 1>ransom attempt. It was the beginning of a nationwide nightmare.

5
00:00:23.320 --> 00:00:27.239
<v Speaker 1>For the next seventeen months, an anonymous group launched a

6
00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:33.079
<v Speaker 1>relentless campaign of blackmail, arson, poison threats, and public humiliation,

7
00:00:34.200 --> 00:00:37.840
<v Speaker 1>and despite one of the largest investigations in Japanese history,

8
00:00:39.079 --> 00:00:44.679
<v Speaker 1>they were never canned. This is the unsolved story of

9
00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:47.640
<v Speaker 1>the Monster with twenty one faces.

10
00:00:48.759 --> 00:00:52.119
<v Speaker 2>My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked

11
00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:54.479
<v Speaker 2>and Grim, a true crime podcast.

12
00:00:56.159 --> 00:01:23.719
<v Speaker 1>The following podcast your real intended your audience listeners, Okay,

13
00:01:23.719 --> 00:01:29.079
<v Speaker 1>guess what what? That's what? Did you see that coming?

14
00:01:29.719 --> 00:01:30.200
<v Speaker 2>Not at all?

15
00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:32.400
<v Speaker 1>Well, I mean you're looking directly at me, so probably,

16
00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:33.159
<v Speaker 1>I'm sure.

17
00:01:33.239 --> 00:01:37.599
<v Speaker 2>Did. You're drinking beer? I'm drinking a hot chocolate. It's

18
00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:38.120
<v Speaker 2>a good night.

19
00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:44.000
<v Speaker 1>It's a good night for sure. If you haven't heard yet, Fearful,

20
00:01:44.239 --> 00:01:47.840
<v Speaker 1>our sibling podcast, came out with ten new episodes last

21
00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:50.120
<v Speaker 1>week and is now uploading every Wednesday.

22
00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:52.799
<v Speaker 2>Wow ding dang, Yeah.

23
00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:54.879
<v Speaker 1>Just gonna drop that there, and we'll leave it at that.

24
00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:57.000
<v Speaker 2>Drop that bomb. I mean, I'm sure a lot of

25
00:01:57.000 --> 00:01:59.280
<v Speaker 2>people have already listened, but there is a lot out

26
00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:00.640
<v Speaker 2>there that happens some.

27
00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:02.400
<v Speaker 1>Good stories too. But we have a good story today.

28
00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:04.280
<v Speaker 2>Have you ever heard of the sound? So?

29
00:02:04.599 --> 00:02:06.439
<v Speaker 1>Have you heard about this one? The master with twenty

30
00:02:06.439 --> 00:02:07.040
<v Speaker 1>one faces?

31
00:02:07.159 --> 00:02:09.560
<v Speaker 2>No, not even a little.

32
00:02:10.199 --> 00:02:12.639
<v Speaker 1>I don't know why, but I'm always surprised when I

33
00:02:12.680 --> 00:02:14.759
<v Speaker 1>run across the case that I haven't heard of before.

34
00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:16.960
<v Speaker 1>It's like, oh, why haven't I heard of this one?

35
00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:19.439
<v Speaker 1>But then also at the same time, when you think

36
00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:22.840
<v Speaker 1>about it, my knowledge on true crime, even after hosting

37
00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:25.199
<v Speaker 1>a podcast with you about true crime for the last

38
00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:28.560
<v Speaker 1>like three four years, is only a drop of water

39
00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:32.039
<v Speaker 1>in the giant ocean that is yeah, world of true crime.

40
00:02:32.199 --> 00:02:38.479
<v Speaker 2>So it makes which is just sad it is yeah

41
00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:41.439
<v Speaker 2>and true crime. Okay, I'm just going to share this story.

42
00:02:41.479 --> 00:02:43.319
<v Speaker 2>I've already shared this with you, but I don't know

43
00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:46.400
<v Speaker 2>if this is like a good thing or a bad thing.

44
00:02:46.759 --> 00:02:48.439
<v Speaker 2>So I was like, oh, for dinner with a friend

45
00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:51.400
<v Speaker 2>and putting something in my back seat of my car.

46
00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:54.319
<v Speaker 2>She had like gone into the passenger side, and then

47
00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:57.120
<v Speaker 2>I seen these two guys just like staring, and then

48
00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:00.360
<v Speaker 2>they slowly like made their way over to the car,

49
00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:02.319
<v Speaker 2>and I was just like, oh my god, holy shit.

50
00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:04.479
<v Speaker 2>And I like hopped in the car and locked the

51
00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:07.240
<v Speaker 2>door like as quick as I can. And it's like, oh, man,

52
00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:08.840
<v Speaker 2>is it good to be that on edge? Or is

53
00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:10.080
<v Speaker 2>true crime fucking with me?

54
00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:11.879
<v Speaker 1>Well, you got it. You got to continue the story

55
00:03:11.879 --> 00:03:13.319
<v Speaker 1>and what happened? What did they do next?

56
00:03:13.639 --> 00:03:17.159
<v Speaker 2>Well, they continued walking like down the sidewalk. Okay, so

57
00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:20.560
<v Speaker 2>they crossed the road over to us. So I don't know.

58
00:03:20.680 --> 00:03:23.599
<v Speaker 2>My spidy sense was just like through the roof, were.

59
00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:25.719
<v Speaker 1>They engaging or anything? Did they engage in you talk to.

60
00:03:25.719 --> 00:03:27.719
<v Speaker 2>You like like watching?

61
00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:31.479
<v Speaker 1>Okay, So there we go. Don't get me wrong. Probably

62
00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:32.680
<v Speaker 1>good call, spidy sense.

63
00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:34.639
<v Speaker 2>You can get me too safe. You got to listen

64
00:03:34.680 --> 00:03:37.919
<v Speaker 2>to those gut feelings sometimes one hundred percent. But I

65
00:03:37.960 --> 00:03:40.000
<v Speaker 2>was just like, wow, it was probably.

66
00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:42.719
<v Speaker 1>Probably one of those situations where like nothing was gonna happen.

67
00:03:43.080 --> 00:03:44.719
<v Speaker 2>It was just a weird coincidence.

68
00:03:44.919 --> 00:03:48.280
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, but if on the off chance something might have, Yeah,

69
00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:49.319
<v Speaker 1>listened to your gut.

70
00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:53.680
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, oh my gosh, that was we have a finily

71
00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:56.800
<v Speaker 2>probably heard we have a dog hacking away in the background.

72
00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:00.319
<v Speaker 2>I think she ate some grass or something earlier, and

73
00:04:00.360 --> 00:04:02.759
<v Speaker 2>she's been doing that kind of off and on all night.

74
00:04:02.919 --> 00:04:05.199
<v Speaker 1>Well, I mean the sun shining, you know this, you know,

75
00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:08.080
<v Speaker 1>the outside weather is upon us and everything. She's been

76
00:04:08.120 --> 00:04:10.919
<v Speaker 1>enjoying herself outside, and honestly, I think there's a lot

77
00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:14.800
<v Speaker 1>of people who have been enjoying themselves like outside.

78
00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:18.319
<v Speaker 2>Recently, doing yard work and everything nice exactly.

79
00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:19.959
<v Speaker 1>And when they're out there doing the yardwork, they can

80
00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:22.680
<v Speaker 1>be listening to podcasts, and they can especially be listening

81
00:04:22.759 --> 00:04:25.720
<v Speaker 1>to behind the scenes content and exclusive episodes if they

82
00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:29.240
<v Speaker 1>sign up over on our Patreon, like these amazing people did,

83
00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:32.600
<v Speaker 1>like Rachelle, for example, or Rachel. I don't know if

84
00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:34.639
<v Speaker 1>it's Rochelle or Rachel because they're both always spelled like

85
00:04:34.680 --> 00:04:35.079
<v Speaker 1>the same.

86
00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:38.079
<v Speaker 2>But how's it spelled r A c hl. I think

87
00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:38.839
<v Speaker 2>that's Rachel.

88
00:04:39.319 --> 00:04:41.600
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, but I've seen people who have it Rachelle, but

89
00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:44.519
<v Speaker 1>it's spelt the same. Oh okay, I've also seen Raquel

90
00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:48.279
<v Speaker 1>spelt the same. So I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say Rachel.

91
00:04:48.360 --> 00:04:55.600
<v Speaker 1>Probably Rachel, Sophia Days, Melissa Bracken Henderson, Julia Ferrell, Shelby,

92
00:04:56.079 --> 00:05:03.639
<v Speaker 1>Chrissy Waite, Naomi Ortega, Joe Erronymous, I probably butchered your name, sorry,

93
00:05:03.720 --> 00:05:06.519
<v Speaker 1>Joe Ashanda eighty.

94
00:05:06.680 --> 00:05:08.399
<v Speaker 2>You know what, it's just part of your charm.

95
00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:11.000
<v Speaker 1>It's part of my charm. I can't rap for shit, right.

96
00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:15.079
<v Speaker 2>He butchered my name. That is just so like on brand.

97
00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:17.199
<v Speaker 1>It really is. But thank you guys so much for

98
00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:20.040
<v Speaker 1>signing up over in Patreon. We got a little bit

99
00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:22.879
<v Speaker 1>of a giveaway going on right now, so some of

100
00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:25.439
<v Speaker 1>you might be involved in it and doing a little

101
00:05:25.480 --> 00:05:28.759
<v Speaker 1>bit of a mystery puzzle solve thing as we go along.

102
00:05:29.079 --> 00:05:31.519
<v Speaker 2>Cool. Yeah, there's always cool stuff going on in.

103
00:05:31.560 --> 00:05:33.519
<v Speaker 1>There always, But for now I think we should get

104
00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:36.160
<v Speaker 1>onto this case. Let's do it, okay. In the mid

105
00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:38.759
<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighties, Japan was shaken by one of the most

106
00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:42.480
<v Speaker 1>bizarre and unsettling crime sprees in its modern history. And

107
00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:45.560
<v Speaker 1>it had nothing to do with murder, war or political scandal.

108
00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:48.000
<v Speaker 1>In fact, it had to do with something I guarantee

109
00:05:48.040 --> 00:05:50.839
<v Speaker 1>you you didn't see coming. You see, it all started

110
00:05:51.079 --> 00:05:57.480
<v Speaker 1>with Candy. That's right, Candy Candy. This is the story

111
00:05:57.560 --> 00:06:00.319
<v Speaker 1>of the monster with twenty one faces, a mystery that

112
00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:05.279
<v Speaker 1>begins with a kidnapping and spirals into something a lot stranger.

113
00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:08.839
<v Speaker 1>So it was on the night of March eighteenth, nineteen

114
00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:11.319
<v Speaker 1>eighty four. It was supposed to be, you know, just

115
00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:16.120
<v Speaker 1>a regular quiet Sunday, especially for Katsahushia Azaki, the president

116
00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:20.959
<v Speaker 1>of the Japanese candy giant Azaki Glico. He was just

117
00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:24.519
<v Speaker 1>chillin at his home in Nishiomia, a city near Kobe,

118
00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:27.800
<v Speaker 1>winding down from the day with a bath. His wife

119
00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:30.160
<v Speaker 1>and three young kids were getting ready for bed, and

120
00:06:30.199 --> 00:06:32.279
<v Speaker 1>his seventy year old mother was next door in her

121
00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:37.120
<v Speaker 1>townhouse on the same property. But that night, something terrifying happened.

122
00:06:37.839 --> 00:06:41.920
<v Speaker 1>Two masked men broke into Azaki's mother's house. First, they

123
00:06:41.959 --> 00:06:44.639
<v Speaker 1>tied her up, cut the phone lines, and took something

124
00:06:45.160 --> 00:06:50.279
<v Speaker 1>very specific, a key to Azaki's home, which was protected

125
00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:53.560
<v Speaker 1>by a security system. Now these guys weren't amateurs. They

126
00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:57.079
<v Speaker 1>clearly had done their homework. Using the stolen key, they

127
00:06:57.199 --> 00:07:00.720
<v Speaker 1>entered Azaki's house, tied up his wife and seven year

128
00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:04.720
<v Speaker 1>old daughter, then went straight for him. Now, Azaki was

129
00:07:04.759 --> 00:07:06.600
<v Speaker 1>still in the bath with his two other kids when

130
00:07:06.600 --> 00:07:09.199
<v Speaker 1>they found him. He screamed, but the men threatened to

131
00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:12.839
<v Speaker 1>harm his family if he didn't cooperate, so he had

132
00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:15.600
<v Speaker 1>no choice and he did as he was told, so

133
00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:18.639
<v Speaker 1>still soaking wet, he was dragged from his home completely

134
00:07:18.759 --> 00:07:22.240
<v Speaker 1>naked and stuffed into a car that was waiting.

135
00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:25.959
<v Speaker 2>Man, that would be very alarming.

136
00:07:26.279 --> 00:07:29.560
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it was a full blown abduction. And this was

137
00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:33.480
<v Speaker 1>the president of one of Japan's most beloved candy companies

138
00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:36.519
<v Speaker 1>and he had just been kidnapped from his home. Yeah,

139
00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:40.000
<v Speaker 1>so this is specifically someone targeting a high order executive

140
00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:40.959
<v Speaker 1>from this company.

141
00:07:41.160 --> 00:07:43.920
<v Speaker 2>And you said he had like security and stuff, or

142
00:07:43.959 --> 00:07:46.519
<v Speaker 2>like a security system and shit. So they had been

143
00:07:46.519 --> 00:07:47.000
<v Speaker 2>planning this.

144
00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:50.000
<v Speaker 1>Shit, They did their homework for sure. Now, by the

145
00:07:50.040 --> 00:07:55.319
<v Speaker 1>next morning, a ransom note appeared, demanding roughly one billion yen,

146
00:07:55.959 --> 00:08:00.279
<v Speaker 1>which would equal approximately four point three million US dollars,

147
00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:03.600
<v Speaker 1>well as well as two hundred and twenty pounds of

148
00:08:03.639 --> 00:08:06.959
<v Speaker 1>gold bullion, which is refined gold typically at least ninety

149
00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:09.600
<v Speaker 1>nine point five percent pure, in the form of either

150
00:08:09.639 --> 00:08:10.600
<v Speaker 1>bars or coins.

151
00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:13.240
<v Speaker 2>Okay, I was hoping that it was going to be candy.

152
00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:17.360
<v Speaker 2>That would have made this a little bit more interesting

153
00:08:17.399 --> 00:08:17.639
<v Speaker 2>for me.

154
00:08:17.959 --> 00:08:21.480
<v Speaker 1>It's not. They didn't. They didn't ransom him for candy, Okay.

155
00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:24.480
<v Speaker 1>I have a feeling they wouldn't have talked to authorities

156
00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:26.519
<v Speaker 1>or got the authorities involved. It was just candy. They

157
00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:29.600
<v Speaker 1>would have taken him, been like unlock your factor, you

158
00:08:29.639 --> 00:08:30.120
<v Speaker 1>know what I mean.

159
00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:31.639
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, No, I'm just kidding.

160
00:08:32.360 --> 00:08:35.600
<v Speaker 1>So this whole situation though, with asking for four point

161
00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:39.080
<v Speaker 1>three million dollar US dollars and two hundred and twenty

162
00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:41.879
<v Speaker 1>pounds of gold, it sounds like an over the top

163
00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:45.919
<v Speaker 1>movie plot, if I'm being honest, But it was only

164
00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:51.799
<v Speaker 1>the beginning. Police responded quickly. There was a nationwide media blackout,

165
00:08:51.879 --> 00:08:53.679
<v Speaker 1>and it was all when this was all happening, was

166
00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:55.679
<v Speaker 1>put in place, and it was a massive search effort

167
00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:59.120
<v Speaker 1>that went underway immediately. But despite all their efforts, they

168
00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:02.240
<v Speaker 1>couldn't track down on the kidnappers or even figure out

169
00:09:02.279 --> 00:09:05.759
<v Speaker 1>who they were. In fact. Then three days later, on

170
00:09:05.799 --> 00:09:09.639
<v Speaker 1>March twenty first, Azaki managed to escape.

171
00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:11.360
<v Speaker 2>Okay, good for him.

172
00:09:11.639 --> 00:09:15.120
<v Speaker 1>He had been held in a warehouse not far from

173
00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:19.320
<v Speaker 1>the company Osaka's headquarters. At some point his captors apparently

174
00:09:19.399 --> 00:09:22.559
<v Speaker 1>let their guard down. Azaki loosened his ropes that were

175
00:09:22.600 --> 00:09:25.240
<v Speaker 1>tying him up. He broke through the door and fled

176
00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:27.960
<v Speaker 1>down the street barefoot, still wearing the simple clothes that

177
00:09:28.200 --> 00:09:30.759
<v Speaker 1>his abductor had given him to wear it because remember

178
00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:33.000
<v Speaker 1>he was captured from the bath, and he was nude

179
00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:35.720
<v Speaker 1>at the time, so he flagged down help from a

180
00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:38.840
<v Speaker 1>pair of railroad workers and was eventually reunited with his family.

181
00:09:39.240 --> 00:09:43.399
<v Speaker 1>He was shaken, but not physically harmed. He was safe. Now.

182
00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:47.120
<v Speaker 1>Even though Azaki escaped without a ransom being paid, the

183
00:09:47.159 --> 00:09:50.720
<v Speaker 1>people behind the kidnapping clearly weren't done. In fact, the

184
00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:56.600
<v Speaker 1>whole situation escalated almost immediately. A few weeks later after

185
00:09:56.639 --> 00:09:59.600
<v Speaker 1>the abduction, on April tenth, nineteen eighty four, someone set

186
00:09:59.639 --> 00:10:02.799
<v Speaker 1>fire to several vehicles in the parking lot of Glico's

187
00:10:02.840 --> 00:10:07.480
<v Speaker 1>company headquarters. So that's the company, the candy company factory, right, Okay,

188
00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:10.759
<v Speaker 1>so they actually set fire to the vehicles at that headquarters,

189
00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:14.279
<v Speaker 1>targeting them. Less than a week later, a plastic container

190
00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:17.559
<v Speaker 1>filled with hydrochloric acid was found inside of one of

191
00:10:17.559 --> 00:10:21.919
<v Speaker 1>Glico's buildings, the same in the city of I'm gonna

192
00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:24.679
<v Speaker 1>get this wrong. I'm going to try Ibaraki, which was

193
00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:29.159
<v Speaker 1>the same city where Azaki had been held captive. Now,

194
00:10:29.159 --> 00:10:31.960
<v Speaker 1>the container wasn't just there for shock value either. It

195
00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:34.559
<v Speaker 1>came with a note tying it directly back to the

196
00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:40.200
<v Speaker 1>same people responsible for that kidnapping. Which, since there's notes,

197
00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:43.960
<v Speaker 1>I should mention. There's also letters, and I mean there

198
00:10:44.039 --> 00:10:46.720
<v Speaker 1>was like over one hundred different letters that was sent

199
00:10:46.919 --> 00:10:48.879
<v Speaker 1>to the police over the course of this.

200
00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:53.159
<v Speaker 2>Case, like from the bad people. Yeah, from these well

201
00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:55.840
<v Speaker 2>doing the captives or whatever they're called.

202
00:10:56.039 --> 00:10:59.679
<v Speaker 1>Correct, So there's no way we can cover every single

203
00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:03.360
<v Speaker 1>letter this episode, just saying that. But they did begin

204
00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:06.000
<v Speaker 1>on April eighth, which is just a couple of days

205
00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:11.559
<v Speaker 1>backtracking here, and they were taunting. They were sarcastic, and

206
00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:16.720
<v Speaker 1>they were of course taunting the police directly. The tone

207
00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:19.679
<v Speaker 1>was subtle. Sorry, it wasn't subtle. One of the first

208
00:11:19.720 --> 00:11:24.320
<v Speaker 1>letters opened with quote to the stupid police, are you idiots?

209
00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:27.320
<v Speaker 2>WHOA, Yeah, that's harsh.

210
00:11:27.399 --> 00:11:29.080
<v Speaker 1>They're just like, how have you not caught us yet?

211
00:11:29.159 --> 00:11:31.000
<v Speaker 1>How have you not found out who we are yet?

212
00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:34.039
<v Speaker 1>What are you doing? They blame them for like wasting

213
00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:36.279
<v Speaker 1>tax payers dollars, Like if you can't catch us with

214
00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:39.120
<v Speaker 1>some of this information, like you're just like, what are

215
00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:39.519
<v Speaker 1>you doing?

216
00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:42.000
<v Speaker 2>But that's I feel like that's almost an insult to

217
00:11:42.039 --> 00:11:44.840
<v Speaker 2>them too, because are they wanting to be found? Then

218
00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:46.679
<v Speaker 2>it's sort of seeming so.

219
00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:50.919
<v Speaker 1>Well, let me continue here. Now. The letters written entirely

220
00:11:51.080 --> 00:11:55.799
<v Speaker 1>in Haragana, which and using Osaka dialect, the dialect at

221
00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:58.679
<v Speaker 1>the time, and the kanji's and everything. They seemed intentionally

222
00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:02.279
<v Speaker 1>childish and mocking. The group, still unnamed at this point,

223
00:12:02.360 --> 00:12:05.799
<v Speaker 1>claimed there were no insiders helping them, and they denied

224
00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:08.679
<v Speaker 1>any sort of ties to a Zakey's relatives or local

225
00:12:08.759 --> 00:12:12.799
<v Speaker 1>law enforcement, and dropped several clues. In fact, they were

226
00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:15.559
<v Speaker 1>saying that their getaway car they specifically told the police

227
00:12:15.559 --> 00:12:18.480
<v Speaker 1>our car was gray, and they told them, oh, and

228
00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:20.919
<v Speaker 1>by the way, we bought some food from this one

229
00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:24.720
<v Speaker 1>well known supermarket chain called the Dai. So they're like,

230
00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:27.320
<v Speaker 1>we bought some stuff from this grocery store. Our getaway

231
00:12:27.320 --> 00:12:30.000
<v Speaker 1>car was this color, and they're like, how can you

232
00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:33.639
<v Speaker 1>not fucking figure this out? So, whether they're trying to

233
00:12:33.639 --> 00:12:37.039
<v Speaker 1>get caught or they're just taunting them hard to.

234
00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:40.240
<v Speaker 2>Say yeah, because I'm imagining those I don't know, just

235
00:12:40.279 --> 00:12:43.279
<v Speaker 2>from being a total outsider, it doesn't seem like those

236
00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:46.960
<v Speaker 2>are really that hot of tips to me. I mean,

237
00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:48.799
<v Speaker 2>how many people are probably at that grocery store in

238
00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:51.080
<v Speaker 2>a day, well, how many people drive a gray car?

239
00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:51.639
<v Speaker 2>I don't know.

240
00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:55.600
<v Speaker 1>Still, they wrapped up this letter though, with another jab

241
00:12:55.639 --> 00:12:57.720
<v Speaker 1>at the police, saying, should we kidnap the head of

242
00:12:57.720 --> 00:12:59.120
<v Speaker 1>the prefectural police too.

243
00:12:59.639 --> 00:13:01.440
<v Speaker 2>Oh just yeez.

244
00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:03.840
<v Speaker 1>Sheer confidence in like we can get away with this

245
00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:06.440
<v Speaker 1>stuff if you can't get just right now, like we

246
00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:09.320
<v Speaker 1>know we can get away with this. So they weren't

247
00:13:09.399 --> 00:13:12.159
<v Speaker 1>just hiding in the shadows. They were openly taunting law

248
00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:16.879
<v Speaker 1>enforcement and the public and clearly keeping up with media coverage.

249
00:13:17.159 --> 00:13:20.200
<v Speaker 1>Police noted the regional dialect and the simplicity of the

250
00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:23.799
<v Speaker 1>writing style, which suggested the group might be local. Still,

251
00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:27.399
<v Speaker 1>none of the details led anywhere useful. The investigation was

252
00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:31.759
<v Speaker 1>stalling in the group, they clearly knew it too, so

253
00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:35.480
<v Speaker 1>things got a little more serious. In May of nineteen

254
00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:37.960
<v Speaker 1>eighty four, the group claimed that they had laced Glico's

255
00:13:38.039 --> 00:13:41.960
<v Speaker 1>candy products with potassium cyanide.

256
00:13:42.440 --> 00:13:44.039
<v Speaker 2>Oh my goodness.

257
00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:46.000
<v Speaker 1>And then they said that they placed them back on

258
00:13:46.120 --> 00:13:46.960
<v Speaker 1>the store shelf.

259
00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:47.759
<v Speaker 2>Shit.

260
00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:50.759
<v Speaker 1>Now, whether this was real or not, it didn't matter.

261
00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:53.720
<v Speaker 1>The threat worked and Kiko was forced to pull every

262
00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:56.879
<v Speaker 1>product off the shelf, a move that costs the company

263
00:13:56.919 --> 00:14:00.399
<v Speaker 1>an estimated of twenty one million.

264
00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:04.080
<v Speaker 2>Dollars like US dollars we're talking here?

265
00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:04.480
<v Speaker 1>Yes?

266
00:14:05.080 --> 00:14:05.320
<v Speaker 2>Cool?

267
00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:08.679
<v Speaker 1>That one threat shut down production and it led to

268
00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:11.759
<v Speaker 1>the temporary layoff of four hundred and fifty part time

269
00:14:11.799 --> 00:14:15.200
<v Speaker 1>workers and said, shockwaves through the Japanese food industry.

270
00:14:15.879 --> 00:14:19.320
<v Speaker 2>Well, yeah, that is so scary because it's sort of

271
00:14:19.320 --> 00:14:21.559
<v Speaker 2>something you have to take seriously.

272
00:14:21.399 --> 00:14:25.200
<v Speaker 1>Exactly, but holy shit. Well and even if it's like okay,

273
00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:27.919
<v Speaker 1>we need to test to see if this is real,

274
00:14:29.480 --> 00:14:31.919
<v Speaker 1>it's going to take time to pull products to test them,

275
00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:34.120
<v Speaker 1>and you have to halt production because it's like no,

276
00:14:34.279 --> 00:14:37.200
<v Speaker 1>like you can't tell if it's coming from inside or not.

277
00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:40.080
<v Speaker 1>So you have to do a full investigation among the

278
00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:43.039
<v Speaker 1>testing as well. So they tested for these products or

279
00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:45.320
<v Speaker 1>testimony the products are poisoned. None was found, and it

280
00:14:45.399 --> 00:14:48.480
<v Speaker 1>just seemed like it was all a threat really, but

281
00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:49.879
<v Speaker 1>still just the fear alone was.

282
00:14:49.960 --> 00:14:52.720
<v Speaker 2>Enough in such a waste of money. And then you're

283
00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:54.480
<v Speaker 2>affecting other people's lives.

284
00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:55.159
<v Speaker 1>Yep.

285
00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:58.399
<v Speaker 2>I just think how many people, well, like say you

286
00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:00.360
<v Speaker 2>got laid off or whatever, and then how many people

287
00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:02.799
<v Speaker 2>in the world would have wanted that candy or you know,

288
00:15:03.320 --> 00:15:05.639
<v Speaker 2>needed food or something, and all the shit's just getting

289
00:15:05.639 --> 00:15:07.080
<v Speaker 2>thrown in the garbage exactly.

290
00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:09.000
<v Speaker 1>Well, and you're not even thinking of that. But also

291
00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:11.799
<v Speaker 1>the distributors' lives as well, the distributors who are supplying

292
00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:14.519
<v Speaker 1>the candy company with, you know, the ingredients to create

293
00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:16.399
<v Speaker 1>the candy. Yeah, so you have to think of the

294
00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:21.120
<v Speaker 1>layoffs on those ends as well. Yeah, it's a ripple

295
00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:24.639
<v Speaker 1>effect through a lot of a lot of industries. Now,

296
00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:26.799
<v Speaker 1>by the summer of nineteen eighty four, what started as

297
00:15:26.840 --> 00:15:30.600
<v Speaker 1>a single kidnapping had ballooned into a national crisis. The

298
00:15:30.679 --> 00:15:32.879
<v Speaker 1>letters were piling up, As I mentioned, there was like

299
00:15:33.240 --> 00:15:35.759
<v Speaker 1>over one hundred of them, The threats were getting bolder,

300
00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:38.919
<v Speaker 1>and the police, despite their massive efforts, still had no

301
00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:42.000
<v Speaker 1>idea who they were dealing with and who these people were.

302
00:15:42.519 --> 00:15:45.480
<v Speaker 1>And that's when the group finally settled on a name

303
00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:48.799
<v Speaker 1>for themselves. It was in June of nineteen eighty four

304
00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:51.879
<v Speaker 1>when they began signing the letters to the police as

305
00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:56.679
<v Speaker 1>quote the Monsters, Sorry, the monster with twenty one faces.

306
00:15:57.919 --> 00:15:59.639
<v Speaker 1>It wasn't just a random name though. They didn't just

307
00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:01.360
<v Speaker 1>come up with this and pull out of thin air.

308
00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:04.080
<v Speaker 1>It was a reference to a fictional villain from a

309
00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:08.840
<v Speaker 1>Japanese detective stories, a master of disguise who taunted police

310
00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:11.440
<v Speaker 1>and always managed to slip away.

311
00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:15.480
<v Speaker 2>You know, I don't love that they're just naming themselves.

312
00:16:16.039 --> 00:16:18.600
<v Speaker 1>That bothers me the name was not so much that

313
00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:22.080
<v Speaker 1>they're like, oh, we're cool and here's a cool name

314
00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:25.519
<v Speaker 1>for ourselves. It in itself is again another taunt in

315
00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:29.279
<v Speaker 1>jab at police. If you look at this character in fiction,

316
00:16:29.559 --> 00:16:32.559
<v Speaker 1>police were never able to catch them. That's what's going

317
00:16:32.600 --> 00:16:35.360
<v Speaker 1>to happen here. That's pretty much what they're doing. Okay,

318
00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:38.240
<v Speaker 1>So it was clear this wasn't just about money though.

319
00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:40.399
<v Speaker 1>Whoever these people were, they were trying to make a

320
00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:44.519
<v Speaker 1>statement and have some fun doing it too. That same month,

321
00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:47.000
<v Speaker 1>on June twenty sixth, The Monster with twenty one faces

322
00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:49.440
<v Speaker 1>sent out a strange letter to the media saying they

323
00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:53.519
<v Speaker 1>were done harassing Glico. In a weirdly playful tone, they

324
00:16:53.519 --> 00:16:57.639
<v Speaker 1>wrote this, the president of Glico has already gone around

325
00:16:57.639 --> 00:17:01.159
<v Speaker 1>with his head hanging down long enough off we would

326
00:17:01.159 --> 00:17:05.000
<v Speaker 1>like to forgive him. Japan has gotten terribly hot and humid.

327
00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:07.200
<v Speaker 1>So when our work is done, we want to go

328
00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:11.480
<v Speaker 1>to Europe. Geneva, Paris, London. We'll be in one of

329
00:17:11.480 --> 00:17:16.799
<v Speaker 1>those places. Let's bring Pockey, the Traveler's friend, delicious glicoproducts.

330
00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:17.880
<v Speaker 1>We're eating them too.

331
00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:23.400
<v Speaker 2>What the shit? What does that mean by forgive him?

332
00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:24.640
<v Speaker 1>That's the question. Who knows.

333
00:17:24.759 --> 00:17:25.839
<v Speaker 2>What the hell did he do?

334
00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:28.440
<v Speaker 1>We don't know, but we do know. It seems like

335
00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:31.640
<v Speaker 1>whatever he did, whatever the reason they have to target him,

336
00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:35.279
<v Speaker 1>they're forgiving him. They're leaving him alone there.

337
00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:38.119
<v Speaker 2>They feel like they've done enough damage or whatever, let's

338
00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:39.519
<v Speaker 2>move on exactly.

339
00:17:39.880 --> 00:17:43.480
<v Speaker 1>So they're also saying, when our work is done, they're

340
00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:44.680
<v Speaker 1>going to basically go on.

341
00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:47.839
<v Speaker 2>Vacation, and they're advertising his product for him now.

342
00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:50.279
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so they're like, yeah, we're not targeting him anymore.

343
00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:52.559
<v Speaker 1>We're gonna go on vacation. We're gonna eat some candy.

344
00:17:52.759 --> 00:17:55.680
<v Speaker 1>That's what this basic this letter just basically said. And

345
00:17:55.759 --> 00:17:57.599
<v Speaker 1>just like that, it seemed like this nightmare was over.

346
00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:01.000
<v Speaker 1>No one had been hurt, there's no ransom that collected. Glico,

347
00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:04.519
<v Speaker 1>while badly bruised, was still standing and people assumed the

348
00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:07.920
<v Speaker 1>group had just got bored and moved on. But the

349
00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:12.559
<v Speaker 1>relief didn't last long. Only two days later, on June

350
00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:16.160
<v Speaker 1>twenty eighth, a new target emerged. This time it was

351
00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:21.319
<v Speaker 1>Muradi Ham, a food company known for its processed meat products.

352
00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:24.400
<v Speaker 1>They received a letter demanding fifty million yen, which is

353
00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:27.519
<v Speaker 1>equivalent to around two hundred and fifty thousand US dollars

354
00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:30.079
<v Speaker 1>at the time and instructions for a drop off of

355
00:18:30.119 --> 00:18:33.960
<v Speaker 1>the money. But what really caught everyone's attention wasn't the money,

356
00:18:34.440 --> 00:18:37.240
<v Speaker 1>it was the man who showed up to follow the plan.

357
00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:43.119
<v Speaker 1>So during the coordinated drop off of the money, right,

358
00:18:43.160 --> 00:18:45.200
<v Speaker 1>so it's like, drop off the money here at this location.

359
00:18:45.319 --> 00:18:49.519
<v Speaker 1>This time, an undercover officer disguised as a Maradi employee

360
00:18:49.720 --> 00:18:52.759
<v Speaker 1>noticed he had been followed by a suspicious man on

361
00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:57.519
<v Speaker 1>the train. So this guy who's, you know, supposedly a

362
00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:01.359
<v Speaker 1>part of the company dropping the money off as as instructed,

363
00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:04.200
<v Speaker 1>he's actually an officer, and he's like, okay, I'm being

364
00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:07.319
<v Speaker 1>I'm being trailed by someone, someone who's watching me. Now.

365
00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:10.039
<v Speaker 1>This officer described him as large, well built, with short

366
00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:15.160
<v Speaker 1>permed hair and narrow eyes, sharp eyes. Later police would

367
00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:17.960
<v Speaker 1>actually nickname him the fox eyed man.

368
00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:20.720
<v Speaker 2>Okay, that's quite a nickname.

369
00:19:21.079 --> 00:19:23.039
<v Speaker 1>So the officer tried to keep an eye on him,

370
00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:25.559
<v Speaker 1>even switching trains to throw him off, but the man

371
00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:28.039
<v Speaker 1>always seemed to stay one step ahead of him and

372
00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:32.039
<v Speaker 1>eventually slipped away without a trace. It was the closest

373
00:19:32.039 --> 00:19:36.960
<v Speaker 1>police had come to some potential someone potentially connected to

374
00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:42.200
<v Speaker 1>this group. However, it still wasn't close enough. This did

375
00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:45.279
<v Speaker 1>mark a turning point, though the group wasn't just hiding

376
00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:48.640
<v Speaker 1>behind letters anymore. They were making public moves, taunting law

377
00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:53.119
<v Speaker 1>enforcement and showing they were watching everything. They had money

378
00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:56.960
<v Speaker 1>drop off plans, and one particular one where the money

379
00:19:57.000 --> 00:19:59.960
<v Speaker 1>was supposed to be dropped off again to undercover officers.

380
00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:03.279
<v Speaker 1>No one showed up too money drop off, and a

381
00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:05.519
<v Speaker 1>letter came in where it was like, you guys think

382
00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:08.880
<v Speaker 1>you're slick, like we know you guys are officers? Like no,

383
00:20:10.119 --> 00:20:12.000
<v Speaker 1>they're like, we can tell by your shifty eyes. It

384
00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:12.759
<v Speaker 1>gave you away.

385
00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:17.400
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so what how how would they be able to tell?

386
00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:20.519
<v Speaker 2>I guess, well, because are they thinking maybe if it

387
00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:23.440
<v Speaker 2>wasn't an officer, the person would be kind of acting

388
00:20:24.200 --> 00:20:27.960
<v Speaker 2>pretty nervous and stuff, and these officers weren't.

389
00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:30.680
<v Speaker 1>Well, they're not too sure that there's potentials that they

390
00:20:30.680 --> 00:20:34.039
<v Speaker 1>were using things like police scanners to like hear your conversations.

391
00:20:34.359 --> 00:20:37.319
<v Speaker 1>Maybe they were watching really closely, Maybe they recognized faces

392
00:20:37.319 --> 00:20:39.079
<v Speaker 1>of the police. Maybe they did their research on who

393
00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:43.359
<v Speaker 1>was who. It's hard to say now. The next major

394
00:20:43.400 --> 00:20:48.559
<v Speaker 1>target was one of Japan's biggest confectionery companies, Maringa and Co.

395
00:20:49.079 --> 00:20:51.880
<v Speaker 1>And this time they weren't just threatening. They followed through

396
00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:57.079
<v Speaker 1>on their actions. It was October nineteen eighty four letters

397
00:20:57.119 --> 00:20:59.599
<v Speaker 1>began showing up once again, but this time, instead of

398
00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:04.119
<v Speaker 1>targeting company executives or police, the group addressed their message

399
00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:08.400
<v Speaker 1>directly to mums of the nation. The letter claimed that

400
00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:13.000
<v Speaker 1>the group had laced Maringa candy with cyanide, and they

401
00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:18.640
<v Speaker 1>were not bluffing this time. They included chilling lines like quote,

402
00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:22.799
<v Speaker 1>We've added some special flavor. The flavor of potassium cyanide

403
00:21:22.839 --> 00:21:25.839
<v Speaker 1>is a little bitter. It won't cause tooth decay, So

404
00:21:25.880 --> 00:21:29.920
<v Speaker 1>buy the suites for your kids. Yeah, not exactly a

405
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:33.480
<v Speaker 1>typical product pitch, but that's what they said. Now. Along

406
00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:37.079
<v Speaker 1>with a letter came a terrifying announcement twenty boxes of

407
00:21:37.160 --> 00:21:42.440
<v Speaker 1>poison candy had been planted across stores in Japan from

408
00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:47.000
<v Speaker 1>Tokyo to Hakata. Police of course, with this new information,

409
00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:51.400
<v Speaker 1>say okay, there's potentially twenty boxes of cyanide lace candy

410
00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:53.839
<v Speaker 1>out there, got a pull it. They jumped into action.

411
00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:56.960
<v Speaker 1>Tens of thousands of officers were deployed to comb through

412
00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:01.440
<v Speaker 1>grocery stores, convenience shops, and department store shelves. They found

413
00:22:01.720 --> 00:22:02.359
<v Speaker 1>the candy.

414
00:22:03.079 --> 00:22:04.559
<v Speaker 2>It was it was legit.

415
00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:10.680
<v Speaker 1>It was legit. They found eighteen, not twenty oh no,

416
00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:15.559
<v Speaker 1>but they found eighteen tainted packages, including Choco Balls and

417
00:22:15.640 --> 00:22:20.000
<v Speaker 1>Angel Pies, two of Marenga's most popular treats. Six of

418
00:22:20.039 --> 00:22:24.599
<v Speaker 1>them contained lethal doses of cyanide. Thankfully, every one of

419
00:22:24.599 --> 00:22:28.160
<v Speaker 1>those packages had been labeled. The group had placed a

420
00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:31.880
<v Speaker 1>sticker on the box that said things like danger contains poisoned,

421
00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:35.000
<v Speaker 1>You'll die if you eat this. The monster with twenty

422
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:38.519
<v Speaker 1>one faces. So they actually labeled each package that they

423
00:22:38.519 --> 00:22:39.160
<v Speaker 1>did poison.

424
00:22:39.880 --> 00:22:42.559
<v Speaker 2>Okay, well, where are those other two? That would drive

425
00:22:42.599 --> 00:22:45.480
<v Speaker 2>me freaking nuts? And seriously, if you consume this you

426
00:22:45.480 --> 00:22:49.799
<v Speaker 2>would just die. It's done. Yeah, ah, that's scary.

427
00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:55.279
<v Speaker 1>Well I imagine if they didn't label it, I guess.

428
00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:57.720
<v Speaker 2>But do you trust these people that they're actually freaking

429
00:22:58.119 --> 00:23:00.279
<v Speaker 2>only doing it to ones they label I don't know.

430
00:23:00.279 --> 00:23:01.640
<v Speaker 2>I wouldn't trust them at all.

431
00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:04.440
<v Speaker 1>Well, the thing is, though it sounds strange, but like

432
00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:07.119
<v Speaker 1>with these warning labels, like no one did die. Not

433
00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:11.519
<v Speaker 1>a single person was poisoned, and it most likely the

434
00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:14.680
<v Speaker 1>damage was avoided because of those labels.

435
00:23:15.079 --> 00:23:18.039
<v Speaker 2>Okay, so they're not It's almost seeming like they're not

436
00:23:18.119 --> 00:23:19.400
<v Speaker 2>wanting people to die.

437
00:23:19.480 --> 00:23:22.279
<v Speaker 1>It doesn't seem like they want to hurt people. It does.

438
00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:26.039
<v Speaker 2>They're hurting people, well, they don't want them to I

439
00:23:26.039 --> 00:23:27.799
<v Speaker 2>guess physically be hurt.

440
00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:31.880
<v Speaker 1>They're not wanting to harm a person physically. I guess

441
00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:35.400
<v Speaker 1>they don't want their direct actions to harm someone physically.

442
00:23:36.200 --> 00:23:38.759
<v Speaker 1>How's that for a sentence that makes sense?

443
00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:39.839
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, okay, there we go.

444
00:23:40.759 --> 00:23:44.119
<v Speaker 1>Now. Marenga's entire product line had been pulled from store shelves.

445
00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:47.880
<v Speaker 1>They're sales plummeted by more than sixty percent. Hundreds of

446
00:23:47.880 --> 00:23:50.640
<v Speaker 1>part time workers once again lost their jobs. Parents across

447
00:23:50.759 --> 00:23:53.480
<v Speaker 1>Japan were afraid to buy sweets with their children. Trust

448
00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:57.839
<v Speaker 1>in major brands were shattered overnight, and the threats didn't

449
00:23:57.839 --> 00:24:01.920
<v Speaker 1>stomp there. In February nineteen eighty five, police found another

450
00:24:02.039 --> 00:24:05.119
<v Speaker 1>round of poison candy in the city of Osaka, Tokyo

451
00:24:05.319 --> 00:24:08.519
<v Speaker 1>and Kyoto. These two were marked with the warning labels,

452
00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:11.759
<v Speaker 1>but it was clear that the monster was keeping their promise.

453
00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:14.319
<v Speaker 1>They said that there would be thirty buckses next time,

454
00:24:14.599 --> 00:24:18.319
<v Speaker 1>and some might not be labeled at all. So it's

455
00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:22.039
<v Speaker 1>this escalating warning of next time, next time, next time,

456
00:24:22.119 --> 00:24:24.519
<v Speaker 1>and they have followed through. In a couple so far. Yep,

457
00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:27.160
<v Speaker 1>so maybe they're not just threats.

458
00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:30.400
<v Speaker 2>But I'm sorry, this is the same product.

459
00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:34.839
<v Speaker 1>No, it's going on for like different products and stuff.

460
00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:37.079
<v Speaker 2>No, but the same company. Sorry I mean or no.

461
00:24:37.240 --> 00:24:38.920
<v Speaker 1>I believe this one was the same company as well.

462
00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:43.200
<v Speaker 2>Yes, Oh, they're just destroying like, oh, this is maddening

463
00:24:43.240 --> 00:24:45.519
<v Speaker 2>to me because they're just destroying these people's like hard

464
00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:50.400
<v Speaker 2>work and shit. Yeah, and oh it was ruining jobs.

465
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:52.039
<v Speaker 1>And dang, it was a nightmare on it was a

466
00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:55.160
<v Speaker 1>national nightmare because not only are you destroying like these jobs,

467
00:24:55.359 --> 00:24:57.720
<v Speaker 1>not only are you destroying the reputation of companies, you're

468
00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:00.799
<v Speaker 1>destroying trust from companies to family homes.

469
00:25:00.920 --> 00:25:01.839
<v Speaker 2>Very hard to build that.

470
00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:05.640
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and you're destroying the homes themselves because people are

471
00:25:05.640 --> 00:25:08.519
<v Speaker 1>so afraid of what they can and cannot eat. So

472
00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:11.640
<v Speaker 1>I'm sure people are refusing to eat things that they

473
00:25:11.640 --> 00:25:14.079
<v Speaker 1>do not know exactly where they came from and had

474
00:25:14.119 --> 00:25:16.559
<v Speaker 1>hands in them themselves. So there's a lot of probably

475
00:25:16.599 --> 00:25:20.680
<v Speaker 1>food waste, which means people starving and going hungry. It again,

476
00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:24.119
<v Speaker 1>this major domino effect that's going to ripple across the

477
00:25:24.279 --> 00:25:24.839
<v Speaker 1>entire nation.

478
00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:28.839
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's not even like something that can be kept quiet. No,

479
00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:31.200
<v Speaker 2>you know, definitely needs to be bout there.

480
00:25:31.319 --> 00:25:34.920
<v Speaker 1>So this is a public safety issue. So they have

481
00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:40.160
<v Speaker 1>a letter that says candy distributed publicly is poisoned. Right now,

482
00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:43.359
<v Speaker 1>you can't not say anything. You have to be like,

483
00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:46.119
<v Speaker 1>don't fucking buy this candy, public recall?

484
00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:47.279
<v Speaker 2>Yeah and right away.

485
00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:50.480
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Now, Japan has never experienced a crime like this.

486
00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:54.359
<v Speaker 1>When that's struck at something as simple and innocent as candy,

487
00:25:54.839 --> 00:25:57.920
<v Speaker 1>grocery stores became crime scenes. Parents were panicked, and the

488
00:25:57.960 --> 00:26:01.599
<v Speaker 1>police they were still just chasing these shadows of who

489
00:26:01.759 --> 00:26:06.319
<v Speaker 1>was this monster with twenty one faces. Now, the fox

490
00:26:06.359 --> 00:26:10.680
<v Speaker 1>eyed man who instantly became the police prime suspect, wasn't

491
00:26:10.680 --> 00:26:14.599
<v Speaker 1>the only lead. In a separate incident, Surveillance footage from

492
00:26:14.599 --> 00:26:17.960
<v Speaker 1>a store captured another man placing what looked like a

493
00:26:18.039 --> 00:26:22.880
<v Speaker 1>recalled Glico product back on a shelf, or maybe not recall,

494
00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:25.559
<v Speaker 1>but just a product itself, because right around that same time,

495
00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:30.960
<v Speaker 1>Glico products were being laced with poison, so this could

496
00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:34.000
<v Speaker 1>be one of those ones that was laced right being

497
00:26:34.039 --> 00:26:37.160
<v Speaker 1>put onto the shelf. Okay, Now, the footage was grainy,

498
00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:40.440
<v Speaker 1>but the man wore a Yumi Yuri Giant's baseball cap,

499
00:26:40.680 --> 00:26:44.960
<v Speaker 1>a business suit and glasses. This person became known as

500
00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:48.880
<v Speaker 1>the quote videotaped man, and for a while it seemed

501
00:26:48.920 --> 00:26:52.720
<v Speaker 1>like investigators were finally starting to get some leads and

502
00:26:52.759 --> 00:26:56.720
<v Speaker 1>they're beginning to close in. Then came the real twist.

503
00:26:57.279 --> 00:27:01.240
<v Speaker 1>Police thought they might actually have identified the fox eyed man.

504
00:27:02.440 --> 00:27:04.599
<v Speaker 1>A sketch of the suspect was made public in early

505
00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:07.960
<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighty five, and it looked strikingly similar to an

506
00:27:07.960 --> 00:27:12.480
<v Speaker 1>individual by the name of Manibu Miyazaki, the son of

507
00:27:12.519 --> 00:27:17.079
<v Speaker 1>a yakuza boss and a man with a criminal passed now.

508
00:27:17.160 --> 00:27:20.799
<v Speaker 1>Miyazaki had been involved in a labor dispute with Glico

509
00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:24.400
<v Speaker 1>a decade earlier, and some of the people investigating the

510
00:27:24.440 --> 00:27:28.440
<v Speaker 1>case were convinced that he was their guy, But once

511
00:27:28.519 --> 00:27:32.519
<v Speaker 1>police checked out his alibi, it actually held up. He

512
00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:35.400
<v Speaker 1>was in a different location during several of the incidents.

513
00:27:35.440 --> 00:27:39.000
<v Speaker 1>The connection was circumstantial at best, and without heart evidence,

514
00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:43.279
<v Speaker 1>they just had to let it go. Miyazaka was never charged.

515
00:27:43.319 --> 00:27:46.440
<v Speaker 1>There was resemblance to the sketches continue to fuel a

516
00:27:46.440 --> 00:27:47.960
<v Speaker 1>lot of speculation around.

517
00:27:47.680 --> 00:27:51.160
<v Speaker 2>His name well, and it sounds like he had reason,

518
00:27:51.640 --> 00:27:54.599
<v Speaker 2>or not necessarily good reason, but to have like a

519
00:27:54.640 --> 00:27:55.680
<v Speaker 2>beef with them.

520
00:27:55.839 --> 00:27:57.200
<v Speaker 1>Yeah he had motive.

521
00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:00.440
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, motive. That's a lot. He's your way of

522
00:28:00.480 --> 00:28:02.279
<v Speaker 2>putting it fair enough. Yeah.

523
00:28:02.599 --> 00:28:04.799
<v Speaker 1>Now, even with these glimpses, the fox eyed man on

524
00:28:04.839 --> 00:28:07.480
<v Speaker 1>the train, the videotape man in the store, and the

525
00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:11.480
<v Speaker 1>possible idea of Miyazaki, the monster with twenty one faces

526
00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:14.599
<v Speaker 1>always seemed to stay one step ahead, and by the

527
00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:17.720
<v Speaker 1>summer of nineteen eighty five, they had been tormenting Japan

528
00:28:17.880 --> 00:28:21.920
<v Speaker 1>for over a year. Food companies were just bleeding money.

529
00:28:22.359 --> 00:28:26.119
<v Speaker 1>Public anxiety was through the roof, and police, despite throwing

530
00:28:26.200 --> 00:28:29.400
<v Speaker 1>everything they had at the case, still had no arrests,

531
00:28:29.559 --> 00:28:33.200
<v Speaker 1>no names, and no real progress. For many people, the

532
00:28:33.240 --> 00:28:36.640
<v Speaker 1>constant chaos felt like a bad dream, just that wouldn't end.

533
00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:39.960
<v Speaker 1>But for one man, the pressure became too much for

534
00:28:40.119 --> 00:28:46.279
<v Speaker 1>him to bear. His name was Superintendent Shoji Yamamoto. He

535
00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:50.440
<v Speaker 1>was in charge of the investigation in Shiga Prefecture, one

536
00:28:50.440 --> 00:28:52.799
<v Speaker 1>of the key regions that was involved in the case.

537
00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:56.240
<v Speaker 1>Right so now, Yamamoto was a seasoned officer with a

538
00:28:56.279 --> 00:29:00.359
<v Speaker 1>long career, but the failure to catch the monster was

539
00:29:00.440 --> 00:29:04.319
<v Speaker 1>weighing heavily on him. His department had come close to

540
00:29:04.359 --> 00:29:07.480
<v Speaker 1>catching the group during a filled money drop involving the

541
00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:09.759
<v Speaker 1>Fox side Man, but like everything else in the case,

542
00:29:09.799 --> 00:29:14.440
<v Speaker 1>that lead just slipped away. On August seventh, nineteen eighty five,

543
00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:18.799
<v Speaker 1>Yamamoto reached a breaking point. In an act of despair

544
00:29:19.400 --> 00:29:23.640
<v Speaker 1>and shame, he poured kerosene over himself in his backyard

545
00:29:23.720 --> 00:29:25.160
<v Speaker 1>and set himself on fire.

546
00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:27.200
<v Speaker 2>Oh man, he.

547
00:29:27.039 --> 00:29:31.039
<v Speaker 1>Died shortly after, and his death shocked the entire country.

548
00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:38.039
<v Speaker 2>Oh no, yeah, so now like someone has gotten physically hurt.

549
00:29:38.359 --> 00:29:43.119
<v Speaker 1>Yes, someone has died because of this. He was basically, yeah,

550
00:29:43.160 --> 00:29:45.440
<v Speaker 1>he felt so much shame from not being able to

551
00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:48.559
<v Speaker 1>solve this case. Yep, that he Yeah, he committed suicide.

552
00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:53.880
<v Speaker 3>That is terrible, terrible. It is so fricking sad. Now

553
00:29:53.920 --> 00:29:57.440
<v Speaker 3>the tragedy sent a powerful ripple through Japan. The monster

554
00:29:57.480 --> 00:30:00.319
<v Speaker 3>with twenty one faces had taken no lives, at least

555
00:30:00.359 --> 00:30:04.839
<v Speaker 3>not directly, but now a respected law enforcement officer was dead,

556
00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:07.039
<v Speaker 3>and it was impossible to ignore the connection.

557
00:30:07.319 --> 00:30:07.519
<v Speaker 2>Yep.

558
00:30:08.200 --> 00:30:11.880
<v Speaker 1>Yamamoto's suicide was seen as a symbol of emotional toll

559
00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:14.839
<v Speaker 1>This unsolved case had taken not just on the public,

560
00:30:15.240 --> 00:30:19.240
<v Speaker 1>but on the people trying to stop it. Five days later,

561
00:30:20.160 --> 00:30:24.440
<v Speaker 1>on October twelfth, the Monster said one final letter. It

562
00:30:24.519 --> 00:30:31.599
<v Speaker 1>began coldly. Yamamoto of Shiga Prefecture police died. How stupid

563
00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:34.920
<v Speaker 1>of him.

564
00:30:35.519 --> 00:30:37.599
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's the fucking letter.

565
00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:39.880
<v Speaker 1>That's how it started.

566
00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:42.000
<v Speaker 2>Okay, what a bunch of assholes.

567
00:30:42.119 --> 00:30:45.480
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. The tone, as always was mocking in cruel, but

568
00:30:45.640 --> 00:30:49.400
<v Speaker 1>surprisingly the message also marked a turning point, and the

569
00:30:49.480 --> 00:30:53.839
<v Speaker 1>letter continued to say this, Yamamoto died like a man,

570
00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:58.400
<v Speaker 1>So we decided to give our condolences. We decided to

571
00:30:58.440 --> 00:31:03.240
<v Speaker 1>forget about our torturing food making companies. They added that

572
00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:06.599
<v Speaker 1>if any similar crimes happened in the future, it wouldn't

573
00:31:06.759 --> 00:31:11.400
<v Speaker 1>be them, just copycats. And just like that, the Monster

574
00:31:11.480 --> 00:31:17.480
<v Speaker 1>with twenty one faces stopped and disappeared entirely. No more letters,

575
00:31:17.960 --> 00:31:21.319
<v Speaker 1>no more threats, no more poison candy. It was over.

576
00:31:22.240 --> 00:31:26.680
<v Speaker 1>After seventeen months of terror, taunting and nationwide fear, the

577
00:31:26.680 --> 00:31:29.640
<v Speaker 1>monster with twenty one faces just walked away.

578
00:31:30.880 --> 00:31:35.119
<v Speaker 2>Okay, So I mean obviously that affected them more than

579
00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:38.680
<v Speaker 2>they were kind of like letting onto or alluding to.

580
00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:41.920
<v Speaker 1>Well again, I don't think that they were in intending

581
00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:44.400
<v Speaker 1>for anyone to come to harm, so.

582
00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:47.759
<v Speaker 2>But still they had they were intending on a lot,

583
00:31:47.880 --> 00:31:50.559
<v Speaker 2>Like a lot of shit happened, so I don't quite

584
00:31:50.680 --> 00:31:54.640
<v Speaker 2>understand the reason of doing this. It doesn't make any

585
00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:56.920
<v Speaker 2>sense to me. Well, it seems well we even have

586
00:31:57.039 --> 00:31:59.759
<v Speaker 2>gained Really are they gaining money? I guess they are

587
00:31:59.799 --> 00:32:03.559
<v Speaker 2>gain money from these like drops and stuff.

588
00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:07.400
<v Speaker 1>None of them ever occurred, no handover ever happened.

589
00:32:08.200 --> 00:32:12.240
<v Speaker 2>Okay, yeah, makes no sense. Then this makes no sense.

590
00:32:12.839 --> 00:32:15.319
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, welcome to the case of the Monster with twenty

591
00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:19.359
<v Speaker 1>one faces. Because it don't make no sense.

592
00:32:19.880 --> 00:32:22.559
<v Speaker 2>No, it really doesn't, and it just pisses y'af.

593
00:32:22.680 --> 00:32:27.079
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you're not wrong, because I'm pissed off. Yeah, and

594
00:32:27.240 --> 00:32:29.480
<v Speaker 1>you clearly are too well, because.

595
00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:31.880
<v Speaker 2>I'm like, am I missing something here? What the hell

596
00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:32.599
<v Speaker 2>is happening?

597
00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:34.960
<v Speaker 1>No, you're right there with me.

598
00:32:35.079 --> 00:32:37.559
<v Speaker 2>It's just a bunch of assholes, calls and shit.

599
00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:41.240
<v Speaker 1>It's funny because I can hear you yelling at me

600
00:32:41.279 --> 00:32:43.039
<v Speaker 1>in the back of my head. I can hear our

601
00:32:43.119 --> 00:32:46.079
<v Speaker 1>friend Larissa yelling at me too. I know it's happening

602
00:32:46.160 --> 00:32:46.559
<v Speaker 1>right now.

603
00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:50.440
<v Speaker 2>Oh and it's not just us, no, guaranteed. You know

604
00:32:50.640 --> 00:32:53.200
<v Speaker 2>people should comment how many times are you yelling at Ben?

605
00:32:53.319 --> 00:32:53.799
<v Speaker 1>Oh? God?

606
00:32:53.839 --> 00:32:54.640
<v Speaker 2>Through one episode?

607
00:32:54.759 --> 00:32:59.559
<v Speaker 1>Non stop? Guaranteed. Anyways, we digress now, once a monster

608
00:32:59.559 --> 00:33:02.119
<v Speaker 1>with twenty one faces went silent in August of nineteen

609
00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:05.240
<v Speaker 1>eighty five. It wasn't like the case was just dropped.

610
00:33:05.319 --> 00:33:09.240
<v Speaker 1>If anything, law enforcement they doubled down. Just because the

611
00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:12.319
<v Speaker 1>perpetrator is done doesn't mean they are right.

612
00:33:12.519 --> 00:33:13.119
<v Speaker 2>That's good.

613
00:33:13.640 --> 00:33:16.799
<v Speaker 1>The Japanese public wanted answers, and the authorities were still

614
00:33:16.799 --> 00:33:20.319
<v Speaker 1>hoping they could deliver some kind of resolution. But as

615
00:33:20.359 --> 00:33:23.400
<v Speaker 1>the months passed and then the years passed, the reality

616
00:33:23.400 --> 00:33:27.359
<v Speaker 1>became harder and harder to deny. The case was going cold.

617
00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:32.880
<v Speaker 1>In total, more than one million officers have been involved

618
00:33:32.920 --> 00:33:37.440
<v Speaker 1>in some capacity through investigation on this case. This wasn't

619
00:33:37.440 --> 00:33:39.359
<v Speaker 1>just a local effort. It was one of the largest

620
00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:45.000
<v Speaker 1>man hunts in Japanese history. Dang police followed over twenty

621
00:33:45.119 --> 00:33:49.720
<v Speaker 1>eight thousand tips and investigated nearly one hundred and twenty

622
00:33:50.039 --> 00:33:55.319
<v Speaker 1>five thousand individuals. Hoping that someone somewhere might slip up,

623
00:33:56.200 --> 00:33:58.759
<v Speaker 1>they leaned heavily on the few pieces of concrete evidence

624
00:33:58.799 --> 00:34:02.440
<v Speaker 1>they had. Security camera image of the so called videotape

625
00:34:02.480 --> 00:34:05.640
<v Speaker 1>man placing candy on the store shelf, the police sketch

626
00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:08.039
<v Speaker 1>of the fox eyed man who had been spotted shadowing

627
00:34:08.119 --> 00:34:12.679
<v Speaker 1>undercover officers during one of the ransom attempts. It yeah,

628
00:34:12.800 --> 00:34:15.239
<v Speaker 1>the letters, like all of it. They focused on these

629
00:34:15.480 --> 00:34:16.280
<v Speaker 1>sort of things.

630
00:34:17.159 --> 00:34:20.000
<v Speaker 2>So I guess you can't say that they didn't try exactly,

631
00:34:20.119 --> 00:34:21.679
<v Speaker 2>that they haven't put their best effort in.

632
00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:26.000
<v Speaker 1>Eh, well, that's the thing they did. Yeah, but none

633
00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:29.159
<v Speaker 1>of it led anywhere, not a match, not an arrest,

634
00:34:29.239 --> 00:34:31.840
<v Speaker 1>not even a solid lead. The group had managed to

635
00:34:31.840 --> 00:34:35.519
<v Speaker 1>carry out an incredibly public and far reaching crime spree

636
00:34:35.559 --> 00:34:41.079
<v Speaker 1>without ever being identified. As time passed, public attention eventually

637
00:34:41.280 --> 00:34:44.199
<v Speaker 1>started to fade, but the police stayed on it until

638
00:34:44.199 --> 00:34:48.440
<v Speaker 1>the clock ran out. See, there's something called the statue

639
00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:53.039
<v Speaker 1>of limitations, and Japan has one. Japan has a statute

640
00:34:53.039 --> 00:34:55.960
<v Speaker 1>of limitations on criminal charges, and that meant that there

641
00:34:55.960 --> 00:34:58.639
<v Speaker 1>was an expiration date on the justice that could occur.

642
00:34:59.480 --> 00:35:01.920
<v Speaker 1>Nicole literally took her glasses off and is rubbing her

643
00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:04.079
<v Speaker 1>face in like anger and disappointment.

644
00:35:04.119 --> 00:35:06.880
<v Speaker 2>Right, well, yeah, I'm just like wow.

645
00:35:08.159 --> 00:35:13.719
<v Speaker 1>The kidnapping of GLICO president Katsuhushi Izaki expired on March

646
00:35:14.400 --> 00:35:17.000
<v Speaker 1>in March of nineteen ninety four. The charges for attempted

647
00:35:17.079 --> 00:35:22.079
<v Speaker 1>murder and extortion expired in February two thousand. The week

648
00:35:22.119 --> 00:35:26.159
<v Speaker 1>before the final charge expired, Japan's National Police Agency held

649
00:35:26.159 --> 00:35:33.400
<v Speaker 1>a press conference where they admitted defeat publicly quote, it

650
00:35:33.480 --> 00:35:37.320
<v Speaker 1>is extremely regrettable that we could not apprehend the suspects.

651
00:35:38.199 --> 00:35:42.000
<v Speaker 1>It is indispensable that we make this an important lesson

652
00:35:42.400 --> 00:35:47.920
<v Speaker 1>for our future investigations. And just like that, the monster

653
00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:52.719
<v Speaker 1>with twenty one faces that case was officially closed, and

654
00:35:52.800 --> 00:35:57.960
<v Speaker 1>if the culprit, if they're still out there, they're now untouchable.

655
00:35:58.679 --> 00:36:02.719
<v Speaker 2>So like even if they came forward, nothing would come.

656
00:36:03.119 --> 00:36:03.800
<v Speaker 2>Would it happen?

657
00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:08.519
<v Speaker 1>Correct? They can walk into a police station say I

658
00:36:08.679 --> 00:36:11.239
<v Speaker 1>did it, Say my dad did it, or my uncle

659
00:36:11.280 --> 00:36:14.519
<v Speaker 1>did it, my mom did it, my sister whoever. They

660
00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:19.360
<v Speaker 1>could interview them. They can give evidence, publicly, make a documentary,

661
00:36:20.320 --> 00:36:21.320
<v Speaker 1>no repercussions.

662
00:36:22.639 --> 00:36:25.760
<v Speaker 2>Well, I kind of forgot about that. I need to

663
00:36:25.840 --> 00:36:28.719
<v Speaker 2>like look into that. How many places have that because

664
00:36:28.719 --> 00:36:29.719
<v Speaker 2>that's wild to me.

665
00:36:30.119 --> 00:36:34.159
<v Speaker 1>Statute of limitations. Yeah, yeah, Now, of course, there are

666
00:36:34.199 --> 00:36:37.360
<v Speaker 1>a lot of theories that are surrounding this case on

667
00:36:37.400 --> 00:36:40.079
<v Speaker 1>who could be responsible, you know, who did it? So

668
00:36:40.159 --> 00:36:42.079
<v Speaker 1>let's walk through some of the most talked about ones.

669
00:36:42.800 --> 00:36:44.920
<v Speaker 2>I just have to say one thing. The thing that

670
00:36:45.039 --> 00:36:48.480
<v Speaker 2>is bothering me is it would be easier to digest

671
00:36:48.519 --> 00:36:52.199
<v Speaker 2>and understand this if it was just like one company, right,

672
00:36:52.239 --> 00:36:54.760
<v Speaker 2>But the fact that they did this to like multiple

673
00:36:55.440 --> 00:36:59.880
<v Speaker 2>is what is I'm having trouble making sense of because

674
00:37:00.119 --> 00:37:03.039
<v Speaker 2>they it's okay, maybe they just don't like this company,

675
00:37:03.119 --> 00:37:07.199
<v Speaker 2>someone working there, the owner, someone high up they don't like.

676
00:37:07.559 --> 00:37:09.440
<v Speaker 2>But it's like not just one.

677
00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:10.880
<v Speaker 1>Yep, that's correct.

678
00:37:11.159 --> 00:37:13.199
<v Speaker 2>So that's why I'm having so much trouble.

679
00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:16.199
<v Speaker 1>Now, as far as I can tell through researching this case,

680
00:37:16.239 --> 00:37:20.239
<v Speaker 1>the only connections between the food companies is their processed foods,

681
00:37:21.079 --> 00:37:25.760
<v Speaker 1>the processed meats, the candies. It's processed foods.

682
00:37:26.840 --> 00:37:31.039
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's all I got, which makes sense, though I

683
00:37:31.079 --> 00:37:36.119
<v Speaker 2>don't know, like it's heat because big companies. I don't

684
00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:39.599
<v Speaker 2>know big companies. There isn't really big companies for like

685
00:37:39.679 --> 00:37:43.320
<v Speaker 2>fruits and shit, is there? You know? Yes, I guess,

686
00:37:43.440 --> 00:37:48.679
<v Speaker 2>but I don't know. Okay, Prick, My brain is like

687
00:37:48.760 --> 00:37:51.239
<v Speaker 2>trying to solve this. Good luck, but I want to

688
00:37:51.280 --> 00:37:52.000
<v Speaker 2>hear these theories.

689
00:37:52.000 --> 00:37:54.960
<v Speaker 1>Well, how many officers did I say were involved in

690
00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.039
<v Speaker 1>this over the million? Yea, more than one million officers

691
00:37:59.039 --> 00:38:03.840
<v Speaker 1>have been involved in some capacity through the investigation. One million,

692
00:38:04.400 --> 00:38:06.159
<v Speaker 1>no offense. But I don't think you or I are

693
00:38:06.159 --> 00:38:08.800
<v Speaker 1>going to solve it if one million officers.

694
00:38:08.679 --> 00:38:11.559
<v Speaker 2>Oh no, we're gonna do it right here, right now,

695
00:38:11.639 --> 00:38:14.000
<v Speaker 2>right now, We're gonna stay on this podcast and Tilt solved.

696
00:38:14.039 --> 00:38:15.519
<v Speaker 2>Oh shit, just kidding.

697
00:38:16.119 --> 00:38:20.320
<v Speaker 1>Anyways, as far as theories go, there's of course the

698
00:38:20.559 --> 00:38:24.000
<v Speaker 1>fox side man. It's probably the closest police ever got

699
00:38:24.039 --> 00:38:27.800
<v Speaker 1>to catching someone, and he was spotting spotty spotted during

700
00:38:27.920 --> 00:38:31.199
<v Speaker 1>the spot hit. There we go. During one of the

701
00:38:31.280 --> 00:38:34.639
<v Speaker 1>ransom drop attempts, I'm tailing an undercover cob on the train.

702
00:38:35.159 --> 00:38:37.719
<v Speaker 1>Witnesses said he had eyes like a fox, wore glasses

703
00:38:37.760 --> 00:38:39.880
<v Speaker 1>and a solid build, and he seemed to be watching

704
00:38:39.960 --> 00:38:43.599
<v Speaker 1>the operation a little too closely. Police trailed him but

705
00:38:43.639 --> 00:38:45.840
<v Speaker 1>lost him in the crowd. Then not long after, he

706
00:38:45.880 --> 00:38:49.400
<v Speaker 1>actually popped up again, this time near another ransom drop

707
00:38:49.400 --> 00:38:53.800
<v Speaker 1>connected to house foods. Same build, same glasses, same vibe

708
00:38:53.840 --> 00:38:56.159
<v Speaker 1>sort of thing. Right, The police got a sketch out

709
00:38:56.199 --> 00:38:58.280
<v Speaker 1>in the public and for a while he was Japan's

710
00:38:58.280 --> 00:39:02.360
<v Speaker 1>most wanted face. But yeah, never found and never identified

711
00:39:02.360 --> 00:39:07.280
<v Speaker 1>to this day. Then there's the videotaped man. In his incident,

712
00:39:07.280 --> 00:39:09.840
<v Speaker 1>a security camera caught a man in a baseball cap,

713
00:39:10.239 --> 00:39:14.679
<v Speaker 1>a Yumiyuri Giant's cap. Specifically, he was placing glico candy

714
00:39:14.760 --> 00:39:17.480
<v Speaker 1>back onto a store shelf. This was around the time

715
00:39:17.559 --> 00:39:20.719
<v Speaker 1>the group claimed to be tainting sweets with cyanide. That

716
00:39:20.760 --> 00:39:22.760
<v Speaker 1>footage was grainy and old, but it was enough to

717
00:39:22.760 --> 00:39:27.719
<v Speaker 1>give him a nickname, the videotape Man. Then there was

718
00:39:28.519 --> 00:39:33.119
<v Speaker 1>Miyazaki Guy, who was an actual name suspect for a time.

719
00:39:33.400 --> 00:39:35.440
<v Speaker 1>He looked a lot like the fox eyde Man and

720
00:39:35.480 --> 00:39:38.280
<v Speaker 1>had a criminal record. Even more suspicious, he had a

721
00:39:38.280 --> 00:39:41.360
<v Speaker 1>long standing grudge against Glico, including a labor dispute from

722
00:39:41.400 --> 00:39:45.159
<v Speaker 1>about a decade earlier. His father was a known yakuza

723
00:39:45.199 --> 00:39:48.639
<v Speaker 1>boss and had been in trouble with the police before. Basically,

724
00:39:48.920 --> 00:39:51.320
<v Speaker 1>on paper, he looked like he was the perfect suspect,

725
00:39:51.440 --> 00:39:54.639
<v Speaker 1>but he had an alibi that held up tight. He

726
00:39:54.719 --> 00:39:57.039
<v Speaker 1>denied everything. He was never charged and even wrote a

727
00:39:57.079 --> 00:39:59.320
<v Speaker 1>book about what it was like to be falsely accused

728
00:39:59.599 --> 00:40:01.159
<v Speaker 1>on such a high profile case.

729
00:40:01.880 --> 00:40:03.920
<v Speaker 2>He makes it makes sense, though.

730
00:40:03.840 --> 00:40:06.320
<v Speaker 1>It does a lot of people still wonder if he

731
00:40:06.400 --> 00:40:09.360
<v Speaker 1>was involved, maybe not even directly, but as a planner

732
00:40:09.480 --> 00:40:13.199
<v Speaker 1>or maybe advisor. But there's no proof there. It's just speculation.

733
00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:17.760
<v Speaker 1>Then there's the revenge theory. It's one of the more

734
00:40:17.760 --> 00:40:22.159
<v Speaker 1>compelling ideas, and it's that it's a long game revenge

735
00:40:22.159 --> 00:40:26.199
<v Speaker 1>for a tragedy from almost thirty years earlier. Back in

736
00:40:26.320 --> 00:40:30.000
<v Speaker 1>nineteen fifty five, the company Maringa had a major scandal

737
00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:35.480
<v Speaker 1>arsenic poisoning in their baby formula. Over twelve thousand infants

738
00:40:35.519 --> 00:40:38.440
<v Speaker 1>were affected and more than one hundred of them died.

739
00:40:39.360 --> 00:40:41.800
<v Speaker 1>Survivors of that disaster would have been in their late

740
00:40:41.800 --> 00:40:44.239
<v Speaker 1>twenties or early thirties by the time the Monster with

741
00:40:44.320 --> 00:40:48.119
<v Speaker 1>twenty one faces showed up. Well, yeah, so could this

742
00:40:48.159 --> 00:40:49.760
<v Speaker 1>have been their way of getting back of the company

743
00:40:49.800 --> 00:40:52.960
<v Speaker 1>that hurt them? I mean, maybe it would explain why

744
00:40:53.000 --> 00:40:58.320
<v Speaker 1>the company Maringa in particular was targeted with actual poisoned candy.

745
00:40:58.880 --> 00:41:02.000
<v Speaker 1>But then again, the group several companies, not just Maringa,

746
00:41:02.159 --> 00:41:06.679
<v Speaker 1>so that revenge theory, at least on that incident only

747
00:41:06.719 --> 00:41:07.920
<v Speaker 1>goes so far right.

748
00:41:07.960 --> 00:41:10.239
<v Speaker 2>And like I said, if it was just that company,

749
00:41:10.760 --> 00:41:11.679
<v Speaker 2>it would make sense.

750
00:41:11.960 --> 00:41:17.199
<v Speaker 1>Yeap. Now there's the corporate sabotage angle. This one's a

751
00:41:17.199 --> 00:41:20.599
<v Speaker 1>bit out there, but still interesting. Some believe the Monster

752
00:41:20.639 --> 00:41:22.880
<v Speaker 1>with twenty one faces was part of a stock market

753
00:41:22.920 --> 00:41:28.559
<v Speaker 1>manipulation scheme. The idea scare investors tank the company's stock price,

754
00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:32.559
<v Speaker 1>buy low, then stop the attacks. And sell high when

755
00:41:32.599 --> 00:41:37.760
<v Speaker 1>the stock rebounds, rints and repeat. Problem is, there's no

756
00:41:37.840 --> 00:41:41.239
<v Speaker 1>actual evidence of this happening. It's more of a hypothetical

757
00:41:41.360 --> 00:41:44.800
<v Speaker 1>what if scenario. Still, it taps into just how much

758
00:41:44.920 --> 00:41:48.760
<v Speaker 1>economic damage the group caused because millions of dollars in losses,

759
00:41:49.119 --> 00:41:52.760
<v Speaker 1>stock price is free falling and massive layoffs actually occurred.

760
00:41:53.599 --> 00:41:55.679
<v Speaker 2>Well, and wouldn't you I feel like that one would

761
00:41:55.679 --> 00:41:56.519
<v Speaker 2>be a bit trackable.

762
00:41:57.039 --> 00:41:59.280
<v Speaker 1>Well, that's the thing, it would be. But there's no

763
00:41:59.400 --> 00:42:01.840
<v Speaker 1>evidence of any sort of pump and dump occurring at

764
00:42:01.840 --> 00:42:06.599
<v Speaker 1>that time. Okay, Yeah, So then there's the ACUZA connection.

765
00:42:07.480 --> 00:42:11.199
<v Speaker 1>Given the coordination and discipline behind the attack, some investigators

766
00:42:11.199 --> 00:42:14.679
<v Speaker 1>believe the ACUSA might have been involved. The timing lined

767
00:42:14.760 --> 00:42:18.360
<v Speaker 1>up with the internal conflict with Japan's biggest crime syndicate,

768
00:42:19.079 --> 00:42:22.599
<v Speaker 1>the Yamaguchi Gumi. Maybe the monster with twenty one faces

769
00:42:22.679 --> 00:42:25.159
<v Speaker 1>was a rogue faction trying to raise funds or just

770
00:42:25.320 --> 00:42:28.360
<v Speaker 1>cause chaos. But like most of these theories, this one

771
00:42:28.440 --> 00:42:31.960
<v Speaker 1>hit a wall. No hard evidence, you know, nothing ever

772
00:42:32.320 --> 00:42:35.239
<v Speaker 1>showing up of tying a group like this from organized

773
00:42:35.239 --> 00:42:38.360
<v Speaker 1>crime to this event ever came to. So it's just

774
00:42:39.360 --> 00:42:41.599
<v Speaker 1>a dart at a dart board seeing if it hits

775
00:42:41.599 --> 00:42:46.360
<v Speaker 1>something sort of thing. There's also a idea of it

776
00:42:46.400 --> 00:42:50.079
<v Speaker 1>being a political plot, so there's speculation that this could

777
00:42:50.079 --> 00:42:53.440
<v Speaker 1>have been a covert operation by a foreign government, North

778
00:42:53.519 --> 00:42:57.880
<v Speaker 1>Korea being the usual suspect. That might sound far fetched,

779
00:42:57.880 --> 00:43:00.519
<v Speaker 1>but Japan has had its share of strange by like

780
00:43:00.639 --> 00:43:03.880
<v Speaker 1>incidents involving North Korea. Still, in this case, it's just

781
00:43:04.400 --> 00:43:08.679
<v Speaker 1>another theory with no solid proof backing it. Regardless of

782
00:43:08.679 --> 00:43:11.519
<v Speaker 1>the theories, though, the truth behind the monster with twenty

783
00:43:11.519 --> 00:43:14.840
<v Speaker 1>one faces vanished in nineteen eighty five, but their impact

784
00:43:15.360 --> 00:43:18.840
<v Speaker 1>didn't not even close. This case didn't just shake up

785
00:43:18.880 --> 00:43:21.639
<v Speaker 1>a few candy companies. It changed the way Japan thought

786
00:43:21.639 --> 00:43:26.239
<v Speaker 1>about safety, corporate security, and even law enforcement. See Back

787
00:43:26.280 --> 00:43:28.679
<v Speaker 1>in the eighties, Japan had one of the lowest crime

788
00:43:28.760 --> 00:43:32.800
<v Speaker 1>rates in the world. Violent crimes were rare, random crime

789
00:43:32.960 --> 00:43:36.119
<v Speaker 1>was even rarer, and most people felt safe doing things

790
00:43:36.159 --> 00:43:39.920
<v Speaker 1>like buying candy off a store shelf without a second thought. That,

791
00:43:40.039 --> 00:43:44.239
<v Speaker 1>of course, changed fast after the threats to poisoned products

792
00:43:44.239 --> 00:43:48.079
<v Speaker 1>in constant media coverage. People started second guessing everything. Was

793
00:43:48.119 --> 00:43:51.559
<v Speaker 1>this candy safe? Could the police really protect anyone? The

794
00:43:51.559 --> 00:43:53.960
<v Speaker 1>idea that a group could operate in public view for

795
00:43:54.039 --> 00:43:56.519
<v Speaker 1>over a year. Taunting police the whole time made the

796
00:43:56.519 --> 00:43:59.719
<v Speaker 1>public feel like things weren't as secure as they seemed.

797
00:44:00.800 --> 00:44:04.280
<v Speaker 1>Even after no one was physically harmed, at least not directly,

798
00:44:04.880 --> 00:44:09.280
<v Speaker 1>the psychological impact was real. Parents were scared, stores had

799
00:44:09.280 --> 00:44:11.880
<v Speaker 1>to beef up security, and businesses had to learn a

800
00:44:11.920 --> 00:44:15.320
<v Speaker 1>harsh lesson about how vulnerable they were outside of threat

801
00:44:15.760 --> 00:44:19.480
<v Speaker 1>vulnerable they were two outside threats. Sorry. So the damage

802
00:44:19.519 --> 00:44:22.760
<v Speaker 1>to candy industry was also a was very palpable and heavy.

803
00:44:23.239 --> 00:44:26.800
<v Speaker 1>It was emotional and financial too. Glico reported a loss

804
00:44:26.800 --> 00:44:30.119
<v Speaker 1>of around one hundred and thirty million in sales. Maringa

805
00:44:30.199 --> 00:44:34.079
<v Speaker 1>saw sales plummet by sixty percent. Entire product lines were

806
00:44:34.079 --> 00:44:37.079
<v Speaker 1>pulled off shells, Thousands of part time workers were laid off.

807
00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:40.440
<v Speaker 1>Companies didn't just take a hit, they got gutted. Even

808
00:44:40.480 --> 00:44:42.559
<v Speaker 1>after the case went cold, it took a long time

809
00:44:42.599 --> 00:44:45.320
<v Speaker 1>for the public to trust those brands again, and companies

810
00:44:45.360 --> 00:44:48.760
<v Speaker 1>across Japan, not just the food industry, had to rethink

811
00:44:48.760 --> 00:44:54.039
<v Speaker 1>how they handled security, crisis response, and public relations. One

812
00:44:54.039 --> 00:44:56.239
<v Speaker 1>of the lasting effects of the case was how it

813
00:44:56.320 --> 00:45:00.880
<v Speaker 1>exposed cracks in Japan's high highly respect did police force

814
00:45:01.599 --> 00:45:04.679
<v Speaker 1>see back in nineteen eighty three, Japan had a murder

815
00:45:04.760 --> 00:45:10.639
<v Speaker 1>clearance rate of over ninety seven percent, meaning ninety seven

816
00:45:10.679 --> 00:45:13.559
<v Speaker 1>percent of all murder cases were solved.

817
00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:16.320
<v Speaker 2>Okay, that's incredible when you're.

818
00:45:16.159 --> 00:45:18.639
<v Speaker 1>Looking at North America at the time being probably around

819
00:45:18.679 --> 00:45:19.440
<v Speaker 1>seventy percent.

820
00:45:19.760 --> 00:45:20.159
<v Speaker 2>Wow.

821
00:45:20.840 --> 00:45:23.760
<v Speaker 1>But this group made this group made the police look powerless,

822
00:45:23.800 --> 00:45:26.119
<v Speaker 1>and honestly, they made them look like fools. On top

823
00:45:26.159 --> 00:45:29.840
<v Speaker 1>of it, tens of thousands of officers were involved at

824
00:45:29.880 --> 00:45:33.000
<v Speaker 1>the time. Of course, over the years many more became involved,

825
00:45:33.480 --> 00:45:36.039
<v Speaker 1>with over twenty eight thousand tips being followed up on,

826
00:45:36.199 --> 00:45:40.199
<v Speaker 1>more than one hundred thousand suspects were investigated, and yet nothing,

827
00:45:40.280 --> 00:45:46.800
<v Speaker 1>not a single arrest occurred. Things got so tense that

828
00:45:46.840 --> 00:45:52.119
<v Speaker 1>the head of Shiga Prefecture Police, Shigo Yamamoto, took his

829
00:45:52.199 --> 00:45:56.159
<v Speaker 1>own life, reportedly out of shame of the department's failure.

830
00:45:57.199 --> 00:45:59.320
<v Speaker 2>The monster, I was just going to say, they're not

831
00:45:59.480 --> 00:46:02.280
<v Speaker 2>used to really, by the sounds of it, right.

832
00:46:02.199 --> 00:46:06.000
<v Speaker 1>They're not. The monster with twenty one faces became legendary

833
00:46:06.000 --> 00:46:09.199
<v Speaker 1>in Japan. They've been referenced in everything from crime thrillers

834
00:46:09.239 --> 00:46:12.800
<v Speaker 1>to anime, often as mysterious figures who outwit the authorities

835
00:46:12.800 --> 00:46:15.880
<v Speaker 1>and operate in the shadows part of why this case

836
00:46:15.920 --> 00:46:20.119
<v Speaker 1>still captivates people is simple. No one ever got caught,

837
00:46:20.800 --> 00:46:23.400
<v Speaker 1>not the fox eyed man, not the videotape man, not

838
00:46:23.480 --> 00:46:25.960
<v Speaker 1>the people who wrote the letters or planted the poison candy.

839
00:46:26.480 --> 00:46:29.920
<v Speaker 1>And because Japan's Statute of limitations has long since expired,

840
00:46:29.960 --> 00:46:35.480
<v Speaker 1>even if someone does confess tomorrow, there'd be no legal repercussions.

841
00:46:36.159 --> 00:46:38.039
<v Speaker 1>But most of all, what makes a story feel like

842
00:46:39.000 --> 00:46:42.679
<v Speaker 1>such an eerie case is even though they are now

843
00:46:42.719 --> 00:46:46.599
<v Speaker 1>protected by law, still no one has come forward with

844
00:46:46.920 --> 00:46:50.920
<v Speaker 1>any sort of information. They got away with it completely

845
00:46:51.000 --> 00:46:54.559
<v Speaker 1>and are still keeping it all secret and under wraps

846
00:46:54.719 --> 00:46:58.920
<v Speaker 1>to this day. For many, that's the hardest part. The

847
00:46:58.960 --> 00:47:01.760
<v Speaker 1>group got away with it completely, and we still don't

848
00:47:01.760 --> 00:47:04.800
<v Speaker 1>know why they really did it to begin with. So

849
00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:07.360
<v Speaker 1>here we are, decades later, in the case of the

850
00:47:07.400 --> 00:47:12.440
<v Speaker 1>Monster with twenty one faces is still unsolved, no arrests, confessions, nothing.

851
00:47:13.159 --> 00:47:15.800
<v Speaker 1>After all the threats, the fake outs, the poison candy,

852
00:47:15.920 --> 00:47:19.199
<v Speaker 1>some reel, some not, and the massive financial damage to

853
00:47:19.239 --> 00:47:22.320
<v Speaker 1>companies like Glico and Maringa, it's hard not to think

854
00:47:23.000 --> 00:47:26.880
<v Speaker 1>what was the endgame? Was it just money? If so,

855
00:47:27.039 --> 00:47:29.800
<v Speaker 1>it's strange that the group never successfully collected any of

856
00:47:29.800 --> 00:47:33.519
<v Speaker 1>the ransom demands, and they seemed almost casual about walking

857
00:47:33.519 --> 00:47:35.760
<v Speaker 1>away from some of the deals police tried to make.

858
00:47:36.519 --> 00:47:40.679
<v Speaker 1>Was it revenge, possibly, but they targeted multiple companies, not

859
00:47:40.760 --> 00:47:43.639
<v Speaker 1>just one. Was it political, a warning about the power

860
00:47:43.679 --> 00:47:48.039
<v Speaker 1>of corporations or weakness of police maybe? Or was it

861
00:47:48.079 --> 00:47:52.039
<v Speaker 1>something else, like a twisted game. It's hard to say.

862
00:47:52.480 --> 00:47:55.800
<v Speaker 1>The group was theatrical, no doubt. They referenced fictional villains,

863
00:47:56.320 --> 00:47:59.119
<v Speaker 1>they gave dramatic speeches, They played with the media. They

864
00:47:59.159 --> 00:48:02.679
<v Speaker 1>taunted police in ways that felt more like pride than profit.

865
00:48:03.599 --> 00:48:05.599
<v Speaker 1>In the end, it might have been less about money

866
00:48:05.639 --> 00:48:09.760
<v Speaker 1>and more about control, providing they could make powerful people

867
00:48:09.840 --> 00:48:12.159
<v Speaker 1>squirm and get away with it because they wanted to.

868
00:48:13.440 --> 00:48:15.920
<v Speaker 1>A similar case today would probably play out very differently

869
00:48:15.960 --> 00:48:18.440
<v Speaker 1>in the age of the Internet and social media, but

870
00:48:18.480 --> 00:48:21.760
<v Speaker 1>it also might spread faster and farther. And because this

871
00:48:21.840 --> 00:48:24.199
<v Speaker 1>case has never been solved, it remains an example of

872
00:48:24.199 --> 00:48:28.079
<v Speaker 1>what can happen when someone with a plan decides to

873
00:48:28.119 --> 00:48:32.239
<v Speaker 1>test limits of power and patience. In the end, though

874
00:48:32.800 --> 00:48:35.199
<v Speaker 1>the monster with twenty one faces left more than poison

875
00:48:35.280 --> 00:48:38.679
<v Speaker 1>candy and burnt vehicles in their wake, they lift a

876
00:48:38.679 --> 00:48:42.480
<v Speaker 1>permanent scar in Japan's collective memory a reminder that even

877
00:48:42.519 --> 00:48:44.880
<v Speaker 1>in a society built on order and trust, someone can

878
00:48:44.880 --> 00:48:48.079
<v Speaker 1>still slip through the cracks. And whoever they were, whatever

879
00:48:48.079 --> 00:48:52.119
<v Speaker 1>they wanted, they disappeared without a trace. And unless someone

880
00:48:52.159 --> 00:48:57.480
<v Speaker 1>breaks their silence, that's how it's going to stay. And

881
00:48:57.519 --> 00:49:00.400
<v Speaker 1>that's the story of the monster with twenty one faces.

882
00:49:00.920 --> 00:49:05.719
<v Speaker 2>Hmm, dang, dang. You know, I feel like it was

883
00:49:05.800 --> 00:49:10.840
<v Speaker 2>probably a small I don't know, it seemed like it

884
00:49:10.880 --> 00:49:13.320
<v Speaker 2>was so organized and stuff, but it has to have

885
00:49:13.360 --> 00:49:16.880
<v Speaker 2>been like a small group since no one came forward,

886
00:49:17.239 --> 00:49:21.239
<v Speaker 2>or I guess the crime group of sorts makes sense too.

887
00:49:21.880 --> 00:49:24.519
<v Speaker 1>If it's not a small group, it's a highly organized

888
00:49:24.559 --> 00:49:32.280
<v Speaker 1>group with an an inner working that is very very intricate,

889
00:49:33.039 --> 00:49:36.440
<v Speaker 1>like the yakuza. Because you're going to have hierarchies, you're

890
00:49:36.440 --> 00:49:38.920
<v Speaker 1>gonna have tears, you're gonna have rules, and if you

891
00:49:38.920 --> 00:49:41.920
<v Speaker 1>don't follow those rules, it's obvious what's gonna happen to you.

892
00:49:41.960 --> 00:49:45.360
<v Speaker 1>Everyone knows, and it typically gets cut off before it

893
00:49:45.400 --> 00:49:48.800
<v Speaker 1>has a chance of happening because it's such a you know,

894
00:49:49.039 --> 00:49:54.119
<v Speaker 1>intricate entity that operates that way. Yeah, or like you say,

895
00:49:54.599 --> 00:49:56.719
<v Speaker 1>a small group where they can keep their mouths shut.

896
00:49:57.199 --> 00:50:01.920
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, or my only my other thought. But all the

897
00:50:01.960 --> 00:50:07.840
<v Speaker 2>companies weren't necessarily in one group, like I'm some were candy,

898
00:50:07.920 --> 00:50:10.920
<v Speaker 2>someone's processed meat or something, because then like, who was

899
00:50:10.960 --> 00:50:14.480
<v Speaker 2>it a competitor of sorts that's you know, gonna like

900
00:50:16.440 --> 00:50:21.400
<v Speaker 2>profit or become more popular from these companies not. But

901
00:50:21.559 --> 00:50:25.440
<v Speaker 2>then if like, but that would make more sense if

902
00:50:25.480 --> 00:50:27.559
<v Speaker 2>they were like all candy ones, you know.

903
00:50:27.719 --> 00:50:29.920
<v Speaker 1>But if it's all candy, then it would be obvious

904
00:50:29.960 --> 00:50:32.199
<v Speaker 1>to look at a competitor. So what if you threw

905
00:50:32.199 --> 00:50:34.199
<v Speaker 1>other ones in there as red herrings.

906
00:50:33.800 --> 00:50:37.679
<v Speaker 2>Tusche Because I'm just like these people, you know, they

907
00:50:37.719 --> 00:50:43.320
<v Speaker 2>lost so much money, like they're they're letting go of people,

908
00:50:43.440 --> 00:50:49.280
<v Speaker 2>and another candy candy company could like super profit and

909
00:50:49.360 --> 00:50:53.440
<v Speaker 2>like hire these people and just like kill it from that,

910
00:50:53.599 --> 00:50:57.039
<v Speaker 2>Really people might be buying that instead. But then also

911
00:50:57.079 --> 00:50:59.199
<v Speaker 2>maybe they're not because people just stop buying that product

912
00:50:59.239 --> 00:51:00.880
<v Speaker 2>altogether because terrified.

913
00:51:00.960 --> 00:51:03.400
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, people are probably just not buying much of candy

914
00:51:03.400 --> 00:51:06.639
<v Speaker 1>and specifics. I imagine many of the other candy companies

915
00:51:06.639 --> 00:51:09.280
<v Speaker 1>that weren't even targeted by this group were probably suffering and.

916
00:51:09.280 --> 00:51:12.719
<v Speaker 2>Stuff as well. But if you love candy, you know,

917
00:51:13.159 --> 00:51:17.639
<v Speaker 2>could you just alright stop eating candy. You're a candy person.

918
00:51:17.840 --> 00:51:20.559
<v Speaker 1>I do like candy, but I mean, if it's being poisoned, yeah,

919
00:51:20.559 --> 00:51:21.639
<v Speaker 1>I could stop it, but.

920
00:51:22.480 --> 00:51:25.039
<v Speaker 2>So easily you wouldn't. You wouldn't just go to another

921
00:51:25.079 --> 00:51:26.920
<v Speaker 2>brand and like buy their candy.

922
00:51:27.159 --> 00:51:30.960
<v Speaker 1>If if multiple companies were being targeted, I would definitely

923
00:51:31.000 --> 00:51:32.119
<v Speaker 1>stop candy altogether.

924
00:51:32.320 --> 00:51:34.719
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yes, okay, I'm not that much.

925
00:51:34.599 --> 00:51:35.480
<v Speaker 1>Of a fatty.

926
00:51:35.880 --> 00:51:38.920
<v Speaker 2>Oh my gosh, that's not calling you a fat.

927
00:51:38.840 --> 00:51:40.960
<v Speaker 1>No, I know you weren't, but it's just like, I'm

928
00:51:41.000 --> 00:51:43.400
<v Speaker 1>not going to just like that heavily rely on candy.

929
00:51:43.440 --> 00:51:47.239
<v Speaker 1>Like honestly, I would even dare say I would stop

930
00:51:47.239 --> 00:51:48.360
<v Speaker 1>buying chocolate.

931
00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:49.360
<v Speaker 2>Milk, beer.

932
00:51:50.039 --> 00:51:52.360
<v Speaker 1>Yes, I can make my own beer.

933
00:51:53.000 --> 00:51:56.119
<v Speaker 2>I could just start making it. Yeah shit, yeah, I

934
00:51:56.119 --> 00:51:59.039
<v Speaker 2>guess just make You can make your own candies, And

935
00:51:59.360 --> 00:52:01.760
<v Speaker 2>I was just thinking that, Yeah, no, if you want.

936
00:52:01.599 --> 00:52:03.159
<v Speaker 1>The sweets, if you got a sweet tooth like I

937
00:52:03.199 --> 00:52:05.280
<v Speaker 1>do have a sweet tooth, I could probably just make

938
00:52:05.320 --> 00:52:09.239
<v Speaker 1>candies at home. I probably like caramels. They're so easy

939
00:52:09.239 --> 00:52:11.440
<v Speaker 1>to make. Probably just start making some caramel like little

940
00:52:11.599 --> 00:52:12.400
<v Speaker 1>caramel candies.

941
00:52:12.920 --> 00:52:14.920
<v Speaker 2>Probably end up eating more candy though.

942
00:52:14.840 --> 00:52:19.079
<v Speaker 1>Probably probably huh wow. And then that'd start my own

943
00:52:19.159 --> 00:52:20.920
<v Speaker 1>handy company selling caramels and.

944
00:52:21.559 --> 00:52:24.519
<v Speaker 2>Oh there you go, and you were the one that

945
00:52:24.559 --> 00:52:24.960
<v Speaker 2>did it.

946
00:52:25.039 --> 00:52:25.920
<v Speaker 1>Dun dunt done.

947
00:52:25.920 --> 00:52:27.280
<v Speaker 2>Problems how it starts?

948
00:52:27.360 --> 00:52:30.840
<v Speaker 1>You can't convict me now, bitch? Is statue of limitation?

949
00:52:32.800 --> 00:52:38.480
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, this one is very interesting, how it just after

950
00:52:38.519 --> 00:52:42.239
<v Speaker 2>this long just nothing? Yeah, so much effort was put

951
00:52:42.280 --> 00:52:43.920
<v Speaker 2>into it too, So you'd be crazy.

952
00:52:43.960 --> 00:52:46.679
<v Speaker 1>You would think there'd be someone who says, you know,

953
00:52:46.760 --> 00:52:50.480
<v Speaker 1>I know what happened, because I mean, after the statute limitations, like,

954
00:52:50.480 --> 00:52:53.280
<v Speaker 1>what can you do? I know what happened. It's an

955
00:52:53.320 --> 00:52:56.039
<v Speaker 1>interesting story to tell. I get my you know, five

956
00:52:56.039 --> 00:52:58.760
<v Speaker 1>minutes of fame, you know, telling the story in a

957
00:52:58.800 --> 00:52:59.880
<v Speaker 1>documentary or whatever.

958
00:53:00.400 --> 00:53:02.440
<v Speaker 2>I don't think you would benefit you in any way though.

959
00:53:02.880 --> 00:53:05.199
<v Speaker 2>It would just make you seem like a complete evil

960
00:53:05.239 --> 00:53:08.679
<v Speaker 2>asshole that everyone was searching for. There would be no benefit.

961
00:53:08.880 --> 00:53:11.440
<v Speaker 1>No, I mean someone who knows what happened.

962
00:53:12.000 --> 00:53:15.559
<v Speaker 2>Oh okay, you know, not the person who did it,

963
00:53:15.639 --> 00:53:16.800
<v Speaker 2>but yeah, okay.

964
00:53:17.880 --> 00:53:19.840
<v Speaker 1>Because I can't imagine someone like that could have kept

965
00:53:19.880 --> 00:53:22.880
<v Speaker 1>their mouth shut. Someone knows something. Someone has to have

966
00:53:23.000 --> 00:53:26.559
<v Speaker 1>known something. Yeah, because even if it's a group of

967
00:53:26.599 --> 00:53:28.960
<v Speaker 1>five just say it's a group of five friends, Okay,

968
00:53:29.400 --> 00:53:32.280
<v Speaker 1>say it's like that, what's that movie Ocean's Eleven or something.

969
00:53:32.280 --> 00:53:34.000
<v Speaker 1>It's a small group of people, right, like five six

970
00:53:34.000 --> 00:53:36.719
<v Speaker 1>people or something or eleven people or whatever. They're not

971
00:53:36.920 --> 00:53:38.599
<v Speaker 1>all going to be able to keep this story to

972
00:53:38.679 --> 00:53:42.800
<v Speaker 1>themselves forever. There's no way someone's going to slip up

973
00:53:42.800 --> 00:53:47.079
<v Speaker 1>deathbed or evidence of something. So someone's going to have

974
00:53:47.119 --> 00:53:49.719
<v Speaker 1>to know. And you'd think that someone would be like, oh, well,

975
00:53:49.760 --> 00:53:50.679
<v Speaker 1>it doesn't matter.

976
00:53:50.440 --> 00:53:53.199
<v Speaker 2>Now, it's just yeah, no kidding.

977
00:53:53.119 --> 00:53:56.880
<v Speaker 1>Unless it was something like the Yakuza. So I'm willing

978
00:53:56.920 --> 00:54:01.199
<v Speaker 1>to bet it's not a small time operation. If it

979
00:54:01.239 --> 00:54:03.760
<v Speaker 1>was a small time operation, they probably would have had

980
00:54:03.800 --> 00:54:06.719
<v Speaker 1>some money transferred somehow. That would have been a thing

981
00:54:06.760 --> 00:54:07.119
<v Speaker 1>for them.

982
00:54:07.239 --> 00:54:10.000
<v Speaker 2>Well yeah, because you would want that, Like, what's the

983
00:54:10.039 --> 00:54:12.519
<v Speaker 2>point of all this shit? Like there was? They were

984
00:54:12.519 --> 00:54:16.159
<v Speaker 2>getting nothing of it? Really, I don't know. Gosh, this

985
00:54:16.199 --> 00:54:17.000
<v Speaker 2>is a weird one.

986
00:54:17.320 --> 00:54:21.199
<v Speaker 1>This is to me, it makes sense to be the

987
00:54:21.239 --> 00:54:22.840
<v Speaker 1>son of a yakuza.

988
00:54:22.400 --> 00:54:25.679
<v Speaker 2>Boss, But so what would it even have been doing

989
00:54:25.679 --> 00:54:26.599
<v Speaker 2>for them?

990
00:54:27.039 --> 00:54:28.559
<v Speaker 1>Well, the reason why I think it makes sense to

991
00:54:28.559 --> 00:54:32.599
<v Speaker 1>be the son of a yakuza boss. You have the boss, right,

992
00:54:32.679 --> 00:54:36.400
<v Speaker 1>the cu the mob guy who tells people what to do.

993
00:54:36.440 --> 00:54:39.679
<v Speaker 1>He's super respected and everything, and you have the son, right.

994
00:54:40.159 --> 00:54:44.440
<v Speaker 1>The son is like, well he's he's that's my daddy.

995
00:54:44.480 --> 00:54:46.519
<v Speaker 1>You gotta do what I say because that's my daddy, right,

996
00:54:46.840 --> 00:54:49.559
<v Speaker 1>And so no one, no one respects you innately, right,

997
00:54:49.880 --> 00:54:53.639
<v Speaker 1>You're just the boss's little brat. So then what do

998
00:54:53.679 --> 00:54:55.360
<v Speaker 1>you do. You got to make a name for yourself

999
00:54:55.840 --> 00:54:58.000
<v Speaker 1>or maybe you know what, even you're just high on

1000
00:54:58.039 --> 00:55:00.440
<v Speaker 1>yourself and you don't need money or anything, so you

1001
00:55:00.480 --> 00:55:02.639
<v Speaker 1>just want to fuck with people, so you do it

1002
00:55:02.800 --> 00:55:05.320
<v Speaker 1>just for the shits and giggles. So either you're trying

1003
00:55:05.320 --> 00:55:07.400
<v Speaker 1>to build yourself a reputation.

1004
00:55:06.920 --> 00:55:09.039
<v Speaker 2>And he started with the one that he did have

1005
00:55:09.079 --> 00:55:11.960
<v Speaker 2>a beef with. Yeah, and then oh man, this is

1006
00:55:12.000 --> 00:55:14.320
<v Speaker 2>fun and this is actually getting me kind of a

1007
00:55:14.360 --> 00:55:18.280
<v Speaker 2>reputation and like some street cred or whatever you want

1008
00:55:18.320 --> 00:55:21.000
<v Speaker 2>to say. And then he continues and.

1009
00:55:20.960 --> 00:55:23.199
<v Speaker 1>Then it starts getting deep where you know what police

1010
00:55:23.239 --> 00:55:27.400
<v Speaker 1>are actually like offing themselves and shit. And then Daddy

1011
00:55:27.480 --> 00:55:31.800
<v Speaker 1>comes along and being like, okay, you're causing shit, like

1012
00:55:31.840 --> 00:55:35.039
<v Speaker 1>you need to shut this the fuck down. And then

1013
00:55:35.079 --> 00:55:38.400
<v Speaker 1>the little shit disturbing kids like okay, and then never

1014
00:55:38.400 --> 00:55:43.159
<v Speaker 1>does it again because he listens to Daddy. I guess

1015
00:55:43.639 --> 00:55:49.719
<v Speaker 1>that's my theory. He's a shit disturbing little shit that picture.

1016
00:55:49.800 --> 00:55:52.639
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean, god he did just like cause.

1017
00:55:52.360 --> 00:55:55.639
<v Speaker 1>Hell, which is exactly the type you would expect from

1018
00:55:55.639 --> 00:55:58.519
<v Speaker 1>like a mob boss's son, to not give a fuck,

1019
00:55:58.920 --> 00:56:01.719
<v Speaker 1>to not understand, and to not need the money.

1020
00:56:03.280 --> 00:56:06.639
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, I mean it makes the most sense out

1021
00:56:06.679 --> 00:56:09.880
<v Speaker 2>of anything else we've talked about, or it's going on

1022
00:56:09.920 --> 00:56:10.199
<v Speaker 2>in my.

1023
00:56:10.159 --> 00:56:13.079
<v Speaker 1>Brain, it really does. But anyways, if you guys have theories,

1024
00:56:13.159 --> 00:56:15.280
<v Speaker 1>shoot us a message, shoot us an email. We'd love

1025
00:56:15.320 --> 00:56:18.119
<v Speaker 1>to hear it. Thank you for being here. You want

1026
00:56:18.159 --> 00:56:20.119
<v Speaker 1>to check out all our links and stuff, they're in

1027
00:56:20.159 --> 00:56:25.559
<v Speaker 1>the description of this podcast. And until next time, stay wicked.
