<figure id="attachment_325108" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-325108" style="width: 5568px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="00682a0e"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/08/4a6686795bf8e00d388229fdccbc9ad5.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-325108" class="wp-caption-text">Makoto Sato, former detective of the 1st Investigation Division, at the press conference</figcaption></figure>
 I assure you. It was an incident.
 Makoto Sato, a former detective of the First Investigation Division who was in charge of the case, stated this clearly at a press conference held on July 28.
 The suspicious deaths in Otsuka, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, have taken an unusual turn.
 The series of allegations stem from the April 10, 2006 death of Taneo Yasuda (age 28), who was found covered in blood at his home in Otsuka.
 At the time of the incident, Taneo was found lying on his front porch, covered in blood. The body was believed to have been stabbed with a knife from above the head to the throat. Initially, the case was treated as a suicide due to methamphetamine abuse, but later in 2006, the Investigation Department, which had doubts about the case, began to reopen the investigation. However, in December of the same year, the investigation was suddenly curtailed without any explanation. The family of the deceased has not been informed of the investigation.
 However, in July of this year, some 17 years after the incident, the Weekly Bunshun (a weekly newspaper) made repeated allegations of a suspicious death. The report said that Xko, Taneo&#8217;s wife at the time and now the wife of Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara (53), had been interviewed and searched by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department as a material witness in the case.
 Following the Bunshun report, Taneo&#8217;s family submitted a written appeal to the Metropolitan Police Department on July 17, requesting that the case be reopened. Meanwhile, Yasuhiro Hiroki, Commissioner of the National Police Agency, said of Taneo&#8217;s death, &#8216;It was the result of a proper investigation and investigation. The Metropolitan Police Department has made it clear that the evidence does not support a case,&#8217; he commented. The Metropolitan Police Department has not changed its view that Taneo&#8217;s death was a suicide.
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 When the investigation was reopened in 2006, Mr. Sato was the person who interrogated Ms. X. He was a former detective in charge of the case at the time.
 Although he was a former detective in charge of the case, he filed an objection to the investigation at that time under his own name. Mr. Sato explains why he decided to make this unprecedented accusation.
 I was irritated when the Commissioner of the National Police Agency said at a press conference that there was &#8220;no case&#8221; in this case. He is saying things that add fuel to the fire against the victims. I feel sorry for the victim. This is not about justice or anything like that. It&#8217;s just that I was ticked off that he was &#8216;telling a lie. In the end, I thought, if I&#8217;m going to do this anyway, I&#8217;m going to have to tell the whole story, and that&#8217;s what I&#8217;m going to do. That&#8217;s why I&#8217;m here.&#8221;
 At the press conference, Sato insisted that there is no basis for concluding that Taneo&#8217;s death was a suicide. He also refuted the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department&#8217;s opinion.
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 The evidence and statements (of the case) were all focused on me, so I was examining them all the time,&#8221; he said. The official announcement said, &#8216;Based on a proper investigation, it was a suicide. After all, no such piece of evidence exists. I assure you. That was a case. There is no evidence to identify it as a suicide. This is a &#8220;case in point. No detective would look at that and say, &#8216;There is no case.
 He also said he was uncomfortable with the presence of double-sided tape that was said to be wrapped around the handle of the knife used in the suicide, and with the statement of a person involved in the case that Ms. Xko said, &#8220;My fingerprints got on the knife.
 He also said that he was uncomfortable with the statement made by the person involved in the case that Xko&#8217;s fingerprints were on the knife because it was in her house. Even if it was Taneo&#8217;s knife, he could have touched it. But he went to the trouble of saying, &#8216;My fingerprints got on it. Isn&#8217;t that a little strange?&#8221;
 What was most puzzling, however, was the abrupt end to the investigation.
 The way the investigation ended was unusual. It was not a normal end. I have investigated nearly 100 murders in my career, but I have never seen an ending like this. In this case, there was no choice but to either commit suicide or catch the murderer. If it is gray, there is no end. But the way it ends, there is no explanation for the victim. A murder case begins with the detective&#8217;s greeting. As a closing statement, he has to say, &#8216;This is the reason why we are ending the case. But the way it ends is unusual. It was as if the case disappeared spontaneously. In short, there is no closure for the victim. If the Metropolitan Police Department says, &#8216;We have confirmed that it was a suicide through proper investigation,&#8217; they should have said so at that time. This is what happened because they didn&#8217;t do that. There is no way they will be satisfied if they say that now,&#8221; Sato said.
 On July 28, his attorney filed a human rights relief action with the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, claiming that &#8220;serious human rights violations have occurred. The aftermath does not stop there.
 The aftermath did not stop there. In response to Sato&#8217;s press conference, Tsuyoshi Kokubuta, chief of the Metropolitan Police Department&#8217;s Investigation Division 1, reiterated, &#8220;The evidence confirms that there was no evidence of a crime and that the cause of death is consistent with suicide.
 When asked at the press conference about the possibility of violating the Local Public Service Act by revealing secrets learned in the course of his duties, Sato replied, &#8220;If I&#8217;ve come this far, (my feelings won&#8217;t change).
 I can&#8217;t change [my mind] after coming this far. I can&#8217;t help it. （I knew it would violate the Local Public Service Act. But I had no choice but to go for it. I had no choice but to go for it.
 The family members of the deceased and even the former detective in charge of the case spoke out against the suspicious deaths. Seventeen years after the incident, a door that had been tightly shut is gradually opening.

 Shinji Hasuo

 I'm going to make this clear. At a press conference held on July 28, Makoto Sato, a former detective of the First Investigation Division who was in charge of the case, declared, "I assure you, it was an incident. The suspicious deaths in Otsuka, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, have taken an unusual turn. A series of allegations have been made in the '0

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