Captured: Kazuko Fukuda, Japan’s Most Infamous Fugitive, Weeps Tears of Relief upon Arrest

After arriving in Fukui, we went directly to the “Oden Restaurant” where the arrest took place. All the news stations had gathered there, and we were the first team from the key stations in Tokyo to arrive.

Soon after, the stations joined forces to interview the informant.

Later, the caller gave an independent interview.

I said, “How did you become convinced that he was a fugitive?”

The caller said, “I had a gut feeling when I heard his voice on the TV report.”

Me, “Wasn’t the fugitive criminal alerted to your arrest?”

Caller: “I didn’t get the impression that he was a fugitive criminal at all. He was bright, sang well, and lived a normal life. Before I became suspicious of him, he told me, “People around me sometimes say I look like Kazuko Fukuda. At the time, I dismissed it, but now I think about it: ……”

I asked, “How often do you come to the store?”

The caller said, “She used to come once or twice a year, but the frequency has increased this year. Even after I became suspicious, I still came here normally. ……”

The day after his arrest, Fukuda was escorted by bullet train and overland to the Matsuyama Police Station in Ehime Prefecture, where the investigation headquarters is located. The concourse at the station leading to that Shinkansen was a chaotic mess of police officers, station staff, and the press, with screams and shouts of abuse flying about.

The stations chased after them frantically to get a good position and capture Fukuda’s facial expressions.

Fukuda was held on both sides by a female police officer, with a towel over her head, making it impossible to hear her expression. I weaved my way through the crowd, and just after she entered the station, I stuck to the side of the policewoman and asked her a question.

I did not get an answer, but I heard Fukuda’s “crying” voice in the crowded crowd, where all kinds of sounds were intersecting.

And her little shoulders were shaking. She was clearly crying.

Were they tears of apology to the victim?
Tears of regret for her arrest?
Were they tears of regret for her freedom?

Or were they tears of relief at being released from her life as a fugitive? ……

What are you thinking now? And what do you want to say?”

I continued to ask her questions, but she never opened her mouth.

Later that day, I entered a room at a business hotel that Fukui had used as a hideout and photographed her. In that inorganic, bleak room, Fukuda may have been thinking about “ending her life as a fugitive.

Fukuda, who repeatedly had plastic surgery and changed his alias over and over again, had spent his life as a fugitive, moving from place to place across the country without ever staying in one place. He was born and raised in a miserable environment and experienced the impermanence of the world, but after 15 years on the run, he must have had more intuition than most people for the dangers in his surroundings and environment. In fact, he was wary of being traced and recorded even when making phone calls.

I believe that Fukuda could not have been unaware of the caller’s words and actions. The arrest at the oden shop may have been staged by her.

It has been 15 years since she murdered the victim, had her husband carry the victim’s household goods, and ordered him to dispose of the body. It may have been staged to get herself caught, as she was tired of her life as a fugitive involving many people.

Like the suspect Kirishima, she may have chosen to meet her end as “Kazuko Fukuda.

Fukuda, who was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment, died of subarachnoid hemorrhage at a hospital in Wakayama City on March 10, 2005, at the age of 57.

After 14 years and 344 days on the run, Fukuda was arrested 21 days before the statute of limitations expired, making Kazuko Fukuda the “most famous” fugitive criminal in Japan. The tears she shed on the Shinkansen platform in Fukui must have been “tears of relief. ……