<figure id="attachment_264761" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 746px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-264761"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="3558f777"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/09/6SH_4141a1_original.jpeg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-264761" class="wp-caption-text">Defendant Yoshida immediately after his arrest. He was an elite researcher who had completed a graduate course at a prestigious national university.</figcaption></figure>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The physical and mental suffering of the victim, who died after suffering from the symptoms of methanol poisoning for a long time, is immeasurable,&#8221; said the judge.</span></p>
<p>The judge thus condemned the defendant&#8217;s crime and sentenced him to prison.</p>
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<p>On October 30, the Tokyo District Court (presided over by Judge Sakata, Iichiro) sentenced Yoshida Yoshimichi (42), who is accused of murder, to 16 years in prison. In January 2010, Yoshida allegedly murdered his wife Yoko, then 40, using toxic methanol.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> At the trial, Yoshida pleaded not guilty, saying, &#8216;I am innocent. At the trial, defendant Yoshida pleaded &#8216;I am innocent.&#8217; He claimed that Ms. Yoko committed suicide. The prosecution, on the other hand, claimed that Yoko committed suicide, saying that she did not call an ambulance even though she saw Yoko acting abnormally just before her death. It was the day after Yoko&#8217;s abnormal behavior that Yoshida called 119.</span></p>
<p>FRIDAY Digital&#8221; reported in detail on the mysterious methanol case in an article distributed on September 18, 2010. We would like to reproduce the article and look back on Yoshida&#8217;s horrifying words and actions immediately after his arrest (some parts have been corrected).</p>
<h2>Relationship had cooled off.</h2>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> My relationship with my wife had been on the rocks for several years. We were separated at home.&#8221;</span></p>
<p>The man is said to have stated this in response to police questioning.</p>
<p>On September 16, 2010, the Metropolitan Police Department&#8217;s Investigation Division 1 arrested Yoshida, a company employee living in Ota Ward, Tokyo, on suspicion of murder. He is alleged to have murdered his wife Yoko. Yoshida was a researcher at Daiichi Sankyo, a major pharmaceutical company, and was involved in the development of new drugs.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He said, &#8220;My wife is not breathing. She was lying on the floor.</span></p>
<p>It was just after 7:30 a.m. on January 16 of the same year when Yoshida called 119 himself. He explained to the paramedics who arrived at the scene, &#8220;When I woke up in the morning, my wife was unconscious. The day before, she had been vomiting, taking off her clothes, falling off the bed, and otherwise acting violently.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Yoshida said, &#8220;When I put my wife to bed and checked on her the next day, she wasn&#8217;t breathing. Yoko was quickly transported to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. There were no significant external injuries on Yoko, and the police initially thought that she had died of illness.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> However, as a result of the autopsy, toxic methanol was detected in Yoko&#8217;s stomach, which is more than a lethal dose. Methanol is a type of alcohol made from natural gas and is a toxic chemical. Even a trace amount of methanol in the body can cause vomiting, headaches, and even death. The cause of Yoko&#8217;s death was acute methanol poisoning.</span></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="Collapsed Marital Relationship"></div>
<h2>You need to leave the company.&#8221;</h2>
<p>The police begin investigating both the incident and the suicide. As a result, they found no reason for Yoko to take her own life, and found no methanol in her home, even though she had taken it by mouth. The police ruled the death as a homicide, saying that there was a high possibility that someone had mixed methanol into the water.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The police ruled that the death was a homicide. There were no indications that a third party had intervened, and the police decided to arrest him because they believed that he had faked Yoko&#8217;s death. Yoko was a daily drinker of paper-packaged shochu. Yoshida is believed to have mixed methanol with the shochu beforehand.</span><span class="strongInContent"> The defendant was a graduate student at a well-known national university.</span></p>
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<p>Mr. Yoshida joined Daiichi Sankyo in April 2007 after completing graduate school at a well-known national university. D. degree at a graduate school of another national university and also studied abroad in the U.S. for two years. Yoko, on the other hand, also went to &#8220;Daiichi Sankyo&#8221; after graduating from a prestigious national university graduate school. She left the company after marrying Yoshida, a fellow employee, and at the time of the incident lived with her eldest son, who was in elementary school.</p>
<p>However, the couple&#8217;s relationship had been broken up for about five years prior to the incident.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Yoshida told investigators, &#8220;We were separated at home. When Yoko mentioned the name of a man at work in her sleep, Yoshida suspected her of cheating and pressed her to quit the company. Yoko, on the other hand, became frustrated with Yoshida&#8217;s uncooperative attitude toward childcare.</span><span class="strongInContent"> The couple rarely spoke to each other.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Yoko sometimes locked Yoshida out of the house. There is also a story that Yoshida was violent toward Yoko. However, he denied the charges, saying at the time that he had never had the intention to kill his wife and that he had never brought methanol into the house.</span></p>
<p>Immediately after his arrest, Yoshida showed his horrified face, glaring sharply from behind his long hair at the photographer of this magazine who was taking pictures of him being sent to the police station. His claim of &#8220;not guilty&#8221; was never accepted in court.</p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="Did he kill his wife with a toxic substance? ...... man's &quot;shivering face&quot; photo"></div>
<figure id="attachment_389285" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 801px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-389285"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="ee41ecf3"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/09/9b86efdc2db14cfc88675162ba0aac0c.jpeg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-389285" class="wp-caption-text">Yoshida immediately after his arrest (some photos have been doctored)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_264753" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 3357px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-264753"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="c956f3c4"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/09/6SH_4162a_original.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-264753" class="wp-caption-text">The apartment building in Ota Ward where the incident took place (some of the photos have been doctored)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_264751" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1195px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-264751"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="71c17acd"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/09/6SH_4125a2aa_original.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-264751" class="wp-caption-text">Yoshida after his arrest</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_389295" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 775px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-389295"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="b083f7fc"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/09/92b294dcd798380583dd7f38d0c28caa.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-389295" class="wp-caption-text">Yoshida was sent to the police a few days after his arrest.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_389296" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1559px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-389296"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="f5f1dfdb"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/09/51b97acaa5700a54b487369d83ca4278.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-389296" class="wp-caption-text">Yoshida denied the charges immediately after his arrest.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_389297" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1607px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-389297"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="37652e3a"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/09/80eb5fd3b4137168934ab68a783dd1da.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-389297" class="wp-caption-text">The couple&#8217;s relationship was said to be in a state of cold (some photos have been doctored).</figcaption></figure>
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 Shinji Hasuo

 A researcher for the pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo was sentenced to 16 years in prison for the alleged murder of his wife. The two men were both elite graduates of national graduate schools. The couple's relationship had deteriorated to the point where they described their marriage as a "separation at home.

Tragedy in the Family: Wife’s Death Linked to Methanol Poisoning

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