40th Anniversary Special: FRIDAY’s Iconic Shots – Capturing the Era’s Most Shocking Moments

The ’90s began with the bursting of the bubble economy.

FRIDAY was born on November 9, 1984, and for 2,147 issues since its first issue, it has delved into major disasters, violent incidents, and the depths of the entertainment industry.

In 1995, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the Aum Shinrikyo sarin gas attack on the subway occurred in rapid succession, as if to drive home the point that people were suffering from the economic recession. In July of the same year, a shocking robbery and murder case occurred at a supermarket in Hachioji City, Tokyo, in which three female part-time employees were shot to death. This horrific event, which fundamentally overturned the myth of safety in Japan, cast a heavy shadow over society.

Meanwhile, strange creatures such as the “human-faced fish” and the “arrowhead duck” were creating a huge boom, and the Showa-era actor Shintaro Katsu was arrested for drug possession, leading to the stray remark, “I don’t wear pants anymore.

In June 1990, FRIDAY published an article titled “The pattern on the head of a golden carp swimming leisurely in a shellfish pond at Zenpo-ji Temple in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture, looks like a human face (……). This was the first report of the “human face fish,” which has since become a major phenomenon.

People flocked to the site to catch a glimpse of the fish, and at its peak, 10,000 people visited the site each day. It is said that a number of people fell into the pond while trying to get as close to the fish as possible to see its face. From there, even variants of the “human face” became a topic of conversation, and “human-faced spiders” and “human-faced trees” also appeared.

Incidentally, even now, more than 30 years after that time, a ″human-faced fish″ has been confirmed in this pond. In addition, a black-and-white patterned catfish, commonly known as the “panda catfish,” has also appeared. This catfish is a “white variant” that appears white because its pigment is lighter than that of normal individuals. You should go and see it.

Shintaro Katsu arrested for possession of narcotics
May 31, 1991 issue

After landing at Honolulu Airport on a flight from Haneda Airport, Katsu was arrested in 1990 for possession of cocaine and marijuana in his pants. He was released on the same day, but remained holed up in Hawaii. He was deported in March of the following year and arrested after returning to Japan. The photo was taken when this magazine interviewed Masaru after his return to Japan. In a sense, he was a dynamic and powerful actor representative of the Showa period.

Eruption of Mt.
June 14, 1991 issue

On November 17, 1990, Fugendake in Unzen, thought to be a dormant volcano, erupted for the first time in about 200 years, and pyroclastic flows also occurred in May of the following year. Some media did not follow evacuation orders and continued their coverage, but on June 3, they were engulfed by a massive pyroclastic flow. Forty-three people, including reporters and firefighters, were killed in the tragic disaster.

Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake
February 3, 1995

At 5:46 a.m. on January 17, 1995, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck the northern part of Awaji Island. This was the first time that a modern city with a dense population and advanced infrastructure for living and transportation had experienced such a massive earthquake, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 6,400 people and damage to approximately 640,000 homes.

The FRIDAY photographer was absolutely stunned to see not only the fires in houses and the damage to roads and buildings, but even the piers of the Hanshin Expressway were overturned over a distance of 635 m. The fire was so devastating that it was difficult to imagine the damage that had been done. The sight of the houses burned by the fire and the families standing in front of them …… crying their eyes out left him speechless. The bodies were laid out in a messy row in a room right next to the gymnasium where the evacuees were sleeping.

According to some estimates, the total amount of damage is estimated to be about 10 trillion yen. The disaster brought to light a number of issues, including the establishment of evacuation centers and temporary housing, and the spread of triage (the prioritization of treatment according to urgency and severity).

Inside the Aum Shinrikyo Satyan
April 21, 1995 issue

Shoko Asahara
June 1, 1995 issue

In the early morning of March 22, 1995, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and the Yamanashi Prefectural Police Department mobilized approximately 2,500 investigators to launch a mandatory investigation into Aum Shinrikyo. The trigger was the sarin gas attack on the subway, which had occurred two days before the investigation. This indiscriminate murderous attack, which used the chemical weapon sarin, killed 14 people and caused health problems for some 6,300 others.

FRIDAY also visited the cult’s facility, “No. 7 Satyan,” located in Kamikyuuichiki Village, Yamanashi Prefecture. Inside the facility, there was a plant where the cult was believed to have manufactured sarin gas and VX gas to kill and injure its opponents, and the pipes running in all directions seemed to reflect the madness of the cult itself.

On May 16 of the same year, Shoko Asahara (real name: Chizuo Matsumoto) was found and arrested in a hidden room that had been secretly built in the cult’s facility in Kamikyuu Isshiki Village. After a lengthy trial, in July 2006, 23 years after the mandatory investigation, all 13 of the cult’s leaders on death row, including Asahara, were executed. Even today, the three organizations that are considered successors to Aum Shinrikyo, including Aleph, continue to be placed under observation in accordance with the Law Concerning Regulation of Groups.

Hachioji Super Market Robbery and Murder
August 18 and 25, 1995 combined issue

Shortly after 9:00 p.m. on July 30, 1995, three female employees were shot to death in the second-floor office of the Nanpei Owada supermarket in Hachioji City. Two high school girls were shot once in the back of the head, and the remaining housewife was shot twice in the head. The photo shows investigators removing the bodies. The perpetrators have not yet been found, and police are still seeking information about the case.

From the November 22/29, 2024 issue of FRIDAY