<figure id="attachment_413258" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-413258" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="d4bb8d56"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/02/fa75d69978e667a38c23259ea688c76e.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-413258" class="wp-caption-text">Exterior view of Saitama District Court where the jury trial is being held</figcaption></figure>
<h2> Early &#8220;temporary adjournment</h2>
<p> In the previous article, &#8220;[A Body Found in Underfloor Storage] Saitama City Mother-in-law Murder Case: Shocking Reason Why Family &#8220;Didn&#8217;t Notice&#8221; Mother&#8217;s Absence for a Week,&#8221; we discussed the &#8220;shocking cover-up&#8221; by the defendant who took her mother-in-law into his hands.</p>
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<p> Read the first part of the article, <a href="https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/413169">&#8220;[A Body Found in Underfloor Storage] Saitama City Mother-in-law Murder Case: Shocking Reason Why Family &#8220;Didn&#8217;t Notice&#8221; Mother&#8217;s Absence for a Week</a> &#8220;.</p>
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<p> On January 29, 2013, the Saitama District Court has been holding a jury trial for Michiko Watanabe, 55, who is accused of murder and abandoning the body of her mother-in-law, who lived with her.</p>
<p> Prior to the defendant&#8217;s questioning, the defense presented evidence. First, he presented photographs of signs that had been posted here and there, including on the walls of the living room of his house.</p>
<p> On them were written, <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;Michiko (defendant Watanabe), the housewife of this house, is a pain in the ass and cannot do what her mother-in-law tells her to do,&#8221; and &#8220;She only lies every day, day after day</span>. Next, the defense attorney played a conversation between Watanabe and her mother-in-law four days before the incident, which was recorded on her mother-in-law&#8217;s smartphone, in the courtroom.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> She said, &#8220;All of this is a lie, you didn&#8217;t get the 1.5 million, hmm?</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Why don&#8217;t you shut up, get out, leave the key and get out.&#8221;</span></p>
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<p> As his mother-in-law&#8217;s accusing voice played in the courtroom, Watanabe&#8217;s face turned bright red and he began to shake convulsively, closing his eyes and crying.</p>
<p> When Judge Kenichi Emi <span class="strongInContent">asked, &#8220;Defendant, are you all right?&#8221;</span> to which the defendant replied, <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;I&#8217;m fine,&#8221;</span> but the trembling did not stop. The prosecutor <span class="strongInContent">said, &#8220;Your lawyer will tell you exactly what you want to say.</span> The court was temporarily adjourned after an hour-long recess <span class="strongInContent">.</span></p>
<p> After a recess of about one hour, questions were asked of the defendant. First, the defense attorney asked <span class="strongInContent">, &#8220;Please tell us about your daily schedule.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He answered, &#8220;Every morning, I get up at 5:00 a.m. at the latest and take care of my cat first. Then I open the shutters, water the flowers, make an offering at the Buddhist altar, and prepare the family meal. After that, I pack lunches for my husband and (his) younger sister. My mother-in-law instructed me to pack my younger sister&#8217;s lunch box with the three primary colors of green, yellow, and red so that it would not look bad when eating with others.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> After that, I would clean and do laundry. Then, at 9:00 p.m. every day, I would go to my mother-in-law&#8217;s room to say &#8216;good night&#8217; with a piece of paper saying that I had done the chores as instructed.</span></p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Call your parents&#39; house."></div>
<h2>With a script written by his mother-in-law&#8230;</h2>
<figure id="attachment_413269" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-413269" style="width: 1695px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="c13cccb0"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/02/14c4b1a97de300a007fa8a4c8d09b504-2.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-413269" class="wp-caption-text"> Defendant Watanabe, who appeared depressed when sent to prison in &#8217;23.</figcaption></figure>
<p> He was given detailed instructions about housework and was also obligated to report to his mother-in-law on line what time the family returned home.</p>
<p> He was then asked about the financial problems with his mother-in-law that led to the incident. First, when asked about the 1,420,000 yen transferred from his own mother on August 21, &#8217;18, Watanabe replied.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I told my mother, as scripted by my mother-in-law, that &#8216;I had to make up the difference because I had spent the money that had been deposited in my account of 10,000 yen each month. &#8216; I took down the money that was sent to me and gave it to my mother-in-law.&#8221;</span></p>
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<p> As for the 1.5 million yen he received from his own mother on November 2, &#8217;18, he explained.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;I contacted my mother with a script that said, &#8216;I stalked you and I have to pay 3 million yen in fees to your other wife,&#8217; and I received the 1.5 million at Niigata Station. My mother told me, &#8216;This is the limit. When I returned home in Saitama, my mother-in-law was standing at the entrance waiting for me, checked the contents of my bag, and the 1.5 million went to her.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> But in the script (the amount needed) was 3 million. What I actually brought back was 1.5 million. The actual amount I brought back was 1.5 million. Call your parents&#8217; house.&#8217; That same day, I called my parents&#8217; house and said, &#8216;I want the rest of the money. Then, on November 3, he sent 500,000, and two days later, 1.5 million, for a total of 2 million to his mother-in-law.</span></p>
<p> After that, his mother-in-law continued to send him money, and by June 2009, the total amount exceeded 7.7 million yen. When the defense attorney <span class="strongInContent">asked, &#8220;What did your mother-in-law spend the money on?&#8221;</span> He answered, &#8220;My mother-in-law spent a lot of money on pachinko pachislot.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He answered, &#8220;My mother-in-law went to many pachinko parlors, so I think she spent it on pachinko. Also, there were times when she would suddenly say, &#8220;Let&#8217;s go [on a trip] to wherever.&#8221;</span></p>
<p> With the death of his own mother in August &#8217;21, the money transfers based on a false script ended. However, from around March &#8217;23, the mother-in-law began to persistently press him, <span class="strongInContent">saying, &#8220;1.5 million, give it to me.</span></p>
<p> This 1.5 million referred to the 1.5 million left over from the 3 million he was supposed to receive at Niigata Station on November 2, &#8217;18. Watanabe testified that no matter how many times he told her <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;I don&#8217;t have it,&#8221;</span> she would not listen, and that she sometimes became violent with him.</p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" It&#39;s your last chance."></div>
<h2>Some feelings of &#8220;relief.&#8221;</h2>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;Whenever other people (family members) were not around, he would hit me on the head and pull my ears, saying, &#8216;Give me the 1.5 million dollars. They hit me on the head and pulled my ears. I was even sprayed in the eyes with kitchen detergent,&#8221; said Watanabe.</span></p>
<p> As these days went on, he began to have eczema of unknown origin on his wrists and arms due to lack of sleep. Then, at around 8:15 a.m. on April 22, &#8217;23, when (her husband&#8217;s) younger sister left for work and the living room was empty, her mother-in-law began to say again <span class="strongInContent">, &#8220;1.5 million, give it to me.</span> Watanabe testified what happened next, with tears streaming down her face.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> After she said, &#8216;This is your last chance,&#8217; I couldn&#8217;t hear what she was saying. It was like a blur, and I felt that her consciousness was gradually fading away. As soon as I heard my mother-in-law come back from the bathroom and say, &#8216;Don&#8217;t let me out because I&#8217;m closing my eyes,&#8217; I heard a snap sound inside me.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> My mother-in-law fell off the chair, and I called out &#8216;mother&#8217; two or three times, but she did not respond. She was bleeding from her face, so I wiped the blood with a tissue, put a bag over my mother-in-law&#8217;s head, pulled on her clothes, and took her to the underfloor storage area. I opened the lid, moved the plastic case out of the way, placed my mother-in-law in the underfloor storage, and then moved her body so that the plastic case would fit back into place. I don&#8217;t remember exactly what happened after that.&#8221;</span></p>
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<p> When asked by the defense attorney <span class="strongInContent">, &#8220;How did you feel when you found out your mother-in-law was dead?&#8221;</span> Watanabe answered, &#8220;I felt like what should I do.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I felt half a sense of panic and half a sense of relief that I wouldn&#8217;t be told about the money.</span></p>
<p> The prosecutor asked about the fact that after the 22nd, Watanabe sent a LINE message to his younger sister, which was <span class="strongInContent">supposed to be sent to his mother-in-law</span>, and continued, <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;</span> It <span class="strongInContent">was supposed to be sent to your mother (laughs),&#8221; and</span> asked, <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;Isn&#8217;t that a disguise to make it look like your mother-in-law is alive?</span> He asked, &#8220;I <span class="strongInContent">&#8216;ve never heard of such a LINE before.</span></p>
<p> When asked by the prosecutor about the fact that he continued to send messages to his mother-in-law on LINE after the murder, he replied, <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;It&#8217;s just a routine for a day,&#8221;</span> and denied the question <span class="strongInContent">whether he was trying to cover up the murder</span>.</p>
<p> The sentence handed down on February 12 was seven years in prison (the suggested sentence, 10 years). The judge pointed out Watanabe&#8217;s &#8220;lack of consideration for the victim&#8221; in dumping the body under the floor. He will now begin the long days of confronting the crime he committed.</p>
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 Nakahira

 Kyodo News (first photo), Shinji Hasuo (second photo)

 Michiko Watanabe, 55, is accused of murder and abandoning her mother-in-law, who was 68 years old at the time, by dumping her body under the floor. What was the shocking testimony she revealed at her trial?

A housewife in her fifties who raped her mother-in-law reveals the shocking feelings she had immediately after the crime.

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