<figure id="attachment_418570" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-418570" style="width: 1544px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="1aeae5e6"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/03/679c710885f55c97e342cf4596ed4e86.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-418570" class="wp-caption-text">Large apartment complex where the incident took place</figcaption></figure>
<h2> Fading &#8220;memory of the incident</h2>
<p> About 20 minutes by bus from Kawagoe Station. After passing through a peaceful farmland area, you will come across a large apartment complex called &#8220;K,&#8221; which is said to be an isolated island on land.</p>
<p> It is one of the largest apartment complexes in Saitama, with approximately 1,450 households living in its 33 buildings, and is also known as the site of four incidents that occurred between 1988 and 1989: the Tokyo-Saitama serial kidnapping and murder of young girls.</p>
<p> In December 1988, Tsutomu Miyazaki, who was later sentenced to death, took a 4-year-old girl, C, who lived in &#8220;K,&#8221; in his car, stripped her naked, and took pictures of her. The body was dumped in a mountain forest. This is the &#8220;third case&#8221; in the series of Miyazaki Tsutomu cases. At the time, the apartment complex was in an uproar as if it had been poked with a beehive. One male resident recalls, &#8220;The police, the media, and the horsemen were all over the place.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The police, the media, and onlookers were all over the place. Such a state of affairs continued for several months. Even now, I still see people offering flowers.</span></p>
<p> According to an elderly woman who was friends with the C family and lived in the same building, the victim&#8217;s family moved out not long after the incident. According to the elderly woman, who lived in the same building as the victim&#8217;s family, the victim&#8217;s family moved out not long after the incident.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Whenever a child was lost or could not be found in the complex, the residents would work together to search for the child. Even though they cared so much about the children, no one would mention the incident to the members of the residents&#8217; association or to their acquaintances. They tried not to mention it.</span></p>
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<p> With a supermarket, dry cleaners, barbershop, and restaurants all located in the complex, the residents are able to meet their daily needs on the premises. There is also a kindergarten, and one can see a few of the child-rearing generation playing with their children in the park. There are also many foreign residents. A woman who has been running the store since the incident said, &#8220;The number of residents who don&#8217;t know about the incident is increasing.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> A woman who has been running a shop since the incident said, &#8220;The number of residents who don&#8217;t know about the incident has increased. There is also a great increase in the number of foreign residents. It has transformed into a multinational complex over the past 10 years, with residents from the U.S., Russia, blacks, China, Korea, and other countries. Although it is not well known, there are still many incidents in the complex.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Last fall, one of the residents jumped to his death in one of the buildings. I was speechless when I happened to see him fall to the roof of the entrance. Since most of the residents are now elderly and live alone, everyone turns a blind eye when incidents occur. The management association does not willingly give notice either. They don&#8217;t want it to get publicity, and they don&#8217;t want to cause a stir.</span></p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Warnings of &quot;fraudulent activities&quot; are also issued."></div>
<figure id="attachment_418571" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-418571" style="width: 1876px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="8e01789e"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/03/300655acf4a47e82974de8238f202f86.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-418571" class="wp-caption-text">Documents posted by neighborhood associations.</figcaption></figure>
<h2> Part of a &#8220;romance scam.&#8221;</h2>
<p> At the entrance to one of the buildings, a warning about noise was posted. One sign in particular caught my attention, warning of fraudulent activities. The police and the management association jointly issued a notice warning against the scam, &#8220;If you put money in the mailbox, you will meet a woman. The contents were as follows. The contents were as follows</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &lt;There have been many cases of people being cheated out of cash through social networking services, etc., by being told a lie that they can meet a woman if they put money in the mailbox. Please do not put money in the mailbox.</span></p>
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<p> It appears that fraudulent activities targeting the elderly are widespread. When we spoke to a man in the building where the sign was posted, he lamented, &#8220;In fact, people I know have been getting ripped off.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> One of the men we spoke to in the building where the sign was posted lamented, &#8220;In fact, one of my acquaintances was caught up in it. There are a lot of elderly people here, and I guess they were lonely because they didn&#8217;t have anyone to talk to. I feel sorry for them that they were cheated, but I understand how they feel.</span></p>
<p> The composition of an increasing number of elderly people, an increasing number of foreign residents to fill in the gaps, and a decline in property values is a common sight in large, old apartment complexes in the Kanto region. The man continued.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The man continued, &#8220;Most of the apartments here are for sale. When I bought my apartment, it cost about 19 million yen, but now it is less than half that price. It&#8217;s my final home. The property value has fallen and it&#8217;s hard to sell. It&#8217;s a scam that takes advantage of the mindset of people who want to at least drown their sorrows by spending what little money they have on hand. It is unforgivable, isn&#8217;t it?</span></p>
<p> A woman in her 70s who has lived in the apartment complex since the time of the incident appealed to me with a somewhat distant look in her eyes.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Since the C-chan incident, there have been no major incidents, but small incidents and police actions have occurred frequently, and I think the residents have become &#8216;used to it.</span></p>
<p> This year marks 37 years since the incident. Although the memory of the incident is gradually fading from the minds of the residents, it is also true that deep scars still remain.</p>
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 Shimei Kurita

 Takayuki Ogawauchi (1st) Shimei Kurita

 A large apartment complex was the scene of the "Tokyo-Saitama serial child abduction and murder case. More than 35 years have passed since the incident, and people in the complex are now complaining of some unexpected "damage.

A warning against romance scams: Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture, now a &#8220;large apartment complex&#8221; where the Miyazaki Tsutomu incident took place.

A warning against romance scams: Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture, now a “large apartment complex” where the Miyazaki Tsutomu incident took place.

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