[Honjo Insurance Murder] Shigeru Yagi Speaks Out 25 Years on Death Row

“President, when is the next press conference?”

On March 26, 2000, death row inmate Shigeru Yagi (75, 50 at the time of his arrest) appeared on the outside stairs of the Honjo police station in Saitama Prefecture for his transfer, where reporters called out to him like this.

Two men, whom the lover was forced to have a fake marriage with, died under suspicious circumstances

Shigeru Yagi, considered the mastermind behind the Honjo insurance murder, had three women—T, M, and A, who were hostesses and also his lovers at a pub he owned—marry regular customers in fake marriages, with a total of 1.5 billion yen in insurance policies taken out. Of these regular customers, two died under suspicious circumstances, and one received 300 million yen in insurance payouts.

Yagi is accused of murdering these regular customers by administering poison from aconite, cold medicine, and large amounts of alcohol, and was sentenced to death in July 2008 for two murders and one attempted murder. Among his three accomplices, A has already been released, M died of illness in prison in 2009, and T, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, is still serving time.

However, Yagi has consistently claimed his innocence and continues to request a retrial.

Before the case was fully exposed, Yagi gained fame when he held a paid press conference for the media, with footage of the event airing on TV daily. The press conference began on July 13, 1999, with the first session held at a former Filipino pub where Yagi answered questions with a microphone for a fee of 6,000 yen per journalist. The second session was held at a tavern Yagi owned, where drinks were unlimited for 3,000 yen, and it was also referred to as a social gathering.

Having worked in the entertainment industry for a long time, Yagi was adept at handling customers—and, by extension, the media. When the number of TV cameras began to decrease, he would say, “There are fewer people today, so should I give a little extra?” and get up on stage to perform karaoke. When that footage aired, reporters would rush over, asking, “President (Yagi), aren’t you going to sing karaoke today?” He provided the kind of footage the media craved, in just the right measure.

Four men shouted, “Tenchū!” (Divine punishment!)

One of the most unforgettable incidents for the author is the attack by a group of four thugs. One day, four men in suits entered a crowded izakaya filled with media. One of them slammed an empty glass onto the table and shouted “Tenchu!” (Divine punishment), then lunged at Yagi. The man dragged Yagi out of the shop and tried to put him into a car parked nearby. Naturally, the media followed and surrounded the car, but they couldn’t do anything beyond that.

The author, who was nearby, panicked, thinking, “If this continues, Yagi will be kidnapped,” and instinctively grabbed him and ran away. “Yagi-san is going to be killed!” Yagi shouted. The thugs who had chased them into the izakaya kicked the glass doors, causing shards of glass to scatter inside the store.

A few days later, a photo of the author running with Yagi in their arms, with their eyes not visible, was published in Focus. On FRIDAY, a photo taken by journalist Toshiyuki Kobayashi was published, showing the lover, A, bleeding from his arm. While the author, who was new to journalism, was flustered, the reporters and photographers on the scene remained calm and took photos. This made the author realize the terrifying nature of photo magazines.

The paid press conferences were held only at the izakaya after the number of media decreased, but they were held about 200 times until Yagi’s arrest on March 24, 2000. What is Yagi doing now? Toshiyuki Kobayashi, a reporter who was on-site at the time and continues to meet with Yagi regularly, shared information about Yagi’s current situation.

The current situation of Yagi, the death row inmate

“Yagi-san always says, ‘I’m innocent. I didn’t do it,’ and every time we meet, he says, ‘Kobayashi-san, I’ll be out soon.’ His appearance now is completely different from when the incident happened. He has his white hair tied up to his shoulders and has grown a beard. He seemed to like it and said, ‘When I get out, I’ll return to Honjo like this.’

He is in excellent health, and his secret is yoga. It seems he still wakes up early in the dark mornings and does yoga in his room. When I used to visit him, he would get off the chair in the meeting room and start doing yoga poses on the floor, which was a bit of a hassle. The staff would look at me with troubled expressions.

There’s no sign of a confinement reaction, and he seems mentally stable, but when his lover M passed away in 2009, he was clearly shocked. His eyes looked vacant, and he was acting strange. Other than that, he talks about the recent situation of mutual acquaintances in Honjo.” (Kobayashi)

In the scene of his initial transfer—when reporters called out to him, Yagi raised both arms and answered:

“I’ll do it again soon.”

It’s been 25 years since then.

Will there be another paid press conference in the future?

(Respectful titles omitted in the text.)