<figure id="attachment_442155" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-442155" style="width: 1280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="e19d62ff"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/10/62d83c97c21f8cdd4114300517164fd4.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-442155" class="wp-caption-text">The monument at the site, commonly known as &#8220;Nyarome&#8217;s Tower. It was also known as a &#8220;sacred place for lovers&#8221; in romance novels (October 23, 2003 issue).</figcaption></figure>
<p> What did &#8220;FRIDAY&#8221; report 10, 20, or 30 years ago? In &#8220;Playback Friday,&#8221; we revisit the topics that were hot at the time. This time, we will look back at the <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;Scoop:</span> Mie High School Girl Murder&#8221; from the October 23, 2003 issue!　 <span class="strongInContent">Mie High School Student Murderer: The Full Story of the Juvenile Assailant,&#8221; which appeared in the</span> October 23, 2003 issue.</p>
<p> On September 28, 2003, a high school senior, Aiyi Sugimura (pseudonym, 18 at the time), was murdered in Ise City, Mie Prefecture. Arrested on suspicion of murder was an 18-year-old boy, A, a classmate at the same high school, who was found at the scene of the crime, and an acquaintance who rushed to the scene of the crime and described A&#8217;s condition at the time of the murder.</p>
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<h3><span class="strongInContent"> Shocking words left in the memo</span></h3>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I killed Mr. Sugimura.</span><span class="strongInContent"> I killed Mr. Sugimura myself.</span></p>
<p> The scene was near a monument on the summit of Mt. Torao, not far from the outer shrine of Ise Jingu. It is called a &#8220;sacred place for romance&#8221; by fans because it has been the setting for romance novels. On October 5, 2003, one week after the incident, the Mie Prefectural Police announced that a note, believed to have been written by the assailant boy, had been found near the site. The note was found rolled up in a pile of dirt several meters away from where the body was found.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> This magazine obtained an exclusive copy of the &#8220;note of the murder. It was written with a pencil-like pen on a white notepad measuring 10 cm in length and 7 cm in width. The prefectural police only disclosed that the note said, &#8220;I killed Mr. Sugimura myself. In fact, however, there was more to the note, starting with the second line.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I will die too.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The words are shaking.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> A portion of the paper has been torn and turned inside out, and the word &#8220;I&#8221; is written there. The words &#8220;I&#8221; are written on the back of the paper, and the author intended to continue by saying, &#8220;I am shaking and cannot write well.</span></p>
<p> Did A write this as a suicide note?</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The victim had also caused a &quot;disappearance commotion&quot; in July."></div>
<h3><span class="strongInContent">I want to die before my 18th birthday.&#8221;</span></h3>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Ms. Sugimura had been telling those around her that she wanted to die for some time, and there were no defensive wounds on the body. There is a strong possibility that this was a commissioned murder in which she asked A to kill her himself. After the crime, A contacted her friends from the scene of the crime and hinted at suicide. As a result, concerned friends rushed to the scene. By the time the fire department and police arrived at the scene, there were about 10 people in the vicinity of the tower, which was an unusual situation&#8221; (reporter for a national newspaper).</span></p>
<p> A total of eight people rushed to the scene at that time, including Sugimura&#8217;s boyfriend, a third-year male student at another high school; A&#8217;s girlfriend, B, a second-year student at the same high school; two high school boys; and the mothers of Sugimura and A, respectively. Although these eight were mostly unavailable for media interviews, one of them (let&#8217;s call him &#8220;Mr. X&#8221;) told this magazine about the situation at the time of the incident.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;It seems that the first person to arrive at the scene was Ms. B, the girlfriend of the assailant boy A. When she arrived, A was released. When she arrived, A was in a state of shock, but he was careful not to let her see Mr. Sugimura&#8217;s body. He told her, &#8216;I felt sorry for you, so I pulled out the knife (that was stuck in his chest).</span></p>
<p> Ms. Sugimura had top grades in high school and wanted to go on to a nursing school. She was also a member of the drama club, where she had a reputation for her outstanding acting ability. However, in July 2003, she and a male classmate went missing, claiming that they wanted to die before their 18th birthday. At that time, the boys persuaded her not to commit suicide, but she had scars on her neck.</p>
<p> Although she continued to attend school during the second semester, her suicidal thoughts had not disappeared, and it was A who decided to respond to her. The two were in the same class in the second grade, and although they split up in the third grade, everyone around them says they were &#8220;best friends across gender lines. In fact, A had also expressed her suicidal thoughts to someone close to her, saying, &#8220;I don&#8217;t care if I live.</p>
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<p> On the 27th, the day before the incident, A and his girlfriend B hung out together.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> They took Purikura pictures together, and A wrote something on the Purikura. &#8216;Look at it tomorrow night. She said, &#8216;Look at it tomorrow night, but don&#8217;t look at it now. He was also concerned that A had tweeted, &#8216;This is the last time we will play.</span></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" &#39;You guys cornered him!"></div>
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<h3><span class="strongInContent">A.&#8217;s words to acquaintances at the murder scene</span></h3>
<p> Then, on September 28, 2003. The high school Sugimura and A attended was scheduled to hold a sports festival the following day and a cultural festival on the weekend. At around 4:00 p.m., while their classmates were preparing for the festival, they slipped out of school, and in A&#8217;s bag was a kitchen knife with a blade about 20 cm long that he had taken from his kitchen at home. At 5:10 p.m., at the summit of Mt. Torao, A plunged the knife into the left chest of Sugimura, who was lying on his back.</p>
<p> Immediately after the crime, A sent a line to Ms. B and some of her classmates suggesting the crime and suicide.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;When she saw the line, she was surprised and called A. She said A&#8217;s voice sounded like a different person. She was going too crazy and was even laughing. I asked her where she was, but she wouldn&#8217;t tell me where she was. Then she said, &#8216;If he is really going to die, he must be there,&#8217; and we went to Mt.</span></p>
<p> As mentioned above, it was Ms. B who first arrived at the scene. She was holding A&#8217;s hand and trying to persuade him not to commit suicide after her. Around 8:00 p.m., friends and mothers arrived at the vicinity of the mountain, but it took a long time because they could not find the trail to the top. When the friends and mothers arrived at the top of the mountain, it was already dark.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> A seemed to be delirious and said, &#8220;It&#8217;s your fault, you guys chased (Mr. Sugimura) away. You guys drove [Mr. Sugimura] into a corner. Mr. Sugimura&#8217;s mother was also in a state of shock. She was distraught and yelling, &#8216;How could this happen! &#8216; She was yelling out loud.&#8221;</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> It was around 9:00 p.m. when all eight members arrived at the scene.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;I said, &#8216;Call the police. One of the high school boys called 119. Sugimura&#8217;s mother was crying and screaming. Her mother said, &#8216;Ai!　Ai! I can&#8217;t get her voice out of my ears&#8221; (Mr. X).</span></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" A, who somehow reversed his statement"></div>
<h3><span class="strongInContent">&#8216;A Murder I Don&#8217;t Understand&#8217;</span></h3>
<p> On September 28, &#8217;15, at around 9:45 p.m., the police were notified and the incident was discovered. The next day, on the 29th, A was arrested on suspicion of murder.</p>
<p> When questioned by the police, A said <span class="strongInContent">, &#8220;He asked me to kill him. I wanted to save him.</span> I <span class="strongInContent">felt sorry if I didn&#8217;t do it myself.</span> Why did he kill him when he was his best friend? Newspaper articles at the time reported that even veteran investigators who had worked in the criminal field for many years had <span class="strongInContent">said that the murder was &#8220;incomprehensible</span>.</p>
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<p> The following year, in January 2004, the case was sent to the family court, and during the juvenile court proceedings, A claimed that he had <span class="strongInContent">no memory of whether he had stabbed the victim or not</span>. The decision on the disposition of the case was postponed for a while. In May, the Tsu Family Court decided to send A to a juvenile reformatory as a protective measure.</p>
<p> In the ruling, the court noted that <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;the boy was mentally trapped and in a psychological state that made it difficult for him to make normal decisions.</span> The court also concluded that the fact that Mr. Sugimura had asked A to bring a kitchen knife to him when he was thinking of dying had a strong influence on him, and recommended that the boy receive correctional education for a considerable period of time because <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;he has not shown any attitude toward facing up to the crime he committed</span>.</p>
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<p> The &#8220;monument&#8221; where the incident took place is said to have been modeled after a place that appears in the light novel &#8220;The Sky That Half the Moon Rises&#8221; written by Hashimoto Byo, and was a &#8220;sacred place for lovers. However, according to the testimony of a classmate from that time, <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;They chose this place simply because they thought it was less likely to be disturbed</span>.</p>
<p> One wonders what A was thinking when he and Ms. Sugimura climbed up here on September 28, 10 years ago.</p>

<figure id="attachment_442157" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-442157" style="width: 1280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="e7f8bc1c"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/10/264aa7eaed37c91a0f8e37216a539fc0.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-442157" class="wp-caption-text"> A note believed to have been written by the boy. It was found near the site where a bouquet of flowers and sweets were offered (October 23, &#8217;15 issue).</figcaption></figure>


 Masahiro Kawayanagi (1st photo)

 In this issue of Playback, we take a look back at what this magazine was reporting 10, 20, and 30 years ago. This time, we focus on the "Mie High School Murder Case" that took place in September 2003. Why did the boy, a classmate of the victim, cause the victim's death?

Playback &#8217;15] The tragedy of the &#8220;sacred place for lovers&#8221;&#8230; The voice of the boy who committed the murder of a high school girl in Mie was heard by an acquaintance at the scene of the crime.

Playback ’15] The tragedy of the “sacred place for lovers”… The voice of the boy who committed the murder of a high school girl in Mie was heard by an acquaintance at the scene of the crime.

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