<figure id="attachment_452070" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-452070" style="width: 1372px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="bd00b155"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/12/c217bf7f54ece54b3f0bf0556df2cdd7.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-452070" class="wp-caption-text">Defendant Yamazaki emerges from the Nerima police station to go to pre-detention medical treatment (January &#8217;25).</figcaption></figure>
<h3><span class="strongInContent"> Acting female branch manager steals from safe deposit box</span></h3>
<p> This year&#8217;s edition of &#8220;Violent &amp; Serious Cases in 2025&#8221; will feature a selection of incidents reported by &#8220;FRIDAY Digital&#8221; in 2025. This time, we will report on the &#8220;Mitsubishi UFJ Safe Deposit Box Theft,&#8221; a case that greatly shook people&#8217;s trust in banks.</p>
<p> On January 14, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested Yukari Yamazaki, then 46, a former employee of Mitsubishi UFJ Bank. She is suspected of stealing 19.5 kg (approx. 260 million yen) of customers&#8217; gold bullion from a safe-deposit box.</p>
<p> In addition to this arrest, Yamazaki was suspected of stealing cash and precious metals from customers&#8217; safe deposit boxes at the Nerima and Tamagawa branches where she worked for four and a half years from April 2008 to October 2012. The theft was discovered in October &#8217;24 after an inquiry from a safe-deposit box user. Yamazaki, who admitted the crime in an internal investigation, was dismissed from the company on November 14, 2012, and the bank filed criminal charges with the Metropolitan Police Department in late December. FRIDAY Digital&#8221; at the time reported the details of the crime as follows (Note: Yamazaki&#8217;s last name at the time of the incident was Imamura, which has been used verbatim in past articles).</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> The gold bullion had already been pawned at a total of seven pawnshops in Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture, and the suspect, Imamura, seems to have admitted to the charges. There were numerous other crimes as well, and it is estimated that there were more than 60 victims and the total amount of damage exceeded 1.7 billion yen.</span></p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> The suspect Imamura was in charge of the spare key of a safe deposit box kept by the bank, and used the spare key to commit the crime. It is also known that when it was about to be discovered that the cash in the safe deposit box was missing, he would make up the loss from another safe deposit box. When a user of a safe deposit box came to the store at an unexpected time, she would turn him away under the guise that the safe deposit box was malfunctioning. Due to a clever cover-up, her crime went unnoticed for as long as four and a half years,&#8221; said a reporter from the society department of a national newspaper.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Imamura is believed to have spent most of her stolen profits on FX and horse racing. According to an investigator, &#8220;He spent a considerable amount of money on FX and horse racing over a period of more than five years. The loss from FX is no less than 1 billion yen at this point in time.</span></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" When we visited Imamura at his home..."></div>
<h3><span class="strongInContent">I got the impression that they were a well-to-do family.&#8221;</span></h3>
<p> Yamazaki is believed to have suffered huge losses and was so strapped for cash that he had access to his clients&#8217; money and goods. However, when this reporter visited his home, he did not appear to be living like that.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> When a reporter from FRIDAY Digital visited Imamura&#8217;s home, he was struck not only by the magnificent house, but also by the huge monthly parking lot adjacent to it. When combined with his house, the land is a vast property with an asset value of over 400 million yen.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The suspect Imamura held the position of deputy branch manager of the sales section until he was dismissed on disciplinary grounds last November. In addition, it is believed that he earned 300,000-400,000 yen per month in rent income from his parking lot, and was well known in the neighborhood as a slightly wealthy person.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> A neighbor who used Imamura&#8217;s monthly parking lot said, &#8220;At the end of last month, he paid the rent.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> When I went to pay the rent at the end of last month, Mr. Imamura himself was there to help me. He didn&#8217;t seem to have changed at all and was in good spirits. He seemed to be in good spirits and said, &#8216;I look forward to working with you again next year. I think she has no children and lives with her husband and father-in-law. Her father-in-law used to work at a bank, so he built a house that was one of the most magnificent around here, and he also ran a parking lot. I got the impression that they were a wealthy family.</span></p>
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<p> Another neighbor said <span class="strongInContent">, &#8220;The couple got along well with each other.</span> They <span class="strongInContent">seemed like a cheerful family.</span> However, when this reporter pressed the intercom at Yamazaki&#8217;s home, which was still lit, to speak with his family, there was no answer.</p>
<p> Although Yamazaki&#8217;s family appeared wealthy and happy in the eyes of their neighbors, it seems that some of them sensed a &#8220;premonition&#8221; of the current incident.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;I suddenly stopped seeing him around October of last year,&#8221; said one resident. Before, he used to come out of his house at a certain time in the morning, perhaps to go to work. When I saw him at the beginning of the year, he seemed to be concerned about his surroundings. I didn&#8217;t use the front door, but went all the way in through the back gate to hide. Until then, he was a cheerful person who greeted me whenever I saw him, so I was really surprised by his arrest.</span></p>
<p> At the time of his arrest, he was only suspected of stealing gold bars worth 260 million yen. The total amount of money and goods that Yamazaki is believed to have stolen from more than 60 people is said to exceed 1.7 billion yen, and the full extent of the case has been awaited.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Why Yamazaki crossed a line he should not have crossed"></div>
<h3><span class="strongInContent">I didn&#8217;t want to get divorced.&#8221;</span></h3>
<p> On October 16, the Tokyo District Court sentenced Yamazaki to nine years in prison (with a 12-year prison sentence).</p>
<p> He was charged with stealing gold bars worth approximately 330 million yen and approximately 60 million yen in cash. The reason for the large reduction from the original 1.7 billion yen was that it was difficult to prove how much money was actually in the safe deposit box.</p>
<p> What became clear at the trial was Yamazaki&#8217;s &#8220;loneliness&#8221; leading up to the crime.</p>
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<p> She had previously incurred debts of approximately 12 million yen through FX and horse racing, and in 2001 she applied to the court for personal rehabilitation proceedings. With her husband&#8217;s cooperation, she paid off the debt in about three years, but he made her write a written pledge to him <span class="strongInContent">saying, &#8220;If you ever gamble again, I will divorce you</span>. Around 2005, she began to dabble in forex again, and she ended up with a debt of 1 billion yen, a huge difference from the previous time.</p>
<p> Yamazaki, who testified that he <span class="strongInContent">had a policy of not touching bank money no matter how much he owed</span>, began to touch the money in his safety deposit box because <span class="strongInContent">he &#8220;found out that he had touched [his husband&#8217;s] savings account, and it was collected and there was nothing he could do.</span> She was afraid of getting divorced and had no one to talk to about the debt, so <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;I think it was impulsive and sick, but that&#8217;s how I ended up doing it,&#8221;</span> she revealed.</p>
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<p> According to Yamazaki, he stole <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;1.7 to 1.8 billion yen worth of money from about 100 people&#8221;</span> over a period of four and a half years, including those he has not been charged with. However, he seems to have reached the end of his rope. When informed that a user of the safe deposit box had inquired about <span class="strongInContent">the missing money he had deposited</span>, the defendant submitted the key he used to commit the crime and a note of the amount of money he had stolen to the bank and told them everything.</p>
<p> Judge Hironobu Ono stated in his ruling <span class="strongInContent">, &#8220;The victim, who used the safe deposit box believing it to be safe, was not at fault.</span> He also stated, &#8220;There <span class="strongInContent">is no consideration for the fact that the defendant continued to commit the crime in a short-sighted way to make up the debt, and the sentence should be commensurate with the crime.</span></p>
<p> Yamazaki is appealing the verdict.</p>

<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Former female deputy branch manager, who fell into debt of 1 billion yen, &quot;the true face of her regrets&quot;."></div>
<figure id="attachment_452071" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-452071" style="width: 864px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="91799ca7"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/12/08b79f71447f9c9ccca73bf5e99d81bf.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-452071" class="wp-caption-text">When he looked up for a moment, his eyes met the camera&#8217;s (January &#8217;25).</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_452072" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-452072" style="width: 1745px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="4aa87c45"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/12/ef153519df110bd53516f5847e3ec0fb.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-452072" class="wp-caption-text"> When he looked down again, he never looked up again (January &#8217;25).</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_452073" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-452073" style="width: 487px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="15fa5efa"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/12/77d0e2729cd4827e88cdba1ecc11bf0f.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-452073" class="wp-caption-text"> After returning to the Nerima Police Station, he reappeared at 3:00 a.m., just after the date changed, for transportation (January &#8217;25).</figcaption></figure>



 Shinji Hasuo

 This year's "2025 Violent & Serious Cases" looks back on serious and heinous cases reported by FRIDAY Digital in 2025. In this first installment, we take a look at the case of a female assistant manager of a major bank who stole billions of dollars in total from a safety deposit box.

Mitsubishi UFJ Safe Deposit Box Theft Case: What “destroyed” the female defendant’s “policy of not touching bank money”?

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