[Full Text] Stabbed to Death During a Live Stream… The Full Story Behind the Takadanobaba Livestreamer Murder: “A Tragedy Born of Lonely Love”

Two Lonely Souls

At 9:51 a.m. on March 11, ’25, on a street near Takadanobaba Station (Shinjuku Ward) in Tokyo, a woman who was livestreaming was repeatedly stabbed to death by a man. Her agonized screams as she was brutally murdered were broadcast in real time on the livestreaming app “Fuwacchi.”

“Oh no, it hurts, stop, it hurts, help me, help me, no, no, help me…”

After the attack, the man picked up her smartphone—which was still streaming—and kicked it while it showed footage of the woman, her neck covered in blood after her carotid artery had been severed. She sustained 55 stab wounds in the span of about one minute.

The victim was Airi Sato (then 22), a livestreamer known as “Ai Mogami.”The perpetrator was the defendant Kenichi Takano (44), who had been a devoted fan of hers. The motive stemmed from the fact that Takano, who had developed romantic feelings for Airi, had received large sums of money from her as “gifts” but was never repaid for a debt totaling approximately 2.5 million yen.

What exactly is the live streaming that served as a catalyst for this murder? What became clear from the trial I observed this past July and my reporting was the bottomless loneliness of the people gathered on the app—.

Takano, who grew up in Tochigi Prefecture, had struggled with interpersonal relationships since childhood. After dropping out of college, he worked at a company for several years but eventually attempted suicide. From that point on, he entered a period of social withdrawal that lasted about 15 years, yet his parents’ home was not a place where he felt safe. His mother had suffered a stroke due to a brain disease and developed dementia.His father was exhausted from providing care, and the family fell apart. During the trial, Takano described his family relationships as follows:

“We all ate our meals separately; there was absolutely no conversation—only fear [of my father].”

For Takano, who was in a difficult situation, watching “Fuwacchi” became a source of emotional healing. It was there that he met Airi.

Airi, who grew up in Yamagata Prefecture, also struggled with loneliness. She was the youngest of four siblings born to her mother and an unmarried boyfriend. When she was six months old, that boyfriend was arrested for a crime, and she was raised in a foster care facility until just before she graduated from junior high school.She dropped out of high school in her freshman year. She moved out of her parents’ home to live on her own and juggled multiple part-time jobs.

Around the age of 18, she defied the objections of those around her and gave birth to a child fathered by a man she had met. However, she divorced less than a year later. Although she returned to her parents’ home, Airi disappeared, leaving her child behind, and got into trouble with her ex-husband.

After being taken into police custody, Airi and her child were admitted to a mother-and-child support facility in October 2021. It was around this time that she began streaming on “Fuwacchi.” It was during her second stream that she met Takano. Airi was 19 at the time, and Takano was 39.

“Fuwacchi” features a system that allows viewers to “tip” streamers they support. It’s not uncommon for streamers to exchange contact information with viewers and actively “market” themselves. Airi was no exception. She exchanged LINE contacts with Takano and whispered sweet nothings to him almost every day.Takano became hooked in the blink of an eye and spent over 1.6 million yen in about half a year. Below are the LINE messages Takano sent to Airi.

“I love you, Airi. I’ve always loved you. I’ll always love you—I love you so much. Please, just reply. I’m lonely, Airi. You’re the only one for me.”

“Help, help, help”

Starting in September 2022, Airi began exploiting Takano’s romantic feelings, demanding not only tips but also cash loans.

Around this time, she started working at a hostess club, so she would leave her child at daycare until morning, stay out drinking after work, and become deeply involved with male hosts. It seems this is what caused her to run out of money. Her reasons for borrowing money from Takano were always full of lies.

“I can’t pay my cell phone bill,” “I need money for my sister’s abortion,” “I want to move and start over,” “I have cancer,” “I coughed up blood”…

Takano took her at her word and lent her about 1.5 million yen from his savings. Furthermore, at her request, he borrowed a total of 1 million yen from two consumer finance companies and handed it over to her.The total amount lent reached approximately 2.55 million yen in just two months. Takano had no doubt that Airi would repay the money he had lent her. These were his words in court.

“(Airi) wouldn’t deceive me. I believed she would never do such a thing. Because I had feelings for her, I wanted to believe her, and I felt like I was trying to believe her.”

Airi’s replies stopped abruptly shortly after he lent her the money. Takano finally began to suspect that he might have been deceived.Driven by anxiety and despair, he overdosed on sleeping pills. As a result, Takano was scolded by his father and kicked out of his parents’ home. With the help of his concerned younger sister, he rented an apartment and began living on his own. He needed money for his monthly living expenses.

In April 2023, Takano began working at a “Type A Continuous Employment Support” facility for people with disabilities. However, his income was limited, and he found himself increasingly cornered by collection notices from consumer finance companies. Around this time, Takano sent Airi the following LINE message:

“Help me, help me, help me, help me, help me, help me, help me, help me, help me. Please, please, please. Please, please, please. Hey, help me. Transfer me some money. You said you’d transfer it every month, right? Could you pay me back little by little? Pay me back. Please.”

You can see just how desperate Takano was.

“I Want to Show Her What Hell Is Like”

In the summer of ’23, Takano consulted a lawyer and began preparing for a lawsuit to demand that Airi return the money. Takano later said:

“I no longer had any romantic feelings for her; I just wanted my money back.”

The lawsuit Takano filed was his last resort to get his money back. The judge ordered Airi to repay the debt, but she claimed she had no money on hand.She also owed a large sum to the president of the agency she was affiliated with—the man she had been dating—and claimed she had no cash on hand because most of the money she earned from “Fuwacchi” was being used to pay off that debt.

Takano believed that Airi and the agency president were hiding their assets and undoubtedly intended to default on the debt. That belief turned into intense anger. The following is an excerpt from a message Takano sent to a friend via LINE.

“I’m fine with it now, though. It’s not like my life matters anyway. I just want to make that guy’s life a living hell. If by any chance he’s making money somewhere I don’t know about, I can’t forgive him. He’ll say something stupid, and we’ll end up fighting again.” (Exact quote)

That act of “making her suffer” was the attack on her. And that is how the incident unfolded in Takadanobaba.

On July 15, ’26, the Tokyo District Court sentenced Takano to 16 years in prison for murder and other charges. A male acquaintance of Airi spoke as follows:

“Live streaming is basically an ‘online version of a hostess club’ where women work to make money. Takano didn’t understand that.”

In the real world, it would be extremely rare for a reclusive man living in Tochigi Prefecture to meet a single mother 20 years his junior living in a facility in Yamagata Prefecture. But because of the live-streaming app, these two lonely people—who should never have met—became connected, and a tragedy unfolded.

In a letter he sent me from the detention center, Takano wrote:

“I believe this is a personal matter for me, not a social one.”

But to me, this case seems to illustrate the dark side of the internet, which swallows up those in socially vulnerable positions whole. 〈Some names omitted〉

From the August 7 & 14, 2026, combined issue of *FRIDAY*