Stalking Murder Rekindles Debate About Women’s Safety in Japan

A shocking case of stalking and murder is making headlines in Japan. It’s also rekindling discussion about whether authorities are doing enough to keep women safe.

The victim is 38-year-old Kawano Miki (川野美紀), an office worker from Nakagawa, Fukuoka Prefecture. Someone stabbed Kawano multiple times at Hakata Ekimae and fled the scene. Paramedics transported Kawano to a hospital, where she died shortly after arrival.

Kawano died two days shy of her 39th birthday. Mourners have been leaving flowers and gifts at Hakata Ekimae in remembrance.

News reports were careful not to name a suspect when the story first broke. But the facts all pointed in one clear direction. Relatives told reporters that Kawano had broken up with her boyfriend, 31-year-old Terauchi Susumu (寺内進), some months prior.

Further reports painted a more grisly picture. Relatives say that, after Kawano broke up with Terauchi, he began stalking her. He called her repeatedly and laid in wait for her outside her workplace.

Kawano consulted police three times. Ultimately, Kawano used Japan’s Stalker Control Law to take out a restraining order. Police also issued an emergency bulletin and warned Terauchi to stay away from Kawano. Police also say they patrolled Kawano’s neighborhood.

In December, thinking the trouble had passed, Kawano asked for the emergency bulletin to be lifted.

Terauchi has confessed to the crime. He likely didn’t have a choice, though. He’s on security cameras with Kawano (though it’s not clear if he was immediately recognizable) and police recovered his fingerprints from the scene. There was also the small matter that he still had a knife on him at his time of arrest.

Stalking in Japan

“It’s happened again.” That was the reaction of Kobayakawa Akiko, Chairperson of NPO Humanity, when she heard what had happened to Kawano. The case of reminiscent of another in Fukuoka in December, where a former lover stabbed a 20-year-old woman after police slapped him with a restraining order.

Reports of stalking in Japan have nearly doubled since 2002, although they have seen a slight decline in recent years.

Authorities passed the Stalker Control Law after a 1999 knife attack. The law calls for up to two years’ imprisonment and up to 2 million yen (appr. USD $15,500) fine.

Kobayakawa, whose group counsels women facing problems such as stalking and harassment, calls the law insufficient, arguing that some victims need a greater guarantee than a simple restraining order. She says police should have kept the emergency bulletin in place for a year, which is the same length of time as the restraining order.

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