was a Japanese

mass murder Mass murder is the act of murdering a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. The United States Congress defines mass killings as the killings of three or more pe ...

er who killed a woman on December 16, 1963, and shot dead four people on January 26, 1979. Mass media also used a number of different possible readings of his given name, including Teruyoshi, Terumi, Akimi and Akemi. He was one of the rare criminals who was shot dead by Japanese police.

Early life

Umekawa was born in Otake,

Hiroshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama ...

. He was a great reader and loved

hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

fiction. On December 16, 1963, while he was 15 and still a

minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

, he killed a woman. Although he was a murderer, he was still allowed to have guns because Japanese juvenile law protected his criminal history. He also saw the film ''

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom ''Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom'' ( it, Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma, billed on-screen ''Pasolini's 120 Days of Sodom'' on English-language prints and commonly referred to as simply ''Salò'' []) is a 1975 horror film, horror art film dir ...

''. He wanted to make a big incident 15 years after he committed the first murder.

Mitsubishi Bank sporting gun kidnapping

Umekawa shot dead two employees and two policemen on January 26, 1979, in a

Mitsubishi Bank was a major Japanese bank that served as the main bank for the Mitsubishi conglomerate/''keiretsu''. It merged with The Bank of Tokyo in 1996 to form The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (now MUFG Bank). The bank's operations date to 1880, when Mitsubish ...

in Sumiyoshi-ku,

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. He took 40 hostages at the bank. He asked them, "Do you know ''Sodom no Ichi'' (Japanese alternative title of ''Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom'')?" He stripped women of their clothes. Rokuro Yoshida, who joined the criminal investigations of

Kiyoshi Ōkubo was a Japanese serial killer. Between March 31, 1971 and May 10, 1971, he raped and murdered eight women. He used a pen name, Tanigawa Ivan (谷川伊凡). Early life Ōkubo was born in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture. He was a quarter Russian. Hi ...

and the

United Red Army The was a militant organization, that operated in Japan between July 1971 and March 1972. The URA was formed as the result of a merger that began on 13 July 1971 between two extremist groups, the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist , led in 1971 by Tsuneo ...

, was appointed as the incident commander. "Zero" Company of the 2nd

Riot Police Unit are the rapid reaction forces of Japanese prefectural police. These units are not only riot police, but a type of emergency service unit to maintain public order against large civil disorder, disaster response, or other emergency situations as ...

of the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters (one of the predecessors of the

Special Assault Team The is a police tactical unit in major Japanese prefectural police departments, supervised by the National Police Agency. The SAT is a national-level counter-terrorism unit that cooperates with territorial-level Anti-Firearms Squads and Count ...

s) were called, which was the first case in the history of Japanese Police Tactical Units. They fatally shot Umekawa on January 28, 1979. Yoshida stated there was no alternative to deadly force.

Media

His crime affected Japanese youths. Lyricist

Neko Oikawa (born February 10, 1960) is a Japanese lyricist who has written J-pop and anime theme songs over her career. Biography Neko Oikawa was born in Wakayama, Wakayama. She made her songwriting debut in 1985 with Kanako Wada's "Passing Through", whic ...

said that he was the main reason why she did not have leftist views. The story of the film ''

Tattoo Ari is a 1982 Japanese film directed by Banmei Takahashi. The film was based on the life of Akiyoshi Umekawa. Cast * Ryudo Uzaki as Akio Takeda * Keiko Sekine as Michiyo * Misako Watanabe as Sadako Takeda * Ayako Ōta (太田あや子) as Miyoko * ...

'' was inspired by him, but an alternative name was used for him in the film.

References

External links

*
Mitsubishi Bank Incident

{{DEFAULTSORT:Umekawa, Akiyoshi 1948 births 1979 deaths Minors convicted of murder Japanese mass murderers Hostage taking in Japan People shot dead by law enforcement officers Deaths by firearm in Japan People from Hiroshima Prefecture

Early life

Mitsubishi Bank sporting gun kidnapping

Media

See also

References

External links