Japan's DO NOT SEARCH Iceberg [PART 5]

[@SakuraStardust]

With this video finished, I'm going to use the rest of this month to take a mental and physical health break. It's something I really need at this point, and I hope you guys understand. Thank you so much for supporting my channel and content so far, everyone. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season! 🌸Video edited by Lorelai: kzbin.info/door/4-cC5Bj3YsvxP8QSb82-hA 🌸Patreon: www.patreon.com/SakuraStardust12 🌸Instagram: instagram.com/sakura.stardust/?hl=en 🌸Twitter: twitter.com/SakuraStaardust 🌸 Business Email: [e-mail] 🌸 My Anime List: myanimelist.net/profile/SakuraStardust

[@junimoony]

Of course! Take care man and enjoy the holidays too 🫶

[@MrCrapStone]

please do sakura!!!!!!!!!! thank you for your work

[@haileyrain9305]

Understood clear as day Sakura-san. Take care of yourself & stay healthy.

[@AwakeningHikari]

Thank you for your hard work! You deserve the rest and I hope the rest of your year goes smoothly! ❤

[@IzzyMarrie]

Will miss your videos, but I also have a backlog I haven't even watched from you yet. So it's a great opportunity to get caught up! Enjoy your holiday, and get some much needed rest and relaxation

[@Between_Scylla_and_Kharybdis]

What Junko went through is absolutley abhorent, but somehow the worst part was the mother of one of her killers vandalizing her grave for "ruining her son's life"...

[@SakuraStardust]

Yeah, the details are all horrible and disgusting. I tried to make my explanation as entry-level as possible and it's still horrific to explain

[@og_3rd_st_saint_gat]

Yeah I'm with you if only the judge was strict on the people who did it

[@ahilikedinos]

I hate parents who do stuff like that to their children victims

[@Justtrollingyoulosers]

Well, she did.

[@Engel-07]

​@@Justtrollingyoulosersbecause getting tortured is definitely something you can avoid

[@mikeheath4916]

It's even more abhorrent that they just have no guilt over it. One of the boys in the Junko case later joined social media, and when people started harassing him, his defense was "I was just a boy"

[@sandspada]

The punishment they got was way too light. It probably gave them a huge ego and made them think they were invincible

[@galaxieflora1078]

Yeah, I remember seeing that unfold. It was Shinji Minato's Twitter. Absolutely no one was going easy on him. Dude pretty much got an avalanche of death threats. I couldn't find a single comment defending or saying anything positive about him, not even a troll trying to bait people. I've never seen so much overwhelming vitrole on a Twitter thread in my entire time there, which is NOT an easy feat to accomplish.

[@kreldeprince]

@@galaxieflora1078 The one time when all of twitter come together to, very much deservingly, hate on one person. Not only that, apparently people doxxed him as well.

[@gyeonnai]

@@kreldeprinceyeah, his address, ip and stuff are all on twitter

[@patheticseal]

And this is just a gun

[@emenefer]

That first story was so fucking sad. One thing that oddly stands out to me is the genuine care and respect Junko's educators and employers showed. For some reason that really touched me. I mean if I died during my employment with Amazon, I wouldn't expect them to do anything special for me.

[@bananarambo4118]

Can also be seen as saving face. It would look bad on their business and school if they didnt make an attempt.

[@breakingoblivion]

“we graduated together, all of us” made me sob. that poor girl.

[@ReiisLucki]

I fully remember thinking the Junko case was a creepypasta, a fanfiction, it sounded comically evil. My heart broke when I found out it was real. To this day, I still can't believe what they put her through. She deserved absolutely none of that.

[@genesisknight9948]

I'm pretty sure the first time I actually read about it, it was in a scary story compilation on Wattpad. I was so convinced it was fake, cause no human beings could be that fucked up..... One Google search later I realized how utterly wrong I was.

[@Aomgar]

It is scary but expected when kids have such connection and possibly corrupt police thanks to said connections to the Yakuza. Luckily Japan is changing and cutting off the Yakuza so something like the judicial case doesn't happen again.

[@Mario123007]

You know what they say: "Sometimes truth is more scarier than fiction". I know the og quote is "more strange than..." but you get what I meant.

[@Weltshmerz]

Is it still comical?

[@angellane1848]

Junko seemed like such a kind, lovely girl. I’ve tried to learn a bit about what she was like, as I feel it’s tragic that the western world really only knows about the horrors she experienced at the end of her life, and as such, her personhood is sort of forgotten. She was so loved by her family and classmates, and the world is darker without her. May she never feel pain or sadness again, and may she be in peace. We will never forget you, Junko.

[@soosibms]

may sweet junko rest in peace

[@RaenRyong]

Junko Furuta = instant skip to next section, I can't bear to read/hear about it again. The sheer depravity of some people is stomach-churning Really good video as always though

[@curesloane]

In regards to the “Neveda-Tan” case: As someone who is also on the autism spectrum, I certainly don’t condone or celebrate this murder, but I am very angry that some think it’s ok to excuse this MURDER because the perpetrator has ASD. It’s offensive to other people with ASD (most of us aren’t murderers!) and very disrespectful to the victim and her family. What a sad story.

[@GorillaWithACellphone]

As a fellow person on the autism spectrum, i think its f’ed up that people think we’re completely unaware of our actions and Incapable of harm. While not all of us would even contemplate murder, it doesnt mean we are INCAPABLE of doing it

[@genesisknight9948]

Another person on the spectrum, PLEASE STOP BLAMING TERRIBLE ACTIONS ON AUTISM!

[@KristaleeWolfe]

My son David, who is the kindest and sweetest boy on the planet, has ASD. I don’t know a lot about Asian countries but it sounds like there they don’t understand asd very well and it makes things worse for neurodivergent people there

[@mollysvibecorner_42069]

From another fellow autistic person: STOP USING AUTISM TO EXCUSE HORRIBLE ACTIONS, ESPECIALLY MURDER.

[@Stickiestboi]

Here’s the thing, she was 11 years old, she’s sick, not a psychopath or anything, she didn’t even try to hide her crime.

[@kimiroach5473]

I remember reading about Junko when I was 12. It scarred me and I couldn't sleep for like a year. Poor girl was failed by everyone, and If there is an afterlife I truly hope that shes finally at peace and that the scum who did those things to her get karma at some point

[@PlatinumPotat]

Sameeee. I first heard about her during a stream I was watching when I was like 15 and I really wish I didn’t google it back then 😢

[@stupideronjupiter]

If it helps, I'm not sure if it's accurate but apparently people tend to dox the wastes of oxygen that did that to her every now and then (iirc, yearly?). I'm not a fan of doxing, but I think this is a good thing in that case. Those wastes of oxygen shouldn't be able to live free and live to be old when they robbed Junko of that chance. May she rest in peace.

[@TheSCPStudio]

Damn I can’t imagine having such a nice life that just hearing about something like that keeps you from sleeping properly for a whole YEAR. Yes it’s definitely messed up but it absolutely won’t stop me from sleeping lmao

[@patrickangelobalasa]

I remember it being spread and posted around early social media sites like myspace and friendster in the late 2000s, early 2010s. I wonder how many people discovered it through that.

[@adidasgod1607]

Shinji minato's

[@specterRaven]

The fact that Junko's assailants are still alive and not received the death penalty, just tells me their judicial system failed her badly.

[@baramin_ho___0]

Japan in general unfortunately doesn’t have the best justice system. There was a case that happened a while back where a dude called Tatsuya Ichihashi killed a British woman called Lindsay who went to Japan to teach English, and Tatsuya became obsessed with her. After a while, he got in a cab with her to her home and mercilessly beat and murdered her, and shaved her head after she died and buried her in a bathtub filled with sand. He got away with it for around two and a half years? If I remember it correctly, because he altered his facial features by both plastic and self surgery and stayed out of the limelight, but he was eventually caught and sentenced to life. But the thing is, he was sentenced back in 2011, and you need to serve a minimum of 10 years in Japan before you’re eligible for parole, and it has been over 10 years since then, so he has a chance to walk free at any given moment, and whilst in prison he was allowed to write a book depicting ‘his side of the story’ and it was even published which is ridiculous. Also, I’m pretty sure in the trial where he was convicted, he wasn’t given the death penalty because he hadn’t ever committed a crime before and could possibly be rehabilitated. If you don’t know about the case, I do suggest looking it up because I suck at explaining things, but going back to my original point, Japan has a very ‘lax’ system, and I do hope it gets reformed in a way someday, because monsters like Junko, Lindsay and no doubt other victims’ assaulters and killers don’t get even half of what they truly deserve. :(

[@Isabella-wm3th]

One of them is on Twitter complaining because people still bring that up 🙄

[@zambonibob2026]

@ba-basspeople always blame america, just ignore them

[@BQD_Central]

I'm 100% certain that this was a Yakuza/government crime, it is too absurd to not have been caught eariler unless it was amost completly covered up.

[@ponponpon-jv7rd]

​@@baramin_ho___0It is a complete lie that in Japan, even if a life sentence is served at least 10 years, they are eligible for parole. In Japan, the maximum term sentence is 30 years. Therefore, life prisoners are not eligible for parole hearings until at least 30 years have passed since they were incarcerated. Of the approximately 1,800 life prisoners currently in Japan, less than 10 are granted parole per year. Therefore, it can be said that currently, parole is rarely granted to life prisoners. First, if a life prisoner does not pass the first parole hearing after serving 30 years in prison, the next parole hearing for them will be 10 years later. And if they do not pass the second parole hearing, the third hearing will be another 10 years later. And if they do not pass the third parole hearing, they will not be granted a parole hearing after that. Considering that currently it is rare for life-sentenced prisoners to be granted parole at their first parole hearing, even if Ichihashi is granted parole, it will be 40 to 50 years from now. He will be around 80 years old by then. It is also possible that Ichihashi will not be granted parole at all. So I think there is a good chance that he will not get out of prison alive. If you think about it like that, can we really say that Ichihashi has not received half of the punishment he should have received? At least on the day Ichihashi was sentenced to life imprisonment, Lindsay's family issued a statement saying, "We have been waiting for the day justice would be served for Lindsay. Today that day has come. We are very satisfied."

[@IzzyMarrie]

About the Junko case, yeah, I agree and don't look up the details unless you're prepared for a lot worse. Basically, what was talked about here is barely skimming the surface and is extremely tame compared to all the horrific acts committed against her. I've known about this case for a long while, and I'm of the opinion that it's fine to be interested in the details of true crime cases. However, if you're not of a mindset that's able to handle such extreme details, there's no point in putting yourself through that.

[@SakuraStardust]

I really want the topics in this series to be introduced to the viewers in the safest way possible, for them to understand the topic without being uncomfortable. Like to give them a rundown is a safe space I guess. So, yes, I don't think people should google these topics on their own if they're not prepared to see truly devastating details. Thank you for this comment.

[@IzzyMarrie]

​@@SakuraStardustof course! I'm glad to see more creators providing an opportunity for people to learn about these horrific crimes without being overwhelmed.

[@kiereanm3254]

Everytime I think of Junko I think of how many birthdays she’s missed. How many life achievements she was robbed of experiencing by some sickos who couldn’t take no for an answer. She would’ve been 53 this year. Rest in peace angel 🤍🕊️

[@Lotuzyo]

Junko Furuda is one of the worst cases ever. It's absolutely insane.

[@16mopey]

It's terrible if I remember didn't she nearly die in the first few days but then decided to live in hopes of rescue. It feels wrong to say but if she died in those first few days then she would have avoided so much pain

[@SakuraStardust]

It honestly broke my hear reading about it. Luckily, my editor helped a LOT in researching Junko's case to make it easier to get through.

[@SakuraStardust]

@@markanthonypanao1120 the 田 kanji in her name is pronounced both "da" and "ta." I used them because different sources spelled her name in different ways. If that was a genuine slip-up, I apologize, though that was a very difficult topic to get through for me.

[@ayanalott3159]

All because she rejected one of the boys and they couldn't take a no. The first time I read the wiki that case made it hard for me to sleep for days it was that heartbreaking and horrible..her funeral had me in tears too. You could tell she was a good girl and was loved by everyone there by the way they were all in tears. PS: Sakura didn't mention it in her video but I'm also still pissed off that one of the perpetrator's mom vandalized Junko's memorial claiming that she was the reason her son became the way he was. Such a bitch.

[@PlatinumPotat]

@@ayanalott3159Cases like Junko’s make me fear waking outside alone. I’m so paranoid about dating too because of cases like this. I worry for my safety and it sucks.

[@GorillaWithACellphone]

Apparently One of the Boys who killed Junko has a Twitter account that was discovered by some people online. it may be Minato since the account has retweeted some things that Minato has been known to be interested in. He posts feet related stuff And, Based off the Translations, he believes hes A Target of some sort of electronic monitoring or hacking conspiracy and also believes his Past shouldn’t be a problem for some reason and his entire logic is “I was a kid, so its okay”. Which is just fucked up. Luckily his entire comment section is people spamming what he did to Junko and sending hate. People even found his address at one point

[@pozlock1997]

what is his username

[@GorillaWithACellphone]

@@pozlock1997 @denngekiraketto

[@GorillaWithACellphone]

@@pozlock1997 its denngekiraketto

[@Hope_this_is_just_a_dream1994]

The Legal system failed Junko Furuta. The people, all the people who knew of her confinement and torture should have been subjected to the same terror that poor girl had to endure. Hearing a case like this stripped the last bit of faith i had in humanity. A very terrifying and sad end to someone who had more potential for greatness than the four who killed her had in their smallest fingertip. 😢

[@SakuraStardust]

Her case is the most horrific thing I have ever read. It was really difficult to get through

[@gabrielcoelho2346]

Here is the twiter handle of one of her tormentors. shinji Minato. have a nice hunt @denngekiraketto

[@Mario123007]

Well think about it this way, while this case isn't like very ancient, this case was around the time of the late 80s to early 90s Japan, it was the time where juvenile crimes were very high to the point it is common to have delinquent students in normal schools. Hence many mangas in at the time have main characters being delinquents. The one I definitely like was Slam dunk.

[@Lunar_Spell]

It's amazing, no matter how desensitized to true crime I get, Junko's story still shakes me to my core. Hope you're in good health, Sakura, and please take your time with this series- researching topics like this can have a horrible effect on your mental health. Just do what you can when you can. ❤

[@alicethemad1613]

This is an extremely dark video but I gotta admit, Miura fleeing to Saipan and immediately getting arrested again by the US authorities and then sent to prison was hilarious. Perfect comedic timing.

[@matrixiekitty2127]

Furada’s case is so horrific and heartbreaking in so many ways. Her friend’s message to her was just so sad, no young girls should go through what Junko did. No girls should have to loose their friend like that. She deserved to graduate and go on that trip, to have a future! How anyone can sentence monsters so lightly for robbing a young girl of her future so cruelly is beyond me!!

[@DeathMelodies]

Of the times I have heard the story of Junko Furuta, I have never heard the comments and wishes of her friends at the funeral. Thank you so much for highlighting just how much she was loved and cherished, and how these people will always carry her memory with them. It brought me to tears to hear that detail. Which is so much more deserving than the gruesome, senseless details of the torture she endured. What a strong young woman, I hope she rests well.

[@AtrocityEquine01]

The thing that disgusts me so much about the Junko case is just how much injustice was done to her. From the boys's parents doing *nothing* to stop their so called "sons", the judge giving those monsters lenient sentences, to the fact one of the mothers of those disgraces vandalizing Junko's grave so much that her family was _forced to move her grave to the US._ That poor girl literally had her live ahead of her and it was taken away in 40/44 days. I cannot imagine the utter horror she went through.

[@Crossark1]

The Sasebo incident always sticks with me because it’s immediately clear when you look into it that she had no concept of the finality of her actions. She clearly wanted to hurt the girl as an act of revenge, but she didn’t fully comprehend the reality that killing her meant she wouldn’t ever come back until after she’d already done it. It’s a well-known fact that children often don’t conceive of empathy or finality in the same way adults do, even sometimes after they’ve lost someone in their lives, and it’s so sad to me that a girl lost her life because another girl didn’t have a grounded concept of what that meant. I also can’t imagine the guilt Girl A is going to have to live with for the rest of her life - it really seems like reality crashed down on top of her in the moments after her crime, and I don’t think this would have happened if she had gotten help for the things that had been troubling her. The way people use the perpetrator’s media consumption to make it seem like she was driven to murder by a movie disgusts me, but it’s definitely true that the she was desensitized to violence and the permanence of murder as a result of rewatching the same slaughterfest movie over and over again, and I don’t doubt that this contributed to her deciding to act that way.

[@Atem4780]

I didn’t know this about her! So sad and unpleasant to consider it from the perspective of a child that didn’t get the help she needed to prevent this. I’ve found that mental health is hard to come by in Japan :/

[@arieslofi]

there's also the fact that girl a was diagnosed as autistic; empathy is even harder for us to experience, let alone as children.

[@rosebudishere]

@@arieslofithat’s exactly what I was going to say!

[@WasntYourFaultYouHaveToLetMeGo]

It's nuts that Shinichiro only got 6 and a half years for his crimes.

[@SakuraStardust]

Makes me sick. My goal with my content is to show Japan through an unbiased lens. Many people feel it to be a utopia, but I want to communicate that Japan has bad that goes with the good. This man being out among society, and living a normal life, is among the worst.

[@arthorization]

​@@SakuraStardust I appreciate you for that, no country is perfect and should not be put on a pedestal.

[@M75248]

Japanese sentences are a joke

[@FaunaturaleOG]

Last year I had delved into Junko's horrible case, I wasnt alright for about a week, it absolutely shook me to my core the amount of pain and abuse she went through. Having already lost a dear friend to a stalker back in 2009, it really hit hard, nothing has changed, girls and women can't trust anyone at face value.

[@translarrybutz]

Im not gonna lie, I teared up when Junko's friends funeral speech was read, what she was put through was terrible

[@AYVYN]

Kazuyoshi committing crimes in America to avoid Japanese police is like hiding in a shark to avoid a tuna fish.

[@Daniel-lf3jg]

I like how you cover this stuff and remain quite wholesome. It's refreshing to see humanity rather than a narrator who is jaded, indifferent, or taking pleasure in covering depravity

[@SakuraStardust]

Thank you, this comment means a lot. I do my best to show as much respect to the topics as I can.

[@rat_of_the_sewer]

What happened to junko is disgusting I can't even describe how much I hate those disgusting creatures that did those things to her

[@alpo67]

The maggot treatment is a special method to reduce dead tissue and or infected tissue on the body. I am a nurse and i have seen couple times this, since we used the maggots on burned patients. While it's extremely unpleasent and not gonna talk about the stench of it. But it's quite effective and also expensive and demanding to afford those tiny dudes.

[@Zorothegallade-rpg]

It's not too different from having fish nip at dead skin, after all.

[@marigold_____]

i didn’t even think of the smell oh jesus

[@kitsunerequiem]

i watched her part one iceberg then immediately went to the most current one and the tone shift is crazy and really let’s everything sink in

[@SakuraStardust]

Yeahh, this is part of why I made this iceberg a series for sure. The content shifts a lot with each tier 😰

[@Aisha-pe6ue]

@@SakuraStardust The tone shift went from 0 to 100 from part 4 to 5 in my opinion, but it could just be a editing thing.

[@gerardmijares2098]

Can we just talk abt how much Sakura upped her editing in this vid? It’s almost like an actual documentary, I’m so impressed by it all :D

[@SakuraStardust]

Thank you so much, friend! I have my awesome editor to thank for those edits. She did an amazing job and I’m so happy to be able to present quality content like this now 🥲

[@the_allucinator]

That royalty-free music in 1 Guy 1 Mousetrap is hilarious, combo that with the goddamn title sequence.

[@AurumUsagi]

Of all the cases in Japan, both the Junko Furuta murder and the Otaku Murderer cases were the most harrowing I've ever heard, and in fact, the former reminded me of a similar case in the UK that happened back in 1993, albeit the victim was much younger, and the delinquents were barely in double figured ages at the time. Likewise, after they were given new identities, the court issued an order protecting them, but unlike in Japan, the media here didn't have the guts to out them, because the repercussions of being in contempt of court are far greater. Which makes me think that juveniles who do heinous crimes are being judicially mollycoddled, which isn't right. They should be treated and punished like adults - and have the same repercussions too.

[@sara_lea]

If you're referring to the James Bulger case, the media leaked Venables new identity in 2010, which is why he was given a new one. I personally think he shouldn't have anonymity considering his consist returns to prison. But hopefully someone will leak it again.

[@AurumUsagi]

@@sara_lea That's right. The MoJ keeps frittering away money protecting Venables' new identity, and has even gone as far as to imposing a UK-wide order preventing it from being revealed. At least the Japanese have guts to stand up to heinous crimes, even if the judiciary kind of failed in Junko's case to provide anything close to the justice that the families of the girls murdered by Tsutomu received. Which links into the whole argument for stronger punishments, especially the death penalty.

[@artofhobo]

Oh god her friends letter at the funeral broke my heart. Junko I hope you are at peace

[@colerend4431]

Mad respect to you for showing the identities of these monsters. They don't deserve privacy

[@WillianBusch]

The incompetence of the police and the judiciary system itself in Japan is beyond belief.

[@ShadowJinjoYu]

I guess it why Japan itself likes talking about it

[@ConvincingPeople]

I mean, the United States is infamous for executing innocent people left and right and letting serial killers and far-right terrorists slip through the cracks on a regular basis, so it's not like the mixture of incompetence and malice is a localised phenomenon. Japan's problems with cops and courts are *different* from ours, but they're not necessarily *worse.*

[@M6A6T6T]

It’s almost the whole world my friend

[@QualityPeepersRodan]

I had subscribed to you after seeing your internet mystery single videos, but my wife and I had binged the entire do not search series last night together and loved it!! You are such a professional and considerate hostess Sakura! I normally cannot watch these darker videos but you are so kind to the viewer 🥰

[@anemoia_gem]

I learned about the Junko Furuda case a few years ago and to this day it is the most horrible and gruesome case of someone that I have ever heard of. To this day I feel bad for her and this whole case.

[@StationHereNow]

There’s sort of an american version of this: the murder of Sylvia Likens it even became a movie called An American Crime

[@adidasgod1607]

Shinj minato's

[@KristaleeWolfe]

You are so professional and respectful in your presentation of this. The most respectful I’ve encountered to date, quite frankly. Excellent job with this, you’ve gained a new sub and my personal viewership 🫰

[@spadesnoir8385]

This entry has been the hardest for me to sit through, I’m so sorry that you’ve had to pour over such horrific things, please take a restful break and stay strong. The Junko story continues to be a story that makes me feel immense sadness and sympathy for Junko. It also boils my blood that those four boys weren’t given super harsh punishments.

[@SakuraStardust]

Thank you, friend. I’m often spammed in my email and socials by people who literally demand the next part constantly. Despite that, I’m glad there are also a lot of people who understand these topics are really difficult to research and not something I can put together real quick 😓

[@spadesnoir8385]

@@SakuraStardust Of course! 😁👍 I enjoy the series a ton but I understand that these things are extremely difficult and we, as people, need breaks. So again, please take care/rest and continue to be as strong as you have been so far!!

[@Hyperdeath.Kisses]

Hearing about a review/feedback page for Goat*e got a refreshing chuckle out of me with all of these horrible stories. Definitely take as much time as you need with that mental health break, this is… A LOT, even the Junko story alone is scarring enough. :(

[@fionnaandcakecosplay]

The lightening bolt backgrounds are super cool! Keep up the great work Lorelai and Alex/Sakura! (Edited for name spelling) Oh, and happy holidays!!!

[@SakuraStardust]

Thank you! Happy Holidays to you too!

[@loreelaiii]

[@fionnaandcakecosplay]

@@SakuraStardust You’re welcome! I watch your videos all the time so it’s kinda crazy for me that you actually replied to me. I’m a huge fan

[@EnnuiGoldfeld]

10:44 I can’t pull myself to finish watching this, that speech made me cry.

[@SakuraStardust]

My voice was kind of wavering because reading it made me cry every time I tried recording. It breaks my heart.

[@PlatinumPotat]

The editing work on this video was EXCELLENT!! I’ve been watching you since part 1 and I’m so proud of how much your channel has grown in both size and production quality ❤️

[@d3athwish09]

You definitely deserve a huge break after making this video! I really love these type of videos as it really opens my eyes on the dark side of the internet and life in general and reminds us to live our lives the fullest. You're my favorite informative true crime youtuber, take care!✨✨🙏

[@Morbegs]

This is the first time I’ve seen someone cover junkos case and naming and shaming the bastards who did this to her.

[@ShaneRichard2029]

i watched 1 video about junko furuda's case 1 time, and it went into so much unnecessary details... it was almost 10years ago, and still now i sometimes have nightmares about witnessing what she endured, or being myself a victim of those acts. somehow i kept watching true crime videos on the regular for a while after the details started appearing in my nightmares, adding many horrible acts from other cases overtime, before realising just how much it was messing with my sleep and my mental health. thank you for not going into details about they did to her, i think it is very respectful of you both toward her resting and your audience edited to add this : the trigger warnings on screen are a very good idea, but with them being written in white with a blue and white bachground (the iceberg) and being in the corner of the screen, it made it difficult to notice and read them at time. kudos for the effort tho!

[@mr.tosciro4025]

junko may have been through hell but the absolute balls of steel that she displayed after living through that to win the majong game at the end of her captivity are legendary, love the iceberg.

[@SkitsyCat]

Was she the one playing mahjong with the guy? From how it was said in the video, I just thought the guy lost a mahjong game with someone else and came back to take his frustration out on her as their captive human punching bag.

[@mr.tosciro4025]

@@SkitsyCat if i remember correctly it was WITH HER and the fact that even in that state she was able to win is crazy, trully shows the strength and moral character of everyome in this grim story.

[@balistixmapping197]

​@@SkitsyCat Considering the severity of her injuries, I don't think she could've played mahjong and won.

[@VegasFlatline]

If true then Mf A got massive skill issues

[@MikeVonwolkenstein]

Glad to see the series isn’t dead and it’s being worked on. Can’t wait for more. 🔥 But more importantly, hope you get better

[@CocatGaming]

The case of Junko Furuta never ceases to not horrify me every time I hear about it. Junko did not deserve anything that those boys did to her.

[@VocalSynthFan7]

The Nevada tan one still disgusts me all these years later. The case itself is absolutely awful but the way people reacted to it was just…wtf. I initially thought that it was just western grass-deprived Japan-glorifying weeaboos at first (particularly the same people as those glorifying Yuka Takaoka and calling her an "irl waifu"…tell me you're deprived of human interaction without telling me you're deprived of human interaction…) but no it was people in Japan talking about it first (which does make sense since Japan was where this incident took place and we likely wouldn't have much coverage of it here in the west if not for the glorification. I also must mention how weird it is that they're treating an ELEVEN year old like this when they're likely adults??). I hope the politicians that praised Natsumi's actions lost their jobs. That fact that there's people who are trying to look for Natsumi today are also so messed up. What she did was horrible and I am in no way defending her actions but she doesn't need any more publicity. We don't know her current whereabouts or how her mental state is and it would be better if it stayed that way.

[@AnimeLoveLover123]

6:30 They were afraid of being charged with murder? What the hell were they expecting to do with her then? Send her home eventually believe she would be too scared to tell anyone? Keep her alive forever despite starving her and brutalizing her?

[@Zorothegallade-rpg]

Between them and the kid's parents being angry at Junko's parents for "ruining" their son's life despite being complicit in ruining and cutting short a girl's life themselves, one can see exactly zero awareness in everyone involved, emotional or otherwise.

[@pookiesama97]

I just need to say that I absolutely ADORE how respectful you are in these videos. Some true crime and dark KZbinrs are so damn insensitive…

[@morganhay3968]

This is completely besides the point, but hearing Battle Royale described (accurately enough) as 'like the Hunger Games' feels weird - I remember when Hunger Games came out, geek spaces were full of people accusing Suzanne Collins of ripping it off...

[@TVindustries5000]

i was one of those ppl when the movie came out. i loved BR and thought it was a ripoff. nowadays i feel more apathy toward it but feel its a lesser creative work than BR, just dont care for the rustic fantasy futuristic(?) style of it

[@Roadent1241]

Is it not though? It's just an English version of it? I've seen both films and the only difference I see is the language and country of origin obviously contributing to the English one being Tamer, more kid friendly because apparently we're wussies XD

[@WeWillAlwaysHaveVALIS]

It absolutely is nothing but a poor rip off of Battle Royale.

[@swampratguttergoblin]

I will admit when I first saw the movies I also fully believed this (because the movies fuckin suck ) but looking at the books I give it a little more credit, it definitely takes a lot of the same ideas and I think Suzanne admit somewhere that it was part of her inspiration but I could be wrong, the books (especially after the first) actually have some really cool ideas , the movies I can absolutely say seem like a copy of it because they cut out so many important details that make the books more interesting and the acting is, awful, so I don't blame people for thinking that, BR is great and better than the hunger games in general but the hunger games books do deserve a little more appreciation than it being a copy, even after the hunger games the concept of it has been done a lot

[@Roadent1241]

@macgamer408 I'm not MamaRodent, she's been in the ground for a year XD

[@Unquestionable]

Enjoy your break, you definitely earned it especially considering a lot of the topics of this video. Always love your content be it things I already know a bit about (some of the stuff in this series, 2ch stuff) of learning about something I wasn't aware of but am now a fan of (definitely got into City Pop because of your coverage). Thank you for all your hard work and looking forward to what you cover next.

[@xHongxKongxHK]

Take as much time as you need to yourself , hope you get better soon! Thanks for all the hard work you do

[@espiothechameleon573]

10:02 recientemente habló en Twitter queriendo abogar por perdón por lo que había hecho, y se topó con la sorpresa de que mucha gente de todas partes del mundo le dijeron de todo en una catarata de comentarios hacia él, recordándole que no fue algo inofensivo lo que hizo, si no que fue uno de los responsables del asesinato de una chica (Perdón si lo escribo en español, mi inglés no es totalmente fluido y no quería equivocarme con alguna palabra y dar mal el dato).

[@jaz121]

q asco q alguien siquiera piense en pedir perdon por algo asi. realmente tan desconectado de la vida y lo q hizo estaba???

[@espiothechameleon573]

@@jaz121 o tan poco arrepentimiento por su acto, aunque no creo que toda la culpa la tuviese él, si no también el sistema de justicia, al comenzar por no juzgarlos cómo adultos por el atroz crimen que cometió junto con los otros 3, por otra parte, si uno de ellos tenía lazos con los Yakuza, posiblemente estos influyeron para reducirles la sentencia, más aún considerando la influencia que tienen estos en su país.

[@astrowolvez]

It’s insane how the junko case they were barely punished and are just out there like nothing happened.

[@saturnsomnia]

This video was so well researched and made, well done!! I’ve been binge watching all your videos since I got a back injury recently and you’ve really become one of my favorite channels!! I hope you feel well soon Sakura! Thank you for your hard work

[@SakuraStardust]

Thank you so much, friend! I wish you a swift recovery from your back injury ☺️

[@noodlefries9890]

YAY, but this must of been draining to look into, ❤ take as many breaks as you need you’re human

[@MsAnimefan95]

Goddamn, I can tell you were audibly straining to stay calm during the Junko Furuta segment. The letter from her friend still makes me tear up. As for Nevada-tan, I was actually slightly older than the girls in the case when it happened, and was fairly bemused by the memeification of the case back then (and I still think WTF to this day), but looking back as an adult it is pretty disturbing to see how the internet cutesify-ed the whole thing.

[@ilikescatsalot]

the Junko case makes me so sick and upsetting. Her receiving a graduation cert and getting buried with her uniform somewhat made me feel better, in a way. It made me feel like despite everything, she was still loved and adored, and that she was still alive to everyone. She was such a sweet and talented girl.

[@romulo8500]

I was fine up until level 4, but the first story of Level 5 made me realize this thing is on a whole another level. If everything else in this list is like that I might have to stop, this is the furthest I go. Good job with the research and wishing you're treating your mental health Alex! Also Rest in Peace Junko...

[@dianagp1036]

I'd love to hear more about Shukan Bunshu! Journalism scandals are always really interesting :0

[@ava-mc9uw]

thank you for being respectful towards Junko. what she went through is treated as a spectacle in so many other videos :(

[@SakuraStardust]

Thank you for taking note of that. Part of why this video took so long is because I wanted to make sure I provided humanity and respect to these real people and what they had to endure.

[@Engel-07]

Otaku killer on the thumbnail and junko in the first entry, i just know this is gonna be an especially morbid one

[@arthorization]

Nevada-Tan is absolutely messed up. How people reacted to the situation makes me think twice about whether if the people on the internet is capable of empathy sometimes, or if they are too blind to see.

[@Chloe4656.]

The fact that people copslayed a sher is behind horrendous and disrespectful to the victim.

[@CherrySpotArt]

WOW the production value of this is so high compared the past iceberg videos, I love this

[@spaceBoba]

i cant even bring myself to even hear about ms furuta's case. it breaks my heart to know that all this happened to someone so young.

[@littledreamerrem7021]

As always, thank you, Sakura.

[@theotakux5959]

Good news: Part 5 is out! Bad news: It's full of well known crimes. Not bad news because it's not 'new' info, but becasue it's a bunch of hard-to-listen-to crimes. Also, it's weird to think about the 'Nevada-tan' stuff today, because I remember how much 'fan-art' there was of her back when it was recent. it was one of the earliest 'memes' on 4chan, unfortunately.

[@chimpmaster]

Thank you so much for making these videos despite your health issues and the general horribleness of the subject matter. I consider your channel one of the very best in the real life mystery/horror genre of KZbin channels.

[@perofan1424]

It's truly upsetting how, even to this day, people trivialized Satomi Mitarai's murder. Not just with the Nevada-tan meme, but also with how the case itself is usually mentioned alongside the Red Room urban legend, as if implying Natsumi was "cursed" into killing Mitarai. Neither one of those girls deserved this sort of publicity.

[@AngelKitsuneVixen]

Aw, miss Sakura you spoil us! Can't wait to watch another installment of this series❤

[@SakuraStardust]

Ill be getting to work on it after the holidays!

[@lumi_is_bored5678]

So excited! I love your vids. I hope you have a good break. It’s important to take care of yourself. For what it’s worth, I really appreciate all the work you put into your channel. See you when you get back :) Happy holidays!

[@SakuraStardust]

Thank you so much :) Happy holidays to you as well, friend!

[@Aesos3429]

I knew Furuta Junko’s case was probably going to make an appearance in he lower tiers here…and I still wasn’t ready to hear about it again anyway. What especially angers me so much about this case, is how I personally learned about it. Some twisted person in an anime fandom where a majority of the fictional cast are based on real well known people, decided to make a fictional fan character based on Furuta herself. And not loosely either- same name, age, wearing a school uniform…the character’s past being her case…all of it. This person asked me to draw their character for her with another popular character of this anime. Me being really interested in the real life people the characters were based on, thought Furuta was in this same category of people…obviously, she was not, and after reading the details of this case for myself, I immediately turned that commission down and blocked them. Some people really just…so terrible at being people, that they shouldn’t be called a person at all sometimes. Both every single monster responsible for Furuta’s torture, and the sick individual that cruelly used her life and case for their weird oc fantasies. There were so many writers and people they could have used…but they deliberately chose her for that.

[@turboqueer666]

First story was enough. Sakura, I understand why that was hard.

[@SakuraStardust]

To be honest, I'm not a fan of true crime or horror topics, despite my content. I just kinda ended up in this because I want to present Japan and its culture from a perspective that is real and unbiased, as I see many glorify Japan as a perfect utopia. These topics are pretty hard on me because of that, but yeah, thank you for understanding, friend :)

[@MrITSCLOBBERINTIME]

After all these years Goatse got me again. Thanks for the video Sakura!

[@SsnakeBite]

If you're wondering why anyone would take Krokodil on purpose, my unerstanding us that they don't. As the video mentions, it's cheap to make, so it's largely popular with distributors, who sell it claiming it to be heroin, which is much more expensive to make and also sells for a lot of money, allowing for a hefty profit.

[@mathieuleader8601]

the entry about the naked man approaching the mousetrap feels like it would make for a good art installation

[@Jlockjammers217]

I found you randomly watched all of the other videos and I’m here for it you got my subscription lol

[@SakuraStardust]

Thank you so much!!

[@RudyCrowley-b1j]

From what I've heard one of Junko's killers has or had a brain tumor. I don't know if it's true, but I don't feel sorry at all if it is.

[@StationHereNow]

Twice in one week? The queen is really feeding us

[@dedmen9713]

thanks for making this series

[@K1K1-Kiki]

I don’t know if anyone else has commented this but I’m 90% sure the case with Mary Konno had a vocaloid song about it called “Crushed Mary” It’s pretty creepy but I remembered hearing about it in a video, I could be remembering wrong though

[@jasongonzaga9745]

THIS IS THE REASON WH WE HAVE THE GRUDGE OR SADAKO. you know junko will haunt the boys forever at this point until they die.

[@afriandyyuanda3508]

If that real We won't blame her if she become the Onryo

[@michaelazastera]

What is wrong with Junko's parents? She calls them that she ran away and they let it go. They showed have known that something was wrong and report it. She didn't seem to be a troublemaker. I can't imagine I'd just let it go if my child called me like this.

[@samuelcrows]

Japan doenst have that many crimes a year (in comparacion to other countries) but man, when something big happens there is something to left you mental scaried.

[@desubysnusnu]

Japan has plenty of crimes but minor crimes aren't registered by police in order to keep their crime rate "low"

[@johnjackson3735]

Violent crimes especially sexual assault and rape are rarely reported in Japan and when they are the police ignore it as they did in Junko's case and usually side with the violent offenders by giving light slaps on the wrist, so there is no way to know the real stats especially since a case only goes to trial if it is 100 percent sure a conviction can be gained. They are so undemocratic that they don't even have jury trials which means only one corrupt judge is needed to give an unjust ruling. The corruption is so severe that they call the worst torture, murder, and gang rape in history of beautiful soul Junko Furuta death due to bodily injury, not even charging the Maggot Minato parents who owned the torture house and enabled it to happen and refusing to accuse more than a dozen others of rape because the evil misogynist judge said they had been forced to violate her. It is this very propaganda of safety that is pumped out that allows such atrocities to happen because vulnerable women and girls falsely assume Japan is safe.

[@mateobonavento3939]

Thank you for all your hard work making these great videos, I really mean it when I say it shows while watching them. I hope you're able to rest and feel much better during your break. The maggot thing reminded me of a story my mom told me. When one of my uncles returned from military service his head was really swollen. He looked so different that they didn't recognize him until he got closer and spoke. When one of my aunts treated him, she found two large worms crawling under his scalp. They had to take my grandma somewhere else because she kept fainting, and she's a strong woman so it must have been that horrifying of a sight. In my family we don't have a history of men being bald, except for that uncle and it's likely because of those worms. Fortunately that was the only lasting damage, but he stayed in bed with high fevers for several weeks until he recovered.

[@hiramsiqueiros9018]

i still havent recovered the faith in humanity i lost when i found out about junko's case.

[@jadem9987]

Also as someone who is familiar with the book mentioned at the end (I've taken a number of forensic classes) I want to stress that its VERY graphic, and there is infamously several photos of dead children and even a baby. Proceed with extreme caution.

[@psykoookami3325]

I love how people keep mentioning the case of Junko Furuta. The case should never been forgotten

[@Failed_Kings]

I just found you last night and binged this series, I bring a message from the past: Japanese ads are weird and cool. Do the talking thing for an extended period of time or so regarding Japanese ads. Gonna binge the ads one at work tonight :D

[@fazlox]

53:20 stuck out to me because this is somehow the first time I've ever heard anyone aside from my family and doctors even mention POTS. As someone who suffers from it as well, it's always felt a little bit isolating having to have an explanation at the ready in case it came up. I hope you're well, do take care

[@SakuraStardust]

Thank you so much! I sincerely hope you’re well managing POTS yourself ❤️

[@Mirai8]

Sakura, the mugshot of Miyano is actually Joe Son, a Korean American who is in jail for similar crimes and killed a cellmate. I know because he's famous in the MMA community for getting punched in the nuts repeatedly back when that was still legal...lol?

[@SakuraStardust]

Let me explain. A LOT of Japanese sites use his photo and claim hes one of Junkos assailants now. Like, big media outlets do. Here are are some examples

[@SakuraStardust]

x.com/bot_never4get7/status/1648413643070132224?s=20

[@SakuraStardust]

This one uses the pic as well. Its so strange how its a common misconception in Japan, aparently citizen-journal.link/concrete-case/

[@ponponpon-jv7rd]

​@@SakuraStardust First of all, in Japan, Joe-son is not recognized as the current form of Miyano. There are no articles in Japanese big media that use Joe-son's photo as Miyano. And in the article that uses Joe-son's photo, it is clearly mentioned that the man in the photo is not Miyano but a Korean-American named Joe-son. I don't know if you haven't read the evidence you presented properly or if you can't read Japanese very well. However, the article on the site you presented as evidence that Japanese people mistakenly think Joe-son is the current Miyano also clearly states that the man is actually Joe-son.

[@spiderboithefirst1271]

Im so glad you are continuing this series i have been wiating for a very long time.Btw great video as always!

[@avocatto1877]

Junko deserved so much better.. She deserved to live, and to grow up and be happy with her friends.

[@kitluna4974]

I've known about the Junko case for a while, but the first time I heard it, it made me sob so hard. Despite being non religious, I lit candles for her, and prayed to whatever god holds her that they treat her delicately and allow her to be happy.

[@creator_mayo]

As someone who is autistic (late diagnosed at 17) I hate that people think or downplay crimes that are caused by autistic people it feels infantilizing

[@sk.m.subhani7888]

I got know about the junko case two years back at that time i cant eat and can't sleep for so many days still its hurts so much how much pain junko suffered and the judgment for those monsters is still made so heartbroken i cant even imagine the 44 days of hellish life of junko and actually they made the movie about her is the most hurtful thing how can they make some one pain into money i hope junko parents are okay and healthy