KOBE - Nearly three decades after the 1997 Kobe serial child murders shocked Japan, Mamoru Hase, whose 11-year-old son Jun was killed by the then 14-year-old perpetrator known as “Boy A,” has decided to bring an end to his long involvement with the offender over compensation and accountability.
“Our family has aged over these 29 years, but our son has remained forever 11 years old in our minds,” Hase said. “We can only remember him as the pure child he was when he died.”
The case remains one of Japan’s most infamous juvenile crimes. In May 1997, part of Jun’s severed body was discovered outside the gate of a junior high school in Kobe. A chilling note signed with the name “Sakakibara Seito” was left at the scene, and further letters were later sent to media organizations.
The suspect was revealed to be a 14-year-old third-year junior high school student living in Kobe. In addition to killing Jun, the boy was found to have murdered another elementary school girl and injured three others.
Because of his age, the suspect was not subjected to a public criminal trial under the juvenile laws in place at the time. The victims’ families were also excluded from the juvenile proceedings and were given little information as the boy underwent treatment and education at a medical juvenile training school.
Seeking answers about why his son had been killed, Hase later filed a civil lawsuit against the boy and his parents. However, even through the court process, details of the crime remained largely undisclosed.
“One reason was that I wanted to know the truth about what happened,” Hase explained. “I was unable to learn that truth, but I also wanted an official judgment about who bore responsibility.”
The court ordered 100 million yen in damages. For Hase, however, maintaining contact with the perpetrator became more important than the money itself, as it represented a possible path toward understanding the case.
The boy, who reportedly suffered from attachment disorders and sexual sadism linked to his upbringing, spent more than six years receiving psychiatric treatment and education before being released in 2004. At the time, he expressed a desire to continue paying compensation throughout his life.
Through lawyers, he gradually paid compensation and sent annual letters to the victims’ family.
Reading those letters, Hase recalled, was emotionally exhausting.
“There was a big difference between reading them while searching only for faults and reading them while trying to find even a small sign of positive change,” he said.
Over the years, Hase attempted to interpret the letters in good faith and responded publicly through annual statements to the media.
A turning point came in 2015, 18 years after the crime, when the perpetrator sent a lengthy 37-page typed letter discussing his motives and thoughts about the murders. Hase initially believed the contents had been shared privately with the bereaved family.
However, shortly after the letter arrived, the former juvenile offender published a memoir titled 'Zekka', detailing the crimes and his inner thoughts without informing the victims’ family beforehand.
“I felt my child had been killed a second time,” Hase said.
The memoir included descriptions of sexual experiences and psychological factors that Hase believed had been disclosed exclusively to the family in private correspondence.
Hase concluded that the sincerity he had perceived in the offender’s earlier communications may not have been genuine.
The following year, the former offender offered to resume compensation payments through hidden income sources, but Hase refused. Since then, nearly 10 years have passed without further payment offers.
Under Japanese law, compensation claims expire after 10 years unless renewed through legal action. This year, Hase decided not to pursue another lawsuit.
“I don’t think it is right for me to continue turning my child’s life into money,” he said. “As for compensation, I think this is where it ends. Now we simply wait to see what he does.”
Letters from the offender also stopped arriving after 2018, according to the lawyer who had mediated contact between both sides without charge.
Hase, meanwhile, devoted much of his later life to advocating for victims’ rights, hoping that other bereaved families would not endure the same isolation his family faced during the juvenile justice process. In 2008, reforms were introduced allowing victims’ families to observe juvenile hearings.
Now 70 and facing health issues in recent years, Hase said he has begun reconsidering how he wishes to spend the remainder of his life.
“Continuing to work on victims’ issues is important,” he said, “but I also think it’s important to value my own private life more. I believe my son would understand that as well.”
Although Hase has stopped issuing his annual statements addressed to the former offender, one question still remains unresolved in his mind.
“I still want to know why my child’s life had to be taken,” he said. “I believe that is my responsibility as a father.”
Whether the former juvenile offender is truly confronting the crimes he committed remains unclear. No letter has arrived this year.
Source: KTV NEWS
