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Issei Sagawa

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Issei Sagawa
Born (1949-04-26) April 26, 1949 (age 75)
Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan
Occupation(s)Public speaker, commentator, actor, writer
Criminal chargeFrance Murder, cannibalism
PenaltyUnfit to stand trial by reason of insanity

Issei Sagawa (佐川 一政, Sagawa Issei, born April 26, 1949) is a Japanese man who in 1981 murdered and cannibalized a Dutch woman named Renée Hartevelt. After his release, he became a minor celebrity in Japan and made a living through the public's interest in his crime.

Biography

Early life

Sagawa was born in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan to wealthy parents. He attended the University of Paris.

Murder of Hartevelt

Sagawa served time in a French jail for the murder of the Dutch student Renée Hartevelt, a classmate at the Sorbonne Academy in Paris, France. On June 11, 1981, Sagawa, a 32 year old student of Comparative literature, invited Hartevelt to dinner at his 10 Rue Erlanger apartment under the pretense of translating German poetry for a class he was taking. Upon her arrival, he got her to begin reading the poetry and then shot her in the neck with a rifle while she sat with her back to him at a desk. He then began to carry out his plan of eating her. He first tried to bite into her buttocks with merely his teeth but immediately realized this to be impossible and so went out to buy a butchers knife.[1] She was selected because of her health and beauty, those characteristics Sagawa believed he lacked. Sagawa describes himself as a "weak, ugly, and small man" (he is just under 5 ft (1.52 m) tall[2]) and claims that he wanted to "absorb her energy".[3]

Sagawa said he fainted after the shock of shooting her, but awoke with the realization that he had to carry out his desire to eat her.[1] He did so, beginning with her buttocks and thighs, after having sex with the corpse. In interviews, he noted his surprise at the "corn-colored" nature of human fat.[2] For two days, Sagawa ate various parts of her body. He described the meat as "soft" and "odorless", like tuna. He then attempted to dump the mutilated body in a remote lake, but was seen in the act and later arrested by the French police who found parts of the deceased still in his refrigerator.[1]

His wealthy father provided a top lawyer for his defense, and after being held for two years without trial the French judge Jean-Louis Bruguière found him legally insane and unfit to stand trial and ordered Sagawa to be held indefinitely in a mental institution.[1] Following a visit by the author Inuhiko Yomota, Sagawa's account of the murder was published in Japan with the title In the Fog.[1] The subsequent publicity and macabre celebrity of Sagawa likely contributed to the French authorities' decision to have him extradited to Japan. Upon arrival in Japan, he was immediately taken to Matsuzawa hospital, where examining psychologists all found him to be sane but "evil".[1] However, Japanese authorities found it to be legally impossible to hold him, because the French court refused to hand pertinent paper to Japan, claiming that the case was already dropped in France. As a result, Sagawa checked himself out of the mental institution on August 12, 1986, and has been a free man ever since.[1] Sagawa's freedom has been questioned and criticized by many.[1]

Post-release

Sagawa now lives in Tokyo and is a minor celebrity in Japan. He is often invited as a guest speaker and commentator.[4] He has also written restaurant reviews for the Japanese magazine Spa.[5] In 1992, he appeared in Hisayasu Sato's exploitation film Uwakizuma: Chijokuzeme (Unfaithful Wife: Shameful Torture) as a sadosexual voyeur.[6]

Besides books about the murder he committed, Sagawa wrote a commentary book Shonen A in 1997 on the Kobe child murders of 1997, when a 14-year-old referred to in the media as "Seito Sakakibara" and "Boy A" ("Shōnen A") killed and decapitated a child and attacked several others.[7]

Sagawa's story inspired the 1981 Stranglers song "La Folie",[citation needed] and the 1983 Rolling Stones song "Too Much Blood".

A 1986 short film by Olivier Smolders called Adoration is based on Sagawa's story.[8] In the same year, the TV channel Viasat Explorer released a 47-minute documentary film called "Cannibal Superstar".

In 2009, Sagawa was documented in a History Channel show titled "Strange Rituals" discussing cannibalism. The show reveals Sagawa as a freelance artist of nude paintings.[citation needed]

In 2010, www.VBS.TV did a short documentary about him, titled "VBS Meets: Issei Sagawa."[9][10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Morris, Steven (September 20, 2007). "Issei Sagawa: Celebrity Cannibal". New Criminologist, the On-line Journal of Criminology. New Criminologist. Retrieved July 26, 2009.
  2. ^ a b Ramsland, Katherine. "The Cannibal Celebrity: Issei Sagawa". TruTV. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
  3. ^ Luzajic, Lorette C. "The Sweetest Taboo: An Anthropology of Anthropophagy". Gremolata. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
  4. ^ Kushner, Barak. (1997). "Cannibalizing Japanese Media: The Case of Issei Sagawa". Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 31 (3), p. 56
  5. ^ Henshall, Kenneth G. Dimensions of Japanese society: gender, margins and mainstream. rev.ed. Palgrave Macmillan, London 1999 p.207
  6. ^ "Issei Sagawa". IMDb. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
  7. ^ Template:Goodreads author
  8. ^ Knoll, Paul (April 25, 2007). "Bard of Brooklyn". Metro Times. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
  9. ^ newsroom/vbs-meets-issei-sagawa-part-1--2
  10. ^ newsroom/vbs-meets-issei-sagawa-part-2--2

External links

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