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Besides books about the murder he committed, Sagawa wrote a commentary book ''Shonen A'' in 1997 on the [[Kobe]] children's [[serial murder]] of 1997, when a 14-year-old called "[[Sakakibara Seito|Boy A]]" ("[[Shōnen (disambiguation)|Shonen]] A") killed and [[decapitate]]d a child.<ref name="Books">{{cite web|url=http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/2795905.Issei_Sagawa|title=Books by Issei Sagawa|publisher=Goodreads|accessdate=September 26, 2009}}</ref>
Besides books about the murder he committed, Sagawa wrote a commentary book ''Shonen A'' in 1997 on the [[Kobe]] children's [[serial murder]] of 1997, when a 14-year-old called "[[Sakakibara Seito|Boy A]]" ("[[Shōnen (disambiguation)|Shonen]] A") killed and [[decapitate]]d a child.<ref name="Books">{{cite web|url=http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/2795905.Issei_Sagawa|title=Books by Issei Sagawa|publisher=Goodreads|accessdate=September 26, 2009}}</ref>


Sagawa's story inspired the 1981 [[Stranglers]] song "La Folie"{{Fact|date=January 2009}} and the 1983 [[Rolling Stones]] song "[[Too Much Blood]]".<ref name="Ramsland" /> In 2007, the avant-garde noise-metal band Gnaw their Tongues released an EP titled "Issei Sagawa," the cover of which depicts Sagawa posed with a fork and knife over what appears to be a pair of human legs.<ref name="gnaw">{{cite web|url=http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=146908|title=Gnaw Their Tongues - Issei Sagawa|publisher=Encyclopaedia Metallum|accessdate=September 26, 2009}}</ref>
Sagawa's story inspired the 1981 [[Stranglers]] song "La Folie"{{Fact|date=January 2009}} ,the 1983 [[Rolling Stones]] song "[[Too Much Blood]]".<ref name="Ramsland" /> and the 2004 sing Dinner with Renee by [[Human Factors Lab]]In 2007, the avant-garde noise-metal band Gnaw their Tongues released an EP titled "Issei Sagawa," the cover of which depicts Sagawa posed with a fork and knife over what appears to be a pair of human legs.<ref name="gnaw">{{cite web|url=http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=146908|title=Gnaw Their Tongues - Issei Sagawa|publisher=Encyclopaedia Metallum|accessdate=September 26, 2009}}</ref>


A short film by Olivier Smolders called ''Adoration'' is based on Sagawa's story.<ref name="Knoll">{{cite web|url=http://metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=10425|title=Bard of Brooklyn|last=Knoll|first=Paul|date=April 25, 2007|publisher=[[Metro Times]]|accessdate=September 26, 2009}}</ref> At the same year the tv channel [[Viasat Explorer]] released a 47 minute documentary film named «Cannibal Superstar».
A short film by Olivier Smolders called ''Adoration'' is based on Sagawa's story.<ref name="Knoll">{{cite web|url=http://metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=10425|title=Bard of Brooklyn|last=Knoll|first=Paul|date=April 25, 2007|publisher=[[Metro Times]]|accessdate=September 26, 2009}}</ref> At the same year the tv channel [[Viasat Explorer]] released a 47 minute documentary film named «Cannibal Superstar».

Revision as of 23:52, 22 November 2009

Issei Sagawa (佐川一政, Sagawa Issei, born June 11, 1949) is a Japanese man who in 1981 murdered and cannibalized a Dutch woman named Renée Hartevelt. After his release, he has become a minor celebrity in Japan and has made a living through the public interest on his crime.

Biography

Early life

Sagawa was born in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan to wealthy parents. He attended college at 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 French literature, invited Hartevelt to dinner under the pretense of literary conversation. Upon her arrival, he shot her in the neck with a rifle while she sat with her back to him at a desk, then began to carry out his plan of eating her.[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 hips and legs, 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.[1]

His wealthy father provided a top lawyer for defense, and after two years without a trial the French judge Louis Bruguiéres found him "obviously" legally insane and unfit to stand trial and ordered Sagawa to be held indefinitely in a mental institution.[1] Through a visit of the author Inuhiko Yomota his memoirs on the murder were published in Japan with the title In the Fog.[1] The constant publicity and macabre celebrity of Sagawa led the French authorities to extradite him to Japan. Not to cause outrage, he was first taken to Matsuzawa hospital, where upon examination psychologists all found him sane but '"evil".[1] Japanese authorities found it impossible to pursue him, purportedly by lacking some pertinent papers from Louis Bruguiéres. As a result, Sagawa checked himself out on August 12, 1986, and has been a free man ever since.[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 children's serial murder of 1997, when a 14-year-old called "Boy A" ("Shonen A") killed and decapitated a child.[7]

Sagawa's story inspired the 1981 Stranglers song "La Folie"[citation needed] ,the 1983 Rolling Stones song "Too Much Blood".[2] and the 2004 sing Dinner with Renee by Human Factors LabIn 2007, the avant-garde noise-metal band Gnaw their Tongues released an EP titled "Issei Sagawa," the cover of which depicts Sagawa posed with a fork and knife over what appears to be a pair of human legs.[8]

A short film by Olivier Smolders called Adoration is based on Sagawa's story.[9] At the same year the tv channel Viasat Explorer released a 47 minute documentary film named «Cannibal Superstar».

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 c 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. ^ "Books by Issei Sagawa". Goodreads. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
  8. ^ "Gnaw Their Tongues - Issei Sagawa". Encyclopaedia Metallum. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
  9. ^ Knoll, Paul (April 25, 2007). "Bard of Brooklyn". Metro Times. Retrieved September 26, 2009.

External links