Issei Sagawa

In 1981, Issei Sagawa (佐川一政 Sagawa Issei), a Japanese student of English literature at the Sorbonne Academy in Paris, invited a Dutch woman he had grown attracted to — a classmate named Renée Hartevelt — to dinner for a literary conversation. There he proceeded to kill her with a rifle, after which he ate her piece by piece.

Sagawa was declared unfit to stand trial and his wealthy father, Akira Sagawa, had him extradited back to Japan where he was released from custody within fifteen months. By this time, Sagawa had become a national celebrity in his homeland for his unrepentant attitude toward the entire affair, even revealing in the cannibalistic act. Since then, he has authored several best-selling novels and appeared in at least one film, an erotic drama titled "Shisenjiyou no Aria" (The Bedroom). To this day, Sagawa writes a column for a national tabloid.

In 1983, Sagawa described the experience of the act which made him famous.

File:Shonen a by issei sagawa.jpg

Shonen A by Issei Sagawa

Besides books about his own murder, Sagawa wrote a commentary book "Shonen A" in 1997 on the Kobe Children's Serial Murder of 1997, when a 14-year-old called "Youth A" ("Shonen A") killed and decapitated several children.

External links

• Crime Library The Cannibal Celebrity: Issei Sagawa By Katherine Ramsland
• ArminM.com on Sagawa [WARNING: This link contains graphic details/ and or pornography]