The End of Silence - One Night of Violence and Reminiscence (Fall 1972)

The End of Silence - One Night of Violence and Reminiscence (Fall 1972)

On October 27, 1972, it was a quiet night at the Hotel Mihama in Shingu City, Wakayama Prefecture. An elderly woman, who had been running the inn by herself for many years, was supposed to be quietly enjoying the end of the day after taking care of her guests as usual. That night, however, she fell victim to a deadly blade.

The inn was a small lodging facility where travelers and merchants would occasionally stop by, a peaceful place away from the hustle and bustle of the city. One night, however, she suddenly disappeared. The proprietor, who would normally welcome her calmly with a light on at the entrance, was nowhere to be found. A few days later, when the man who once owned the inn visited, he noticed something unusual. The locked entrance, the sparse light inside the inn, but no answer. Something was wrong. His intuition told him so.

He and an acquaintance went inside through the high window of the inn's lavatory. What they saw was the blood-stained corpse of an old woman.

The police investigation began immediately. The inn's guest book contained the name of a man who had stayed there a few days before. Using this name, the police expanded their investigative network. In the past, he had been in need of money and had moved from place to place. As the police began to uncover the circumstances of the day of the incident, the outlines of the crime began to emerge.

The perpetrator knew that the owner of Hotel Mihama was a wealthy man. They stayed at the inn for the money. Then, when night fell, they crept into her room with the murder weapon in hand. The weapon used was a machete. A swing in the dark, and the ensuing tragedy. He searched the safe, but could not successfully open it. All he took was a small amount of cash.

The police discovered that he had moved around Osaka, Nagoya, and Kyoto after the incident. Finally, on November 13, they found him in a small apartment in Aichi Prefecture and took him into custody.

In 1972, when this incident occurred, Japan was at the peak of its rapid economic growth, and while the cities were developing, there was still a shadow left behind in the countryside. While the downtown areas of Tokyo and Osaka were bustling with activity and people were absorbed in a new consumer culture, local lodging and commerce were beginning to show a contrary decline. In these times, the Hotel Mihama continued to operate quietly. However, that quietness came to a cruel end one night.

Behind the door of the inn, there was the same view as usual. The peace and quiet was lost in an instant. And soon the memory of the incident also faded from the minds of the people. However, in the corridor of the inn, where the autumn night wind was blowing, only silence still remained.