Issei Sagawa: Difference between revisions
| Line 42: | Line 42: | ||
==Post-release== |
==Post-release== |
||
Between 1986 and 1997 he was frequently invited to be a guest speaker and commentator.<ref name="Ref_">Kushner, Barak. (1997). "Cannibalizing Japanese Media: The Case of Issei Sagawa". Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 31 (3), p. |
Between 1986 and 1997 he was frequently invited to be a guest speaker and commentator.<ref name="Ref_">Kushner, Barak. (1997). "Cannibalizing Japanese Media: The Case of Issei Sagawa". Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 31 (3), p. 55-57/ref> In 1992, he appeared in [[Hisayasu Sato]]'s [[exploitation film]] ''Uwakizuma: Chijokuzeme (Unfaithful Wife: Shameful Torture)''<!--the original title; "the bedroom" doesn't quite catch the plot--> as a sado-sexual voyeur.<ref name=imdb>{{cite web |url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0756028/ |title=Issei Sagawa |publisher=[[IMDb]] |accessdate=September 26, 2009}}</ref> Sagawa has written books about the murder, as well as ''Shonen A'', a book on the 1997 [[Kobe child murders]].<ref name="Books">{{goodreads author|id = 2795905|name = Issei Sagawa|accessdate=September 26, 2009}}</ref> He has also written restaurant reviews for the Japanese magazine ''Spa''.<ref name="Ref_a">Henshall, Kenneth G. ''Dimensions of Japanese society: gender, margins and mainstream''. rev.ed. Palgrave Macmillan, London 1999 p.207</ref> Sagawa can no longer find publishers for his writing and he has struggled to find employment. He was nearly accepted by a French-language school because the manager was impressed by his courage in using his real name, but employees protested and he was rejected. |
||
In 2005, Sagawa's parents died. He was prevented from attending their funeral, but he repaid their creditors and moved into public housing. He received welfare for some time but no longer does.<ref>『週刊新潮』2006年2月23日号。</ref> In an interview with [[Vice (magazine)|''Vice'' magazine]] in 2009, he said that being forced to make a living while being known as a murderer and cannibal was a terrible punishment.<ref name="vice"></ref> Sagawa currently lives in [[Tokyo]]. |
In 2005, Sagawa's parents died. He was prevented from attending their funeral, but he repaid their creditors and moved into public housing. He received welfare for some time but no longer does.<ref>『週刊新潮』2006年2月23日号。</ref> In an interview with [[Vice (magazine)|''Vice'' magazine]] in 2009, he said that being forced to make a living while being known as a murderer and cannibal was a terrible punishment.<ref name="vice"></ref> Sagawa currently lives in [[Tokyo]]. |
||
Revision as of 01:03, 27 May 2015
Issei Sagawa | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 26, 1949 |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Occupation(s) | Public speaker, commentator, actor, writer |
| Height | 5 ft 0 in (152 cm) |
| Criminal charge(s) | Attempted rape (Japan) Murder, cannibalism (France) |
| Criminal status | Unfit to stand trial by reason of insanity |
| Victims | 1 |
| Date | June 11, 1981 |
| Location | Paris, France |
| Weapon | Rifle |
Issei Sagawa (佐川 一政, Sagawa Issei, born April 26, 1949)[1] is a Japanese man who in 1981, while in Paris, 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.
Early life
Sagawa was born in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, to wealthy parents. He was born prematurely, reportedly small enough to fit in the palm of his father's hand, and was immediately afflicted with enteritis, a disease of the small intestine. He eventually recovered after several injections of potassium and calcium in saline.[2]
Sagawa first experienced cannibalistic desires while in the first grade, after seeing a male's thigh.[3] In a 2011 interview with Vice Sagawa reported that as a youth he partook in bestiality with his dog and experienced cannibalistic desires for women.[4]
In his 20's in Tokyo Sagawa followed a foreign woman home, then broke into her apartment while she was sleeping with intent to cannibalize her. She awoke and he was captured by police and charged with attempted rape. He did not confess his true intentions to authorities.[4] In 1977, at the age of 28, Sagawa emigrated to France to pursue a Ph.D. in literature at the Sorbonne Academy in Paris.[2] He claims that while residing in Paris, "Almost every night I would bring a prostitute home and then try to shoot them, but for some reason my fingers froze up and I couldn't pull the trigger."[3]
Murder of Hartevelt
On June 11, 1981, Sagawa, then 32, invited his Sorbonne classmate Renée Hartevelt to dinner at his apartment under the pretext of translating poetry for a school assignment. He planned to kill and eat her, having selected her for her health and beauty; characteristics he believed he lacked. He describes himself as a "weak, ugly, and inadequate little man" (he is just under 5 ft [1.52 m] tall)[5][6] and claims he wanted to "absorb her energy". After she arrived, she began reading the poetry at a desk with her back to him. He shot her in the neck with a rifle. Sagawa said he fainted after the shock of shooting her, but awoke with the realization that he had to carry out his plan.[2] He raped her corpse but was unable to bite into her skin, so he left the apartment and purchased a butcher knife.[2] For two days, Sagawa ate various parts of her body, saving other parts in his refrigerator. He then attempted to dump her body in a remote lake, but was seen in the act and arrested by French police.[2]
Sagawa's wealthy father provided a lawyer for his defense, and after being held for two years without trial Sagawa was found legally insane and unfit to stand trial by the French judge Jean-Louis Bruguière, who ordered him held indefinitely in a mental institution.[2] After a visit by the author Inuhiko Yomota, Sagawa's account of the murder was published in Japan under the title In the Fog.[2] Sagawa's subsequent publicity and macabre celebrity likely contributed to the French authorities' decision to deport him to Japan, where he was immediately committed to Matsuzawa hospital. Examining psychologists there all declared him sane and found sexual perversion was his sole motivation for the murder.[2] Because charges in France had been dropped, the French court documents were sealed and were not released to Japanese authorities. Consequently Sagawa could not legally be detained in Japan. He checked himself out of the hospital on August 12, 1986, and has remained free.[2] Sagawa's continued freedom has been widely criticized.[2]
Post-release
Between 1986 and 1997 he was frequently invited to be a guest speaker and commentator.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). Sagawa has written books about the murder, as well as Shonen A, a book on the 1997 Kobe child murders.[7] He has also written restaurant reviews for the Japanese magazine Spa.[8] Sagawa can no longer find publishers for his writing and he has struggled to find employment. He was nearly accepted by a French-language school because the manager was impressed by his courage in using his real name, but employees protested and he was rejected.
In 2005, Sagawa's parents died. He was prevented from attending their funeral, but he repaid their creditors and moved into public housing. He received welfare for some time but no longer does.[9] In an interview with Vice magazine in 2009, he said that being forced to make a living while being known as a murderer and cannibal was a terrible punishment.[3] Sagawa currently lives in Tokyo.
In popular culture
- Two documentary films featuring Sagawa have been produced: "The Cannibal That Walked Free" (Channel 5, UK, 2007, 46 minutes) and "Interview with a Cannibal" (Vice, US, 2011, 34 minutes).
- A 1986 short film by Olivier Smolders, Adoration, is based on Sagawa's story,[10] as is a 1986 short documentary, Cannibal Superstar, released by the TV channel Viasat Explorer. VBS Meets: Issei Sagawa, a short documentary about him, aired on VBS.tv in 2010.[1]
- "Too Much Blood", a song on the Undercover album by The Rolling Stones, is about Sagawa. His crime inspired the Stranglers' 1981 song La Folie".
References
- ^ a b "VBS Meets: Issei Sagawa – Part 1". Vice Media. November 18, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Morris, Steven (September 20, 2007). "Issei Sagawa: Celebrity Cannibal". New Criminologist, the On-line Journal of Criminology. New Criminologist. Archived from the original on June 14, 2011.
{{cite journal}}:|archive-date=/|archive-url=timestamp mismatch; July 14, 2011 suggested (help)[dead link] - ^ a b c Kosuga, Tomokazu (January 1, 2009). "Who's Hungry?". Vice Magazine.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Interview with a Cannibal". Vice Magazine.
- ^ Luzajic, Lorette C. "The Sweetest Taboo: An Anthropology of Anthropophagy". Gremolata. Archived from the original on January 25, 2010.
- ^ Ramsland, Katherine. "The Cannibal Celebrity: Issei Sagawa". TruTV. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
- ^ Template:Goodreads author
- ^ Henshall, Kenneth G. Dimensions of Japanese society: gender, margins and mainstream. rev.ed. Palgrave Macmillan, London 1999 p.207
- ^ 『週刊新潮』2006年2月23日号。
- ^ Knoll, Paul (April 25, 2007). "Bard of Brooklyn". Metro Times. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
External links
- "Issei Sagawa". Serial Killers Live. FFRWP. Retrieved July 26, 2009.
- Harritz, Pia D. "Consuming the Female Body: Pinku Eiga and the case of Sagawa Issei". Mediavidenskab. Archived from the original on July 2, 2007. Retrieved July 7, 2007.
- Kamiyama, Masuo (October 2, 2007). "'Paris Cannibal' Sagawa still hungers for attention". Mainichi Shimbun. Archived from the original on December 27, 2007. Retrieved January 19, 2008.
- "The Cannibal that Walked Free". Visual Voodoo. 12 November 2007. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
- Issei Sagawa at IMDb
- "Interview with a Cannibal". Online Documentary. YouTube: VICE. 29 June 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
