How the real murders behind the hit novel Butter exposed Japanese media misogyny

By Martina Baradel, Marie Curie Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Oxford

Japan, 2009. It is a morning in August and, in a parking lot in Saitama – a regional centre about 30kms north of Tokyo – a rental car is spotted with a man lying in the back seat. His name is Yoshiyuki Oide. But it turns out that he’s not having a quick nap – he’s dead.

The cause of death is carbon monoxide poisoning and is initially thought to be a case of suicide. But the police are not convinced, so they knock on the door of the woman Oide had been dating, 35-year-old Kanae Kijima. This marks the beginning…

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