Joji Obara: Thirty Years of Hidden Crimes in Japan Pt. 1

Vanessa and Dr. Engels get into the case of Japanese serial rapist Joji Obara, who for thirty years, drugged and assaulted hundreds of women across Japan, documenting his crimes in chilling detail. Hiding behind false names and a surgically altered face, he evaded justice while his attacks escalated. If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Serial Killers & Murderous Minds to never miss a case! Want all 2 parts of every case all at once? Join Crime House+ and get both parts of each case dropped together on Monday ad-free. Join atcrimehouseplus.com http://crimehouseplus.com or if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show’s page. Serial Killers & Murderous Minds is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios. 🎧 Need More to Binge? Listen to other Crime House Originals Clues, Crimes Of Reddit, Murder True Crime Stories, Crime House 24/7, and more wherever you get your podcasts! Follow me on Social Instagram: @Crimehouse https://www.instagram.com/crimehouse/TikTok: @Crimehouse https://www.tiktok.com/@crimehouseFacebook: @crimehousestudios https://www.facebook.com/crimehousestudiosYouTube: @crimehousestudios https://www.youtube.com/@crimehousestudios

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Vanessa Richardson?

  Hi, everyone. Before today's episode, there's another show I want to tell you about. It's called What the Fact with Connor Tomlinson from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum and Carter Roy. Every week, they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them. Plus Connor's infectious energy that'll make you realize history is the most fascinating thing on earth. Follow What the Fact wherever you listen or subscribe on YouTube at What the Fact Pod.

• 0:36Speaker 01

  This is Crime House.

• 0:41Vanessa Richardson?

  It's normal for people to want to reinvent themselves, especially when they're young. Maybe they want to shed their old high school reputation or find new interests. However, some people don't just want to refresh. They want a clean slate. They want to put the past behind them completely, so they pick up and move to a new city. Maybe they even start using a different name. Joji Obara wanted to shed his old skin. He was ashamed of his heritage and his physical appearance, so he changed everything about himself so that no one in his new life could figure out who he really was. But Joji wasn't just hoping to improve his reputation. He was concealing himself from the law

• 1:25Vanessa Richardson?

  because for 30 years, he targeted, drugged, and sexually assaulted hundreds of women. And the more he got away with it, the more he spiraled out of control. Until one day, Joji's heinous crimes devolved into death.

• 1:56Vanessa Richardson?

  The human mind is powerful. It shapes how we think, feel, love, and hate. But sometimes it drives people to commit the unthinkable. This is Serial Killers and Murderous Minds, a Crime House original. I'm Vanessa Richardson.

• 2:11Tristin Engels?

  And I'm forensic psychologist Dr. Tristin Engels. Every Monday and Thursday, we uncover the darkest minds in history, analyzing what makes a killer.

• 2:21Vanessa Richardson?

  Crime House exists because of listeners like you. Want even more? Join Crime House Plus and get both parts of every story dropped on the same Monday, completely ad-free. No waiting three days for part two, plus Crime House bonus episodes every month. To join, go to crimehouseplus.com. Or if you listen on Apple Podcasts, tap "Try Free" at the top of the Serial Killers and Murderous Minds page. Before we get started, be advised that this episode contains discussion of date rape, sexual violence, death, and dismemberment. So please, listen with care. Today, we begin our deep dive into Joji Obara, a Japanese serial rapist who drugged and assaulted hundreds of women over the course of 30 years.

• 3:06Vanessa Richardson?

  Joji documented his crimes in writing, photos, and video. And eventually, his need to have complete control over women resulted not only in rape, but death.

• 3:18Tristin Engels?

  And as Vanessa goes through this story, I'll be talking about things like how people who feel powerless may find ways to exercise control, how some offenders obsess over concealing or changing their identity, and how some offenders' formative relationships can lead them to treat others as objects.

• 3:37Vanessa Richardson?

  And as always, we'll be asking the question, what makes a killer?

• 3:47Vanessa Richardson?

  From the very beginning, Joji Obara seemed to have everything, but somehow, it was never enough. Before he was known as Joji Obara, he was born Kim Sung Jong in Osaka on August 10, 1952. His parents were Korean and had come to Japan at the dawn of World War II, and they quickly built a lavish life for themselves. Joji's father, Kim Kyohak, had built a lucrative business empire that included parking lots, taxi companies, and pachinko parlors. By the time Joji was born, Kyohak was one of the richest men in Osaka. And because of this, he saw only a bright future for his son. However, according to a book later commissioned by Joji's defense team,

• 4:31Vanessa Richardson?

  his father believed a bright future had to be earned, not handed over. He expected his son to work hard, even when he was just a toddler. Before Joji started elementary school, his schedule was packed with violin and piano lessons. And once he started school, he began private tutoring on top of everything. Kyohak did everything to ensure his son was on a path to success. Unfortunately for Joji, that meant he had no time for friends. It made him miserable, and he searched for a way to overcome his loneliness. Eventually, Joji reportedly started doing poorly in school on purpose, hoping his father would ease up on him. He wrote with his weak hand so his writing would look messy,

• 5:15Vanessa Richardson?

  and he failed tests he could have easily passed.

• 5:18Tristin Engels?

  Children are dependent on their caregivers. And as a result, they have very little power over the structure that they put in place in their lives. When children are living in highly controlled environments, it's not uncommon for them to look for aspects of their life that they can control. And unfortunately, because they're children, those options are limited. And sometimes that means refusing to eat or acting out. And sometimes, it's what Joji's doing here, which is self-sabotaging by intentionally underperforming. And the behavior becomes the way children communicate because they often lack the vocabulary or confidence to advocate for themselves, especially in an emotionally cold environment. It doesn't matter what your age is.

• 6:02Tristin Engels?

  When people feel that they have no control over their environment, they'll find a way to regain control wherever they can. And sometimes, that strategy is healthy, and other times, it's unhealthy. And that all depends on the individual, their environment, their developmental age, and whether the people around them recognize what the behavior is actually communicating.

• 6:23Vanessa Richardson?

  What do you think this suggests about Joji's willingness and ability to manipulate others?

• 6:29Tristin Engels?

  Well firstly, I think it's important to outline that lying and deception are actually a normal part of child development. Most children begin telling simple lies during their preschool years as their cognitive abilities develop. And at that state, lying is often motivated by avoiding punishment or consequences. And as they get older, their reasons are more socially motivated, like gaining approval or fitting in with their peers, protecting relationships, or maintaining their self-image. Kohlberg's theory of moral development helps explain the reasoning behind the lying for anyone who's interested in researching it more. And we don't know how old Joji was here specifically when these behaviors started, but it's reasonable that he may have feared the consequences

• 7:13Tristin Engels?

  if he was truthful and he confronted his father, given what we know about his father, and he believed that lying was a safe alternative. Or he may have felt that this behavior would allow him to maintain a relationship with his father in the end. But at the same time, it's also something that goes beyond just lying because he's lying not just to his father, he's lying to his teachers as well. And it was pretty calculated. He wrote with his non-dominant hand. He purposely missed questions he knew answers to, pretended to struggle. And that requires planning and consistency. By itself, that isn't really evidence of anything like future criminality. Many children do engage in instrumental behavior like this. And it's not necessarily something

• 7:58Tristin Engels?

  to immediately pathologize on its own either. We don't know if this is something that Joji is doing globally or just in this isolated area in an attempt to gain some control over his life. This may be, though, the moment where Joji learned that changing other people's perceptions of him is an effective strategy for him. And we'll discuss that later because that theme becomes much more evident here.

• 8:25Vanessa Richardson?

  Joji may have sabotaged his schoolwork, but he could still get good grades when he wanted to. In 1967, the 15-year-old passed a notoriously difficult entrance exam into one of the most famous exclusive high schools in Japan. It was located in Tokyo, a few hours from Osaka, which Joji was thrilled about. He'd finally have some freedom, especially since his father set him up in a luxurious house of his very own. He even hired a housekeeper to look after him. Joji quickly set up his new home in a way he hoped would attract some new friends. He had his staff fill the swimming pool, decorate all the balconies, and fill the garage with fancy cars. But that was just the start of Joji's plan.

• 9:08Vanessa Richardson?

  He intended to completely reinvent himself. And he started with some of his most defining traits. At the time, many people in Japan viewed Korean people as lesser than. Even Joji's extreme wealth couldn't protect him from the discrimination. So he changed his last name to Hoshiyama, which was Japanese. And although he was only 15 years old, he had expensive plastic surgery to change the way his eyes looked. Now that Joji had a new name and face, no one in Tokyo had to know who he really was.

• 9:42Tristin Engels?

  So now we're seeing another example of Joji trying to solve a problem by changing other people's perceptions of him. We just talked about how he intentionally performed poorly in school. He was trying to change how his father perceived him, so his father would change his behavior. In other words, perception became a tool. Now here, we may be seeing that same strategy being applied, but to a different problem. He is getting some autonomy from his dad, and with that comes some degree of control. He wants to set up his new home in a way that attracts different peers. But he believed his Korean identity was a barrier to that. And unfortunately, he couldn't change how society saw him, but he could change how society perceived him.

• 10:26Tristin Engels?

  And at 15, to be willing to cosmetically change his appearance tells me that it was extremely psychologically important to him to do that. But why? Like, what was behind this? It's likely a combination of factors. Escaping rejection and discrimination is probably high up there, given that he is ethnically Korean, and that made him susceptible to prejudice and social discrimination in Japan at that time. But he's also an adolescent, and he's at a psychosocial stage of development where identity is very important. And until this point, it seems that his identity had been largely decided for him by his father. He was told what to do, what to play, what to study, how to spend his time. And now he's got some freedom to reinvent

• 11:11Tristin Engels?

  himself. And reinvention is common during adolescence. But also, many people who experience discrimination change their appearance, their accent, or even their name to fit into a culture that treats them differently or wouldn't give them the same opportunities otherwise. So at least as of now, this appears to be a combination of identity development or reinvention, social acceptance, and escaping the control that he'd been under.

• 11:39Vanessa Richardson?

  Once Joji felt his new identity was in place, he became more outgoing at school in an effort to make friends for the first time. He met a few people he liked and invited them over to his house, and they were immediately impressed. Everyone at the school came from money, but Joji was next level rich. But Joji's money, looks, and name weren't enough to keep people around, because over time, his peers could sense something was off about him. Not only did he live alone, but he never even talked about his family or friends back home. And people found it off-putting how much he flaunted his belongings, like his collection of Rolex watches. Joji seemed to notice people's reaction to him, so he changed course by showing off his musical talent.

• 12:24Vanessa Richardson?

  But no one was impressed, and that only created more problems, because the more he failed at winning people over, the more agitated he became. Soon, Joji's classmates noticed he had a short fuse. He lost his temper whenever he didn't get his way. Pretty soon, Joji was left friendless once again, but he didn't let it wreck his confidence, especially not when it came to girls. Joji often went out to clubs to meet girls. One night, he met a girl named Betty, and before long, they were in a committed relationship. Joji thought they had a real future together. But Betty didn't see things the same way. She eventually saw what everyone else did and broke up with Joji. And he was devastated.

• 13:08Vanessa Richardson?

  He begged her for another chance, but she shot him down.

• 13:12Tristin Engels?

  No one likes rejection. It doesn't matter how old you are or the context, rejection is painful, unless, of course, you've intentionally manufactured rejection in school performance as a way of influencing your father. But ordinarily, relational rejection hits different because we are wired for connection and belonging. Joji was struggling to maintain close relationships, even though he seemed to be able to attract people easily. But look at how he did it. He used wealth, status, and his accomplishments. Perception can attract people, but that's not enough to sustain them. And by the time Betty ended the relationship, he had already had a series of friendships that also failed. Repeated rejection can change the

• 13:56Tristin Engels?

  expectations people have about future relationships. They can start anticipating rejection before it happens, or become increasingly sensitive to signs that others are pulling away from them. If someone is already struggling with insecurity or negative beliefs about their own self-worth, each new real or perceived or imagined rejection can reinforce those core beliefs.

• 14:19Vanessa Richardson?

  So we know Joji was used to getting his way. So how could this loss of control affect him?

• 14:25Tristin Engels?

  If Joji had come to believe that his wealth, status, and whatever refined image he had should produce the relationships he wanted, or that he could get his way from that, especially given the extraordinary lengths he went in order to attract people and shape their perceptions of him, then Betty's rejection may have actually caused something called a narcissistic injury. And not in a disordered or a diagnostic sense. I'm referring to a blow to the self-esteem or self-image when reality contradicts an important belief someone holds about themselves. This is not exclusive to people with narcissistic personality disorder, contrary to what many people will leave. But when they're experienced, people tend

• 15:08Tristin Engels?

  to feel shame, humiliation, frustration, or anger. And if Joji believed acceptance could be achieved by managing perception through his status or his success, or the identity he had carefully created, then Betty's rejection was really going to challenge that right now. That realization can cause feelings of shame, humiliation, frustration, or anger.

• 15:33Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, Joji tried to put his heartbreak behind him. And to a teenage boy that just had his heart stomped, he felt the best way to do that was with alcohol. He'd always had a lot to drink when he went out partying, but now he spiraled into full-on alcohol abuse, and it led to serious consequences. One night, as he drove drunk through Tokyo, Joji crashed his car. Fortunately, no one else got hurt, although Joji sustained some pretty serious injuries, which meant he couldn't drink alcohol during his recovery, but he'd become extremely dependent on it. So instead of drinking, he started snorting it through his nose. Accidents weren't the only consequence of Joji's alcoholism either. He lost interest in school, and his

• 16:17Vanessa Richardson?

  grades tanked as a result. But Joji didn't have to answer for his poor performance, because in 1969, his father passed away. It's unclear how Joji reacted emotionally. It's possible that with his sizable inheritance, he was too distracted to grieve. Joji now owned the home in Tokyo he'd been living in, along with his father's parking business, and said he had a yearly allowance of 20 million yen, which would be worth about half a million US dollars today. Joji's newfound wealth meant he could drink and party whenever he wanted. As far as he was concerned, he never had to take "no" for an answer. Joji no longer felt there was a reason

• 17:01Vanessa Richardson?

  to practice any form of self-control, and he started acting on his darkest urges. One night in April 1970, 17-year-old Joji met a woman at a nightclub. He invited her back to his apartment, where they hung out for a while, but when Joji tried to make a move, the woman turned him down. In Joji's mind, people's boundaries didn't matter. He felt he should get what he wanted. So when the woman wasn't looking, he slipped something into her drink. Soon, she fell unconscious, and Joji sexually assaulted her. Afterwards, Joji did something strange. He pulled out his diary and turned to a blank page. He wrote, quote, "I administered

• 17:46Vanessa Richardson?

  sleeping drugs," end quote, then went on to describe his experience as "dryly as if he were making a grocery list." For Joji Obara, this unconscious woman was only the first of what would soon snowball into hundreds of rape victims. And for two of those victims, their encounters with Joji would end not in confusion, unease, or disgust, but in death.

• 18:20Vanessa Richardson?

  In the spring of 1970, 17-year-old Joji Obara was living on his own in Tokyo. Following the death of his father, he'd inherited exorbitant wealth. Soon after, he took his newfound freedom to morbid extremes when he drugged and raped a woman he met at a nightclub. Joji loved the feeling of being in complete control. He wanted to continue not only raping women, but tracking each victim's name and what he did to them in his diary, just like he'd done before. Despite Joji's new, sick obsession, he maintained a relatively normal life on the outside and graduated from his prestigious high school in 1971. But unlike most of his classmates, his grades weren't good enough

• 19:04Vanessa Richardson?

  to enroll at the school's affiliate university. So instead, he packed his bags and decided to see the world. But before he left, he wanted to solidify the identity he'd forged for himself. He'd been using the surname Hoshiyama, and now he officially changed his name to Joji Obara. He spent the next few years traveling through the US and Europe. Whenever he met new people, he bragged about his lavish lifestyle. But most disturbingly, Joji continued to drug and rape women while abroad, and he recorded many of the details of the attacks in his diary. Joji always used a different fake name when he met a new victim, and he used drugs and chloroform

• 19:47Vanessa Richardson?

  to render his victims unconscious. It's unclear how many women he assaulted during this time, but in 1974, Joji hit pause on his crime spree. He decided he wanted the status that a university degree could provide. So at the age of 22, he reapplied to the school that once rejected him. This time, he got in, and he studied both law and politics. Joji graduated a few years later, but despite his fixation with status, he didn't want anyone from his past to know where he was or what he was up to. So he refused to sit for his graduation photo.

• 20:26Tristin Engels?

  If he was avoiding having his picture taken because he didn't want to be connected to his past offending behavior, and if that was truly the reason because people elect not to do this or walk during graduation for a number of ordinary reasons, then this suggests a new level of planning and forethought. He's gone from trying to manage people's perceptions to trying to manage risk. And that also tells us something about his awareness. Taking steps to reduce the chances of being identified is generally inconsistent with someone who believes that their behavior and what they have done is acceptable. Instead, I think it shows an appreciation that what they're doing carries significant consequences.

• 21:11Tristin Engels?

  And a photograph is something that's permanent, and it can be shared easily, even back then.

• 21:17Vanessa Richardson?

  Joji kept a relatively low profile for the next few years. However, he continued assaulting women, all while pursuing his own financial growth. In the early 1980s, Joji purchased about 20 apartment complexes and other buildings across Japan. One of the apartment buildings was in an area known as Zushi Marina, a luxurious resort-like neighborhood just outside Tokyo. Joji got an apartment for himself there, which he used as a lair for his insidious crimes. By 1983, when Joji was 31 years old, he'd raped about 98 women, according to his notebook. And by the time he bought his apartment in Zushi Marina, he realized he most enjoyed targeting women who he felt were overweight

• 22:02Vanessa Richardson?

  or otherwise conventionally unattractive. It made him feel better about himself. But he didn't always care what his victims looked like. Joji sometimes used phone services to target victims. Joji showed other signs of deep insecurity as well. A lot of the time, once his victims were unconscious, he'd put on a mask before he assaulted them. From there, he committed heinous acts. Sometimes he used medical instruments or other objects, including food, during his assaults. And while the women were unconscious, Joji took stimulants to keep himself awake and energized. However, Joji's victims sometimes started to wake up in the midst of his assaults. That's why he always kept a chloroform-soaked rag next to his bed,

• 22:46Vanessa Richardson?

  so he could quickly put them back to sleep. Joji's assaults lasted hours. When he was finally done, he put his victims' clothes back on while they were still asleep. And when they woke up, he told them they'd passed out because of a gas leak in the building. Finally, he gave them cab fare and sent them on their way.

• 23:06Tristin Engels?

  Joji's offending has become very severe. Nearly 100 women, and there were no signs that he was slowing down. His assaults had become increasingly more elaborate and degrading with significant levels of planning and cruelty. But even more revealing than their brutality is what they suggest about him. Earlier, we discussed the possibility that repeated social or romantic rejection may have been especially difficult for someone like Joji, particularly if he expected to get what he wanted and didn't. And now, in response, we see extreme objectification. He treats women as instruments to serve a purpose. But his methods really stand out to me. Starting with his victim selection.

• 23:50Tristin Engels?

  If he targeted women he believed were less conventionally attractive because it made him, quote, "feel better about himself", that is downward social comparison. He's regulating his own feelings of inadequacy through his offending behavior instead of building self-worth or having healthy relationships, though I'm not convinced that he's capable of those. Next is his method. Drugging victims is not an uncommon tool for many sexual offenders. It can make victims more agreeable by narrowing their thinking. It impairs their judgment. It can incapacitate them entirely, impair their memory of the event, and exploit their vulnerability. And in his case, he clearly wants them incapacitated

• 24:34Tristin Engels?

  because that way, they can't resist or reject him. So if he's assaulting them while they're unconscious in heinous and dehumanizing ways by using objects and food, then why the need for masks? If he is meeting these women first, gaining their trust enough to drug them and bring them home, and then show them his face again after he's put them through all of this, I don't think the mask serves a practical purpose, like hiding his face or concealing his identity, at least not fully. They could have made the experience more stimulating for him, a way to amplify the experience. But also, if we were to conceptualize what we know about Joji, he's been a man who has consistently reinvented himself.

• 25:18Tristin Engels?

  He permanently altered his face. He changed his name. Then he changed it back. He skipped college to travel. Then he decided to go back to college. He used a fake name whenever he met someone new. He was always trying to manage everyone's perception of him, and he didn't want anyone who truly knew who he was when he was younger to know anything about him now. I think the masks then may have been another identity, one that allowed him to distance himself from his actions, creating a separation between his public identity and his offending identity and between what he was doing, the heinous acts that he was doing when these women were unconscious. His behavior after the assaults is equally revealing. Redressing them before they awake,

• 26:02Tristin Engels?

  fabricating, you know, this gas leak and giving them cab fare, that's all still him managing perception. Again, all of that is explanatory, supposedly rational, and seemingly considerate behavior, all meant to give the illusion of normalcy, even if it was all just deceptive. The goal was risk management. Obviously, Joji does not care about these women. He does not care about her. He cares about himself.

• 26:30Vanessa Richardson?

  Joji's horrific behavior became routine, which meant he eventually grew bored. By the time he'd reportedly assaulted almost 140 women, he added another element to his ritual: video recording. In addition to his diary entries, Joji set up a tripod in his bedroom, pointed at his bed. He also set up professional lighting near his bed and recorded about a dozen assaults this way. Then, he decided he wanted to see even more of his own vile behavior, so he set up a secret camera in his living room to record the women drinking and laughing before he drugged and raped them in his bedroom. Eventually, that wasn't enough either.

• 27:13Vanessa Richardson?

  So Joji set up two TV monitors in his bedroom. One played pornography, and the other showed a live feed of himself assaulting his victim.

• 27:24Tristin Engels?

  One possible way to understand this really horrible progression is through the concept of habituation. In behavioral psychology, habituation refers to a reduced psychological response to the same stimulus over time. As a behavior is repeated, it can become less psychologically stimulating. Joji began repeatedly introducing new elements into his assaults, likely because he began having a reduced psychological effect from them. At first, if you recall, he documented them in a diary. Then he began recording them, and eventually, that was not enough. So he progressed more from there. Some individuals respond by seeking greater novelty or intensity in an effort to recreate

• 28:07Tristin Engels?

  the original psychological effect. If that's what was happening here, the recordings appear to have become part of the psychological experience itself for Joji.

• 28:18Vanessa Richardson?

  Do you think it was more about watching the women or watching himself? And also, do you think this could have been his way of building his confidence?

• 28:26Tristin Engels?

  That's the thing. It's not just about watching them anymore. He's graduated beyond that. It's now about watching himself assaulting them. And I think that's about amplifying the fantasy because he's also incorporating pornography with it. Adding that can provide sexual stimulation or the illusion that his victims were willing or enthusiastic. But at the core, I think this is more about identity again. So let's go back to the masks. We just talked about the possibility that wearing those during the assaults may have been another identity, one that allowed him to distance himself from his actions by separating his public identity from his offending identity. Then he started recording himself assaulting these women.

• 29:09Tristin Engels?

  Now, he is playing those recorded videos while assaulting new victims, which is very different because instead of distancing himself from these acts or pretending to be something else during the commission of the crime while wearing a mask, he's watching himself. He's incorporating himself. So in that sense, the assaults may have stopped being something he needed to separate himself from the public, from the offender, and instead, became part of how he saw himself. So he might now be identifying with the offender.

• 29:42Vanessa Richardson?

  Once Joji had done this for a while, his MO evolved again. Only this time, it wasn't his process that changed. It was the victims he chose. Joji started visiting Tokyo's swanky, exclusive hostess clubs. These kinds of clubs were a big part of Japanese nightlife. Men paid top dollar, usually in the form of a membership, for a hostess to spend the night chatting and laughing at his jokes. The interactions were always platonic. In fact, it was against the rules for men to make sexual advances or touch their hostess inappropriately. Hostess clubs were a popular spot for business meetings because the hostesses helped keep conversation flowing and made the members look good in front of potential clients.

• 30:25Vanessa Richardson?

  For Joji, it was a great way to bolster his ego. However, he was mainly interested in a subset of hostess clubs, something known as blondie clubs, where the women were white instead of Japanese. They were usually from the UK, US, and Australia. These women were less well-trained than Japanese hostesses, so blondie clubs were a lot less expensive. Money was no object for Joji, but he preferred blondie clubs because he looked down on the women who worked there. He considered them less refined and less worth the money, which was part of the thrill for him. Not to mention, even though hostess clubs had strict rules inside the establishment, men sometimes arranged outside dates. And Joji thought it would be much easier

• 31:10Vanessa Richardson?

  to convince a blondie hostess to go on a date with him. That's exactly what he did in February 1992, when he was 40 years old. By this point, Joji was on a full-on rampage. And when he targeted his next victim, things quickly spiraled out of control. One night, he met 21-year-old Karida Ridgway at an exclusive hostess club. Karida was from the city of Perth in Australia. She'd had a rough go at life ever since her parents divorced when she was 13. She'd battled depression for a long time, and had even sought treatment at a psychiatric hospital. Now, at age 21, she was doing much better, and she'd come to Japan hoping for a new adventure. She started working at a hostess club

• 31:55Vanessa Richardson?

  and quickly gained a roster of regular customers. But that night in February, she met Joji for the first time. Joji came to Karida's club and introduced himself with a fake name. They had a fun evening together. Afterward, he invited her to go on a weekend trip with him. Karida knew that other hostesses often went on dates and trips with their clients. They weren't necessarily seeking romantic relationships. It was just a good way to earn more money. So Karida accepted. However, when she met Joji at his apartment at Zushi Marina, things quickly took a dark turn. He chloroformed her and assaulted her for hours. Several times during the attack, Karida began to regain consciousness.

• 32:40Vanessa Richardson?

  So Joji chloroformed her continually. When he was done, he put Karida's clothes back on her and waited for her to wake up. He planned to give her the usual excuse about a gas leak before calling a cab. But more time passed, and Karida didn't come to. Joji tried to rouse her, but nothing worked. So he started to panic. Unsure what to do, he carried Karida to his car and drove her to the hospital. He told the staff she was having a bad reaction to some seafood. Then Joji left without another word. He figured Karida would eventually wake up, which didn't worry him because he felt confident she'd have no memory of what happened.

• 33:21Vanessa Richardson?

  She'd be unable to tell doctors or police what actually happened. Joji thought he was in the clear. He had no idea that he'd actually just committed his most brutal crime yet.

• 33:48Vanessa Richardson?

  By February of 1992, 40-year-old Joji Obara claimed in his notebook that he'd drugged and raped approximately 179 women over the last 22 years. Most recently, he'd attacked 21-year-old Karida Ridgway, a club hostess from Australia. Karida was the first of Joji's victims not to wake up. He left her at the hospital, confident Karida wouldn't be able to remember what had happened. Then he went home. And that's when Joji did something unusual. He called Karida's sister Samantha. It's unclear how he got Samantha's number, but he called her from a burner phone and gave her the same fake name he'd given Karida.

• 34:30Vanessa Richardson?

  Then he told Samantha that Karida was in the hospital. He'd explained that they met at the hostess club where Karida worked and that she'd fallen unconscious after eating seafood. Samantha tried to ask more personal details about him, but Joji wouldn't tell her anything. So Samantha hung up and quickly told her parents, as well as Karida's boyfriend, Robert, what happened. The family quickly traveled to Japan to be with Karida. When they arrived at the hospital, doctors said Karida was suffering from liver failure, and they didn't think she would make it. Karida's family was stunned. She was young and healthy. She didn't drink, smoke, or use drugs. They couldn't understand how something like this could happen.

• 35:15Vanessa Richardson?

  They stayed at her bedside for the next week. All the while, Joji kept calling Samantha from different numbers. When she finally told him Karida wasn't going to make it, she sensed deep pain in his reaction. Samantha started to wonder if this man had truly cared for her sister. But Robert felt differently. He was highly suspicious of Joji, and he convinced Karida's family to contact police and asked them to look into him. Officers came to the hospital to speak with the Ridgways. Unfortunately, police often had an unfavorable view of club hostesses, and Karida's family quickly realized they weren't going to look into her mysterious customer. Then, on February 29, 1992,

• 36:00Vanessa Richardson?

  Karida finally passed away. Her family's grieving was interrupted by a phone call from Joji. They still didn't know his real name, but they told him Karida had died. In response, he did something unexpected. He invited Karida's parents, Annette and Nigel, to meet him the following day. They wanted to learn more about this man, so they agreed. And the next day, Annette and Nigel went to a hotel to meet Joji. They sat down, and he immediately spilled his guts, or at least, he pretended to. He told them he'd loved Karida and that he was heartbroken that he couldn't spend more time with her. Then, he gave such a detailed account of their last weekend together,

• 36:45Vanessa Richardson?

  it was impossible for Karida's parents not to believe it. Joji even described Karida's mannerisms to a T. He could tell they were buying his every word. But he still had one more trick up his sleeve. Joji presented Annette and Nigel with a gold necklace and a diamond ring. He told them he'd planned to give them to Karida for her birthday, but now, he wanted her family to have them. With that, Joji burst into tears. He repeatedly apologized for what had happened. The Ridgways felt for him, and they told him not to blame himself. In that moment, Joji knew they'd never suspect him of killing their daughter.

• 37:30Tristin Engels?

  And again, Joji is using impression management, trying to manage how others perceive him. It's the same pattern we've seen throughout his life. By presenting himself as someone who genuinely cared for Karida and is devastated by her death, he was intentionally trying to avoid suspicion. But the interesting thing about this is, he didn't even have to do this. He could have just dropped her off at the hospital and walked away. And not to mention, crimes against hostesses weren't investigated with the urgency they deserved, if at all, and the Ridgways know that from experience. When they tried to report Joji themselves, and it went nowhere. But Joji's default strategy has always been to use his impression management,

• 38:12Tristin Engels?

  and we know how protective he has been about his public identity. So I think this was what he was primarily concerned about. He's got a remarkable degree of confidence in his ability to manipulate people.

• 38:25Vanessa Richardson?

  Do you think it's possible he genuinely wanted to absolve himself of his own guilt?

• 38:30Tristin Engels?

  I say this loosely, but yes, I do think it's possible. But hear me out. Think about his pattern of behavior when it comes to redefining himself when it serves him. He may have been trying to create a version of himself that was easier to live with. He just did horrific things to Karida. And suddenly, he's rushing her to the hospital and calling her family to check on her? Those are stark contrasts. What he's doing now with her family serves him, and not just practically, but psychologically. Instead of seeing himself as the person who did this to her, the person who caused her death, the person who did horrible, horrible things, he could also see himself as someone who, in the end, cared,

• 39:14Tristin Engels?

  who was worried, who tried to help, who offered her family gifts. This does not mean the concern was genuine, obviously, in any healthy or moral sense. And it definitely does not erase any of the manipulation or what he has done. But psychologically, those actions may have helped him to deal with the reality of it. Because this was the first time that he's killed someone. That's not accounting for the lifelong harm he's caused to hundreds of women psychologically, but he doesn't consider that. Because I think in his mind, he doesn't think they're going to remember anything after all of the drugs and the chloroform that he's given them.

• 39:50Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, if Joji felt guilty, it didn't last long. Because while Karita's death didn't exactly give him a new taste for death, it also didn't stop him from continuing to hunt and rape women. And three years after Karita's death, he had another surprising encounter. In April of 1995, 43-year-old Joji met a 19-year-old, referred to in Richard Lloyd Perry's book, People Who Eat Darkness, as Christabel McKenzie. He introduced himself to her as Yuji. Joji whined and dined Krista for a month before he brought her back to his apartment one night that May. Like all the women before her, Joji drugged Krista. However, he didn't notice that she'd stayed awake

• 40:35Vanessa Richardson?

  just long enough to realize what was about to happen to her before falling unconscious. Later, when Krista woke up, she recognized what had happened, but she didn't say anything and asked Joji to drive her home. During the drive, Krista silently beat herself up. She was blaming herself for what Joji had done. She felt like she should have been more careful in her line of work and that the police likely wouldn't pity her. It's unclear how Krista and Joji left things, but it seems like he knew she wasn't going to press charges.

• 41:08Tristin Engels?

  Before we move on, I want to pause because Krista blamed herself for what happened. And unfortunately, that's an incredibly common response after sexual assault. Survivors often replay every decision they made, wondering what they should have done differently. But notice what actually happened here. Joji didn't take advantage of some careless decision that Krista made. He spent an entire month earning her trust. He whined and dined her, he made her feel safe, and he built what appeared to be a genuine relationship. And after all of that, he still chose to drug and assault Krista, even though she genuinely wanted to be there with him.

• 41:50Tristin Engels?

  This was never about Krista making the "wrong" choice or needing to be more careful. It was about Joji making a deliberate and predatory one. The responsibility for sexual assault always belongs to the person who chooses to commit it. Trusting someone that you've been dating for a month is not a character flaw. Betraying that trust is. If Joji's goal had simply been consensual sex, he had every opportunity to pursue that. Instead, he incapacitated her because the assault wasn't just about sex. It was about taking away her ability to choose. That's about power and control. And that's why the blame belongs entirely with him.

• 42:32Vanessa Richardson?

  We hear this so often. Why do so many survivors like Krista blame themselves, even when the responsibility clearly, like you said, belongs to the offender?

• 42:41Tristin Engels?

  Part of it is the trauma itself. After something terrifying happens, our brains instinctively start searching for an explanation. We replay every decision, every conversation, every moment that's leading up to the trauma, in this case, the assault, looking for the point where we think we could have changed the outcome. Unfortunately, self-blame can create the illusion of control, like we can prevent it from happening again. It's a way to regain agency. And that's often less frightening than accepting the reality that someone deliberately chose to deceive, manipulate, and harm. At the same time, society has spent decades asking victims questions. They rarely ask offenders questions like,

• 43:26Tristin Engels?

  "Why did you go with him? Why did you trust him? Why didn't you just leave? Why did you wear that?" That's shifting the blame and the focus, and those messages get internalized. Krista did not make some kind of critical mistake here. Joji exploited a normal human capacity to trust someone who had given her every reason to feel safe after a month of experiences with him. That's not a failure on her part. It's evidence of how calculated his behavior had become.

• 43:53Vanessa Richardson?

  Do you think Joji understood the culture of victim blaming? And maybe he used it to his advantage at that point? Or could it have been part of the reason he chose to target hostesses?

• 44:03Tristin Engels?

  I think Joji understood very much how to exploit people and their vulnerabilities exceptionally well. And he knew some women faced greater barriers being believed than others. And he specifically chose certain clubs that only had white hostesses. There's a reason for that. We've seen him repeatedly select women that he perceived less likely to be believed or taken seriously, women he considered less conventionally attractive, and women who were already marginalized because of their profession. And like we covered, hostessing has historically been a stigmatized profession, and with that often comes bias. Women in these roles will face greater skepticism if they ever reported a sexual assault.

• 44:47Tristin Engels?

  Their occupation, the presence of alcohol or drugs, or spending time willingly with strangers can unfairly become the focus of any investigation or law enforcement, instead of the crime. And if that's what Joji was counting on, which I think we can say safely is more likely the case than not, then he was also exploiting society's biases against them. And those biases may have actually made it even harder for many women, 140 of them, to come forward or to believe that they would ever be taken seriously if they did.

• 45:22Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, after his encounter with Krista, Joji continued his routine as usual. Throughout the rest of the late 90s, he kept targeting white hostesses, as you mentioned, none of whom knew his real name. However, like Krista, some of these hostesses knew what had happened to them, and they didn't want to let him get away with it. In 1997, Joji drugged and raped a young hostess Perry refers to as Katie Vickers. Afterward, he gave her his usual excuse about a gas leak, but Katie wasn't buying it. She knew something was wrong. So once she left Joji's apartment, she told her boss what had happened, and her boss encouraged her to go to the police. However, Joji had used a fake name.

• 46:06Vanessa Richardson?

  And even though Katie gave an accurate description, the location, and Joji's phone number, the police refused to help her. Afterward, one of the officers pulled Katie's boss aside and told him that "foreign women" were all drug users who couldn't be trusted.

• 46:24Tristin Engels?

  And I think now we know why he was mostly targeting white women in these clubs. That is a very alarming response, but it also illustrates exactly what we were just talking about. Katie's credibility was discounted because of stereotypes about who she was. She gave police a description of Joji, the location, and even his phone number. Yet those details were not important because of assumptions about her occupation or where she was from. Responses like that have consequences that go beyond her. They can discourage other survivors from coming forward because they see what happens when someone reports and isn't believed. At the same time, investigators lose opportunities to identify patterns, or corroborate accounts, or intervene.

• 47:09Tristin Engels?

  And the responsibility for what happened, again, rests with the offender. But when credible reports are repeatedly dismissed, accountability just doesn't happen. It becomes less likely. That can create an environment where repeat offenders like Joji continue offending for longer because unfortunately, they're seeing that this is opportunity and low risk in these social structures.

• 47:32Vanessa Richardson?

  Katie's situation feels so helpless and isolating. What would be your advice to someone in Katie's situation?

• 47:39Tristin Engels?

  Before I answer, I want to make one important disclaimer. Answering as a forensic psychologist providing general educational information about what someone in a situation like Katie's might consider. I'm not speaking as anyone's treating psychologist, and this shouldn't be taken as personalized medical, psychological, or legal advice. With that said, the first thing I would likely say is to trust yourself. If you believe you've been assaulted, don't let someone else's dismissive reaction convince you that it didn't happen or that it isn't worth pursuing if you want to. I think the second thing is document everything you remember as soon as possible. Write down what happened, preserve evidence if it's still available,

• 48:21Tristin Engels?

  and tell someone that you trust if you do have a trustworthy person. Trauma can affect memory, so documenting events early can be incredibly valuable. And third, if one officer refuses to take you seriously, that doesn't necessarily mean your case ends there. If you want to pursue it, ask to speak with a supervisor. Seek out a victim advocate if one is available, or consider reporting through another agency if that's an option. One person's response should not be the final word on whether your experience deserves to be investigated. It should never be that case. But if you decide that you do not want to pursue it, that is also your choice.

• 49:04Tristin Engels?

  And choosing not to take legal action does not mean the assault didn't happen. Finally, I'd encourage anyone in Katie's position to seek support, whether that's a friend, a family member, a therapist, sexual assault advocacy organization. Surviving an assault can be very isolating. It's just really important to have a support network. You shouldn't have to navigate that by yourself. And unfortunately, not every survivor receives the response they deserve. But every survivor deserves access to support.

• 49:37Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, Joji had no way of knowing that Katie went to the police. And even if he had, it wouldn't have stopped him. He continued his spree like a man who knew no one could ever stop him, even after getting arrested in 1998 for spying on a woman in a public restroom. In June of 2000, Joji walked into a club called the Casablanca. He noticed a tall, blonde hostess that he hadn't seen there before. The wheels started turning in Joji's head. This woman had potential as his next victim. He walked up to her and introduced himself as Mr. Koa. Joji certainly had no idea at the time, but the woman before him would ultimately be the one to put an end to his 30-year string of violence

• 50:22Vanessa Richardson?

  and the silent suffering of hundreds of women.

• 50:40Vanessa Richardson?

  Thanks so much for listening. Come back next time for the conclusion of our deep dive on Joji Obara.

• 50:46Tristin Engels?

  Serial Killers and Murderous Minds is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on all social media at @CrimeHouse. Don't forget to rate, review, and follow Serial Killers and Murderous Minds wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference.

• 51:09Vanessa Richardson?

  And to enhance your listening experience, join Crime House Plus and get both parts of every story dropped on the same Monday completely ad-free. No waiting three days for part two, plus Crime House bonus episodes every month. To join, go to crimehouseplus.com. Or if you listen on Apple Podcasts, tap "Try Free" at the top of the Serial Killers and Murderous Minds page.

• 51:34Vanessa Richardson?

  Serial Killers and Murderous Minds is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson, and forensic psychologist Dr. Tristin Engels, and is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Serial Killers and Murderous Minds team: Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benadon, Lori Marinelli, Natalie Pritzowski, Sarah Camp, Alyssa Fox, Dana Rossi, Sarah Batchelor, and Carrie Murphy. Thank you for listening.

• 52:09Vanessa Richardson?

  If you're looking for your next podcast, check out What the Fact with Connor Tomlinson from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum and Carter Roy. Every week, they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them. Follow What the Fact wherever you listen or subscribe on YouTube at What the Fact Pod.